For as long as job search advice has existed in its modern form, using the right keywords in your resume and online profile has been a consistent, repeated recommendation. The logic behind it is straightforward enough: recruiters rely on algorithms and keyword searches to surface matching candidates for their open roles, so using the right terminology genuinely helps you get found in the first place, ahead of candidates who are not using that same language.

There is, however, an important condition attached to that advice that often gets left out. Those keywords need to be genuinely backed up by real experience, involvement in relevant projects, hands-on use of the right technologies, and, where applicable, the right professional accreditations to match. Getting found through a keyword search is only ever the first hurdle in a much longer process.

As a recruiter, there is little more deflating than opening a resume that matches perfectly on keywords, only to work through the actual content in detail and discover those keywords do not genuinely correspond to the candidate's real, demonstrated experience. It undermines trust in the rest of the document almost immediately, and it rarely ends well for the applicant either, since the mismatch tends to surface quickly once a genuine conversation begins.

If your goal is to be both found and genuinely chosen for a role, select your keywords carefully and honestly, because they will only ever carry you part of the way through the process. The rest depends entirely on what a reviewer actually finds once they open your CV in full: how clearly and articulately you explain your real experience and skills in your own words.

Used well, keywords do exactly the job they are meant to do, which is simply getting your resume in front of the right person and, from there, into interview conversations where your genuine substance can finally speak for itself.