Resume Keywords for ATS: How to Find and Use Them, With Examples by Role

Resume keywords for ATS are the specific terms a job description uses for required skills, tools, credentials, and tasks. Recruiters search their applicant tracking system for those exact terms, so your CV (resume) should reflect them wherever they are genuinely true for you. The reliable source of keywords is always the job description in front of you — not a generic list — but the examples by role further down show what to look for.

Find the useful keywords

• Job titles and role names.
• Tools and systems, such as Salesforce, Excel, Epic, or Jira.
• Credentials, licenses, or registrations.
• Core tasks, such as triage, reporting, stakeholder management, or discharge planning.
• Industry terms that describe the work accurately.

Weight them by position and repetition: terms that appear twice, appear early, or sit under “essential” or “requirements” matter most. A keyword only helps if it is true and attached to evidence — treating the list like a shopping list is how CVs end up stuffed.

Ignore empty keywords

Words like motivated, dynamic, fast-paced, and excellent communicator are usually too vague on their own. If the job ad asks for communication, show the setting: handovers, client calls, stakeholder updates, patient education, or written reports.

Place keywords where they make sense

If the job asks for CRM reporting, stakeholder updates, and onboarding, do not write a skills line that simply repeats those words. Write a bullet like: Built weekly CRM reports for onboarding managers and shared status updates with sales and support leads.

Example ATS keywords by role

These lists are illustrative — typical terms that recur in adverts for each field, shown so you know the kind of language to look for. They are not exhaustive and not a substitute for the advert in front of you: your actual list comes from the specific job description, and a term only belongs on your CV if it is true for you.

IT and software:

• Python, SQL, JavaScript, or the stack the advert names
• AWS / Azure / cloud infrastructure
• CI/CD, version control (Git), code review
• Agile, Scrum, sprint planning
• Incident response, system administration, REST APIs

Customer service:

• CRM and ticketing systems (Salesforce, Zendesk)
• First-contact resolution, SLAs, response times
• Complaint handling, escalation, de-escalation
• Live chat and email support, call handling
• Customer retention, CSAT, feedback follow-up

Healthcare:

• Registration and credentials (NMC, GMC, HCPC) with status
• Patient care, care planning, clinical documentation
• Medication administration, infection control, safeguarding
• Triage, escalation, observations
• Multidisciplinary team (MDT) working, handover

Administration and office:

• Diary management, scheduling, minute taking
• Microsoft Office — Excel, Outlook, Word — or the named suite
• Records management, data entry, document control
• Front-of-house, switchboard, correspondence handling
• Procurement support, invoicing, expenses

Sales:

• Pipeline management, forecasting, quota attainment
• Lead generation, cold outreach, qualification
• CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot) hygiene and reporting
• Account management, renewals, upselling
• Negotiation, closing, territory planning

Notice the pattern across all five: named systems, named credentials, and named tasks — nouns a recruiter can type into a search box. That is what you are extracting from any advert, in any field.

Turning a keyword list into bullet points

A keyword earns its place by living inside evidence. The transformation is the same in every field — take the term, add what you did with it and what came of it:

Keep the human reader in mind

A recruiter can tell when a CV is stuffed with search terms. Read the final version aloud. If it sounds unnatural, remove repeated terms and keep the strongest evidence.

Use exact terms only when they are true

If the advert says account management and your role used the phrase client success, you can include both if they describe the same work. If the advert says Python and you only used spreadsheets, do not add Python. Keyword matching is useful only when it makes the CV more accurate.

A good final pass is to highlight every keyword you added. For each one, point to the bullet, project, role, course, or certification that proves it. If you cannot point to evidence, remove the keyword.

For the screening basics, start with what an ATS resume is; strong wording still needs an ATS-friendly resume format so the keywords sit inside a clean, readable layout. Keywords are one half of passing screening — for the other half and the full five-step process, see how to optimize your resume for ATS. And when the keywords need to become a focused summary, skills section, and first-page evidence, the job-description tailoring guide takes over.