

Are You Keyword Optimizing Your Resume? - Pinny
http://www.pinnycohen.com/2007/10/18/dollars-and-sense/are-you-keyword-optimizing-your-resume/

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cperciva
When I applied to Google last year, in addition to the usual sections
(Education, Scholarships, Awards, Employment, Research, Other Activities,
Publications, and Software written), I listed "Grep Bait":

    
    
     Algorithms, Computer Algebra, Computer Security, Cryptography,
     Delta Compression, File Synchronization, FreeBSD,
     Matching with Mismatches, Numerical Analysis, Parallel Computing.
    

I think listing keywords is useful, but it's important to be honest about the
fact that you're listing keywords -- and to separate them into a different
section in order to avoid cluttering up the more substantive sections.

~~~
Pinny
I wasn't making a note about "listing keywords" per say, but rather making use
of them in natural ways throughout your resume.

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donal
I don't think this necessarily applies just to machines. I know that when I am
handed a resume the first thing I do is skim over it and preform the analog
version of "searching for key words." If I see the words I am looking for,
then I may look at the most recent job description and then maybe the
summary... I think this is particularly true for technical positions. You want
to know that they've got a clue about what they just applied for.

Not that I'll need to look at resumes at my new job (I finally get to write
code and not just reports!).

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edw519
This is exactly the opposite of what I believe in and I'll tell you why.

First of all, here is my resume...

"I have run 25 large scale development projects and have written over 10,000
original programs across multiple technologies, industries, and disciplines. I
will do whatever it takes to get the job done. If I know something, I'll do it
and teach it, if not, I'll learn it. If you're adamant about getting the job
done, let's talk."

I consider myself as scarce and special as any opportunity I explore. I will
never post my resume anywhere. I will not be a "round peg" for a "round hole"
for any recruiter, HR department, or machine. If someone is looking for "x
years of y", that tells me that their vision is so limited that I would never
be happy working there anyway.

And I suspect many people here should be thinking the same way. Shouldn't you?

~~~
cperciva
_If I know something, I'll do it and teach it, if not, I'll learn it._

That's fine if someone is looking to hire a generalist. But if I need to hire
a cryptographer, I want to hire someone who already knows cryptography -- not
someone who will go away and spend ten years learning before he's useful.

I've heard it said that the words "quick learner" on a CV really mean "I don't
know anything yet"; and my immediate impression reading what you've written is
"ok, that's nice... now, what are you actually good at?"

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DanielBMarkham
Use keywords.

In my experience tech resumes should run a lot longer than normal resumes.
First of all, 99% of the time they're being read by machines, not people. Put
a bulleted list of "why should I care about you" items at the top of the first
page for the humans to consume. The rest of the stuff, at least initially, is
machine food. If they like you, you can both talk about the rest of it during
the interview. Of course its totally different scenario if you're doing
something like a resume to present to VCs or something. A resume is a sales
tool. You have to know the audience. Unfortunately, for places like monster,
dice, and such, the audience is a machine. That means keywords pay off.

