Guide

Keyword matching, without the stuffing

Matching a job description's vocabulary is real advice. Padding your résumé with every term in it is not — and the two get confused constantly.

Why vocabulary matters at all

Recruiters search their applicant tracking system the way you search anything else: by typing a term. If the description says Figma and your résumé says design tools, you will not appear in that search. This is not a scoring algorithm judging you; it is a text search missing you.

Why stuffing fails

A keyword list at the foot of a résumé, or a skill you cannot discuss, fails at the first human contact — and the first human contact is exactly what the keyword got you. Worse, claiming a requirement you do not meet wastes the interview slot you worked to get. The aim is to be findable for things that are true, not to be findable for everything.

What good matching looks like

Same word, same meaning

If you use the tool the description names, name it the way the description does.

In context, not in a list

A tool named inside an achievement is evidence. The same tool in a comma-separated row is a claim.

Requirements first

Lead with the achievements that map to the role's stated must-haves.

Gaps stay gaps

A must-have you do not meet is worth knowing about before you apply, not worth papering over.

See your coverage against a real job description

Which requirements you genuinely match, and which ones you do not.