How many keywords should a resume have?

There is no magic number. Cover the essential skills and qualifications from the ad that you genuinely have, and use each naturally once or twice.

Should I copy the job description into my resume?

No. Use the same terms for skills you really have, but write your own sentences about your own results.

Do keywords matter for small employers?

Less for software, but a hiring manager still scans for the skills in their ad, so matching their language still helps.

Should resume keywords be nouns or verbs?

Mostly nouns. Recruiters search for skills, tools, qualifications and job titles. Use strong verbs to describe your achievements, but make sure the nouns from the job ad appear too.

Where can I find industry-specific keywords?

Read three or four ads for the same role and note the skills, tools and licences they all mention. Professional body websites and the job title's standard duties are also good sources.

Resume Keywords List by Industry + How to Use Them

What counts as a keyword

Keywords are the specific terms that describe what the employer needs. They usually fall into five groups:

Job titles: "Payroll Officer", "Enrolled Nurse", "Forklift Operator".
Hard skills: "accounts payable", "medication administration", "inventory control".
Tools and systems: "Xero", "Salesforce", "SAP", "Microsoft Excel".
Qualifications and licences: "CPA", "forklift licence", "Working with Children Check", "CSCS card".
Industry terms: "NDIS", "WHS", "lean manufacturing", "safeguarding".

Soft skills like "team player" matter less for searching. Show them through results instead.

Industry-specific keywords: examples for 12 jobs

Here are the kinds of terms recruiters commonly search for in different fields. Treat them as a starting point, not a list to copy: the job ad you are applying for is always the best source, and only include skills you really have.

Accounting: accounts payable, accounts receivable, month-end close, reconciliations, BAS/VAT returns, Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, CPA/CA/ACCA.
Nursing and healthcare: patient assessment, medication administration, care planning, infection control, electronic medical records, AHPRA/NMC registration, BLS/ALS.
IT and software: Python, JavaScript, SQL, AWS, Azure, CI/CD, REST APIs, Agile/Scrum, incident management, ITIL.
Sales: pipeline management, lead generation, account management, CRM, Salesforce, HubSpot, quota attainment, B2B, negotiation.
Marketing: SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads, content strategy, email marketing, GA4, campaign management, conversion rate, brand guidelines.
Customer service: complaint resolution, first contact resolution, CRM, Zendesk, call handling, live chat, de-escalation, service level targets.
Administration: diary management, minute taking, data entry, Microsoft 365, document control, accounts support, reception, travel bookings.
Construction and trades: site supervision, WHS/health and safety, risk assessments, SWMS/RAMS, white card/CSCS, estimating, AutoCAD, subcontractor management.
Hospitality: food safety, RSA/personal licence, POS systems, cash handling, rostering, stock control, front of house, events.
Warehouse and logistics: forklift licence, pick and pack, inventory control, RF scanning, WMS, dispatch, stocktakes, cycle counts.
Teaching: lesson planning, curriculum, differentiation, classroom management, assessment and reporting, teacher registration, behaviour support.
Travel and tourism: GDS (Amadeus, Sabre), itinerary planning, ticketing, reservations, supplier relations, destination knowledge, upselling, travel insurance.

Notice that almost all of these are nouns: skills, tools, licences and job titles. That is what recruiters type into the search box. Action verbs ("led", "reduced", "built") still matter, but their job is to make your achievements read well to the person, not to be found by the software.

Spelling and local terms count too. An Australian ad may ask for a "white card" and "WHS", a UK ad for a "CSCS card" and "health and safety", a US ad for "OSHA". Use the version that appears in the ad for the country you are applying in.

How to find them in 10 minutes

Copy the job ad into a document.
Highlight every skill, tool, qualification and title. Pay extra attention to the "essential" or "must have" section.
Look at two or three similar ads for the same role. Terms that appear in all of them are the core keywords for that job.
Note the exact wording. If the ad says "customer service", do not only write "client care".

Where to put keywords

Headline and summary: the target job title and your two or three strongest matching skills. See these resume summary examples for wording ideas.
Skills section: a clean list of tools, systems and technical skills.
Work experience: the most valuable place. Keywords inside real achievements show you have actually used the skill. For example: "Processed fortnightly payroll for 240 staff in Xero, with zero errors over 18 months."
Certifications: full names and common abbreviations.

Do not keyword stuff

Repeating a word ten times, pasting the job ad into your resume or hiding words in white text does not help. Recruiters see the extracted text, and stuffing makes your resume read badly to the person who decides. Use each important keyword naturally, in context, where it is true.

Tailor for every application

Keep a master resume with everything you have done. For each application, adjust your headline, summary and skills list, and move the most relevant achievements to the top of each role. Ten minutes of tailoring often makes a bigger difference than a full redesign.

Resume Keywords: Industry Examples and How to Use Them