Keywords

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The name of the game changes just a little bit if you decide to post your resume online. Joyce Lain Kennedy, author of the books Electronic Job Search Revolution and Electronic Resume Revolution, and a syndicated columnist, includes several tips for the electronic resume writer in her Tips on Writing an Electronic Resume article in the E-Span documents section (http://www.espan.com/docs/jklresu.html). The first tip she addresses is that you have to think in terms of nouns, not verbs with an electronic resume. These nouns lead to, in part, your keywords, according to the Infoseek and Your Personal Net article. When you put your resume online a potential employer has to have a way to separate your resume from everyone else's. What they use are known as keywords�words that can be applications or programs (such as Lotus 1-2-3, Adobe Photoshop, and so on) you have used or other skills you have (typing speed, proficiency in languages) that pertain to the job you want.

Ruess calls keywords "buzz words for your industry," and says they are extremely important for the person wanting to post their resume online. "At the beginning you really have to target what you want to do," she says.

Several career sites on the Web have articles that deal with key words. One such article that does a good job of explaining their importance is Career Magazine (http://www.careermag.com/careermag/newsarts/resume/1046.html).

As with your strengths and weaknesses, you also don't want to go overboard when you're listing your experience or when you are including keywords in your resume. As Ruess already pointed out, you have to target your resume toward one profession or career when you're posting online.

"A lot of people have the tendency to either not provide enough information or provide too much information," says Alok Singhania, a vice president for Intellimatch (http://www.intellimatch.com/). "You have to make sure you don't type in everything. You just want to have what is relevant information." And relevant information is information that is pertinent to the job you are applying for, not every job you have ever held.

"A lot of people have the tendency to either not provide enough information or provide too much information. You have to make sure you don't type in everything. You just want to have what is relevant information."