I scored this quote off of Reddit, and wanted to save it somewhere just because it’s… like… wow. Warning: It may be technically unethical to do this. Originally found in the /r/jobs subreddit:

This probably is obvious to your Dad at this point, but here’s an important suggestion when applying to jobs online: stack your resume with buzz words.

I don’t mean just make sure you’re using “power words” throughout the resume… what I mean is, create a list of maybe a couple hundred power words that HR likes, and then a few thousand buzz words that are relevant to the field (and they can even be vaguely relevant).

When I was applying for the “presitigious” well-paid biotech internships as an undergrad, I added a list of about five thousand biology, engineering, and power words to my resume.

All you have to do is make them size 1 font, font color: white, and put them in the footer. I went from around a 1-2% response rate to getting interviews for almost a third of the jobs I applied for (which was a shitload).

Hope this helps.

edit: cool anecdote. I really wanted an internship with Genentech and spent a long time polishing my resume and my experience before applying for the summer after my soph. year. I didn’t hear from them. I intern at another company, still respectable, and meet an older intern who had interned at Genentech when he was my age, despite being less qualified as far as basic research experience at the time he applied. After a few F7U12′s, I realized that he went to MIT as an undergrad and thought maybe that had something to do with it. Next year, my resume comes hidden with the top 200 public and private schools in the US. BINGO, get an interview, get the job. Now correlation isn’t necessarily causation (I also added the rest of the huge list), but it makes for a cool story. I spliced the school names throughout the Bio words to avoid any accusations of fraud.

edit 2: a couple redditors suggested that SEO can be dangerous. I know this has worked for me, but proceed with caution

Sooo… Inquiring minds wanted to know where this profound little tip came from… Poster’s response follows:

It was listed in a nice little Forbes blog about resume database search optimization a couple years ago. Some resume-builders suggest a “keyword dump” on your resume, but it looks extremely tacky.

If I remember correctly, the blog suggested filling in the words in the spaces between sections (eg Work Experience and Education). I just figured I’d take it to the nth level. I found a huge biology and bioengineering glossary online that had simple to advanced terms. I also added in things that are totally random: every programming language known to man, a bunch of “common” community service and membership acronyms, etc. At no point am I claiming that I did these things, I’m just listing the words.

With pretty much all job applications done online now, this is one of those things that when you hear it, you know it will help.

Tags: employment, job searching, jobs, resume, seo, work