How to Read a Job Description to Find ATS Keywords

Copy the full job description text into a blank document or a notes app where you can highlight, underline, and annotate freely. If the job description is long, also note the company name, job title, and the date you copied it so you can match keywords to the right role later when you are managing multiple applications at once. Include the full text: job title, summary paragraph, responsibilities section, requirements section, and any preferred qualifications. Each section contributes different types of keywords and ignoring any one of them means leaving relevant terms out of your analysis.

Highlight required skills in one color and preferred skills in another. Hiring managers write preferred sections as wish lists, and candidates who meet 60-70% of preferred skills are typically still strong applicants.

These are your hard skill keywords. Write them exactly as they appear in the job description. If the posting says 'Salesforce CRM,' write that - not just 'Salesforce.' If it says 'agile methodology,' use that phrase. The ATS is typically matching exact strings or close variants, and mirroring the employer's language improves your match score. Organize your list by frequency: terms that appear more than once in the job description are weighted more heavily by most ATS systems. A skill mentioned in the title, the summary, and the requirements section is almost certainly a core requirement. Put it at the top of your list and make sure it appears prominently in your resume.

Instead they are embedded in the responsibilities: 'collaborate with cross-functional teams,' 'present findings to senior leadership,' 'manage competing deadlines.' These responsibility phrases tell you what behaviors the employer expects and what language you should mirror in your bullet points. Extract these phrases and note the action verb (collaborate, present, manage) and the context (cross-functional teams, senior leadership, competing deadlines). When you write your resume bullets, use the same verb-context pairing to signal that your experience maps directly to their expectations.

A 'project manager' in construction is a 'program manager' in tech and an 'engagement manager' in consulting. ATS systems are often configured with the terminology used in that company's industry, and using the wrong synonym can cost you a match even when your experience is directly relevant. Read the entire job description and highlight any terms that seem specific to that company's industry or niche. Look up any unfamiliar acronyms or phrases. If the posting uses a term you know by a different name, include both versions in your resume - the industry-standard term you know and the term the employer used. This covers both the ATS match and the recruiter's comprehension.

Group terms into three tiers: Tier 1 (required, mentioned multiple times), Tier 2 (required, mentioned once), and Tier 3 (preferred, would strengthen the application). This list is what you check your resume against before submitting. For each Tier 1 keyword, verify it appears in your resume verbatim or as a close variant. For Tier 2 keywords, add them where you can do so naturally. For Tier 3 keywords, add them if you have genuine experience to back them up.

You may miss synonyms the ATS accepts, undercount keyword density, or overlook section-specific requirements. After you have applied your keyword list to your resume, paste both the job description and your revised resume into an ATS checker tool. The tool will calculate your match score, show which keywords were found and where, and flag any critical terms still missing. Aim for a match score above 75-80% before submitting. If you fall short, return to your resume and look for additional opportunities to incorporate missing terms naturally. Once you hit your target score, do a final read-aloud check to make sure the resume still sounds like a human wrote it - a resume that passes the ATS but reads like a keyword list will be discarded by the human reader who comes next.