Job description keywords that actually help your resume
Applicant tracking systems and recruiters both look for overlap between your resume and the job description.
The goal is accurate language for skills you have — not a hidden block of buzzwords at the bottom of the page.
Which keywords matter
Hard skills and tools named in the requirements
Certifications and domain terms (e.g. “HIPAA”, “SOC 2”, “React”)
Seniority and scope words you can prove (“owned”, “scaled”, “led”)
Must-have phrases that appear more than once in the posting
How to place them
Summary: 1–2 lines that mirror the target role title + core stack
Bullets: outcomes that naturally include the tool or method
Skills: a clean list of real competencies from the JD
Never claim systems or licenses you don’t hold
Let Athena do the pairing
Paste the full job description with your resume. Athena surfaces match themes and rewrites so keyword alignment
sits inside real experience — the same workflow as our main ATS optimizer.