ATS Resume Keywords: How to Find and Use Them (With a Worked Example)

Nm7 Team · 16 Oct 2026 · 6 min read

Quick answer: ATS resume keywords are the skills, tools, job titles and qualifications that appear in a job description. To find them, read the job post, list every hard skill and requirement, and mark the ones you truly have. Then use those exact words naturally in your summary, skills section and experience or project bullets.

What are ATS resume keywords?

Recruiters often search their ATS (Applicant Tracking System) or job portal with specific words. For example, "SQL", "Tally Prime", "AutoCAD" or "customer support". These search words are your keywords. If your resume uses the same words, it is more likely to show up in their search.

Keywords are not magic words. They simply help the right person find you. After that, a recruiter reads your resume. To understand the full process, see how an ATS reads your resume, step by step.

What types of keywords should I look for?

  • Hard skills and tools: Excel, Python, Power BI, Tally, SAP, AutoCAD, Java.
  • Job titles: Data Analyst, Accounts Executive, Customer Support Associate.
  • Qualifications: B.Com, B.Tech, MCA, CA Inter, a specific certification.
  • Domain words: GST, payroll, e-commerce, inbound calls, quality control.
  • Soft skills: communication, teamwork. These matter, but show them with examples instead of only listing them.

How do I find keywords in a job description?

  1. Copy the full job description into a notes app or a document.
  2. Read it once for the overall role.
  3. Read it again and underline every skill, tool, qualification and task.
  4. Notice words that repeat or appear under "Must have" or "Requirements". These are usually the most important.
  5. Make two lists: words you have real experience with, and words you do not.
  6. Use only the first list on your resume.

If you apply to many similar jobs, check three or four job posts for the same role. Words that keep coming up are the core keywords for that role.

Worked example: from job description to resume lines

Let us take a sample job post and turn it into resume lines. The company and details below are only an example.

Step 1: The sample job description

Junior Data Analyst – Bengaluru (0–2 years)

We are looking for a Junior Data Analyst to support our sales team. You will clean and analyse sales data, build weekly dashboards in Power BI, and write SQL queries to pull data from our database. Must have: SQL, Advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Power BI. Good to have: Python (Pandas), basic statistics. Graduate in any discipline. Good communication skills to present insights to managers.

Step 2: The extracted keywords

Must-have keywords:

  • SQL
  • Advanced Excel, pivot tables, VLOOKUP
  • Power BI, dashboards
  • Data cleaning, data analysis
  • Sales data

Good-to-have keywords:

  • Python, Pandas
  • Statistics
  • Presenting insights, communication

Job title keyword: Junior Data Analyst / Data Analyst.

Step 3: Check what you really have

Imagine our example candidate, Rahul, a B.Com graduate from Pune. He has used SQL and Excel in an internship and built a Power BI dashboard in a college project. He has done a short online Python course but has not used Pandas on real data. So he will include SQL, Excel, Power BI and basic Python. He will not claim strong Pandas skills.

Step 4: Before and after resume lines

Summary – before:

"Hard-working graduate looking for a challenging role in a reputed company."

Summary – after:

"B.Com graduate seeking a Junior Data Analyst role. Hands-on with SQL, Advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP) and Power BI dashboards from a 3-month sales data internship."

Skills – before:

"MS Office, computer knowledge, data, good communication."

Skills – after:

"SQL (joins, GROUP BY), Advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Power BI, data cleaning, Python (basics), presenting insights."

Internship bullet – before:

"Worked on data and made reports for the team."

Internship bullet – after:

  • Wrote SQL queries to pull monthly sales data for 4 regions and cleaned it in Excel using pivot tables and VLOOKUP.
  • Built a weekly Power BI dashboard showing sales by product and region, used by the team lead in Monday reviews.
  • Presented two insights on slow-moving products to the sales manager.

Project bullet – after:

  • Analysed a public retail sales dataset in Python (basic Pandas) and Excel and summarised the top 10 products by revenue.

Notice what changed. The after lines use the exact words from the job post: SQL, pivot tables, VLOOKUP, Power BI, dashboards, sales data, insights. Each keyword sits inside a real task, so a human reader also believes it. Nothing is invented.

Where should keywords go on my resume?

  • Summary: the job title and your 2–3 strongest matching skills.
  • Skills section: a clean list of the tools and skills you have.
  • Experience, internship and project bullets: keywords used inside real tasks and results. This is the strongest proof.
  • Certifications: the exact course or certificate name, such as an NPTEL course title.

Write a short form and full form once where it helps, for example "Goods and Services Tax (GST)" or "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)". Recruiters may search either version.

What should I avoid when adding keywords?

  • Keyword stuffing: repeating "SQL" ten times does not help. It makes the resume hard to read.
  • White or hidden text: never hide keywords in white font. A recruiter can spot it when they copy or view the text, and it looks dishonest.
  • Copying the whole job description: recruiters notice this immediately.
  • Adding skills you do not have: interviewers will ask about every skill on your resume.
  • Changing the job title of your past job: keep real titles. Use the summary to show the role you want.

For a quick routine you can repeat for every application, read how to tailor your resume to a job description in 10 minutes.

Add your keywords in the nm7.si builder

The nm7.si resume builder guides you on what to write in each section, so it is easy to put keywords in your summary, skills and bullets. You can keep several projects or internships saved and use a switch to show or hide each entry for different jobs. Templates are clean and single-column, and you can download as PDF or Word.

Frequently asked questions

How many keywords should my resume have?

There is no fixed number. Include the main skills from the job post that you truly have, and use each one naturally where it fits.

Should I use the exact words from the job description?

Yes, for skills you have. If the post says "Power BI", write "Power BI", not only "BI tools" or "dashboards".

Do soft skills count as keywords?

Sometimes, but recruiters usually search for hard skills and tools. Show soft skills through examples, like presenting to a manager or handling customer calls.

Can I use one resume for all jobs?

You can keep one base resume, but adjust the summary, skills and bullets for each role. Small changes make a big difference to how well it matches.

Is it okay to use an online keyword tool?

It can help you spot words, but always check against the real job post and your real skills. Never add a keyword just because a tool suggested it.