How to Analyse a Job Description for ATS Keywords
The job description is the most reliable source of keywords for your CV. ATS systems are configured to look for terms that appear in the job description — so reading and analysing the job posting carefully is the starting point for any effective tailoring.
Read the Job Description Twice
The first read is for comprehension. What is the role? What does the employer need? What kind of person are they looking for?
The second read is analytical. This time, you are actively identifying keywords.
What to Look For
Job title: The exact job title should appear somewhere in your CV — ideally in your personal statement and/or as a target role reference. If the job is "Senior Data Analyst," those words should be in your CV.
Required skills: These are your highest-priority keywords. Skills listed as "essential," "required," or mentioned in the core requirements section are most heavily weighted.
Tools and technologies: Named software, platforms, programming languages, methodologies. Include the exact names as listed (Salesforce, not "CRM platform"; Python, not "programming experience").
Qualifications: Any explicitly required qualification should appear verbatim if you hold it. Include both the acronym and full name.
Industry terminology: Sector-specific phrases that recur in the description signal the employer's vocabulary. Use their language.
Action verbs: Job descriptions often use verbs that describe what the role involves — "analyse," "deliver," "manage," "develop," "collaborate." These are good signals for how to frame your experience bullets.
Prioritise High-Frequency Keywords
Words and phrases that appear multiple times in a job description are weighted more heavily. Make a note of any term that appears more than once — these are your top-priority keywords.
A keyword that appears once in the "desirable" section is worth less than one that appears three times across the core description.
Group Keywords Into Categories
Organise your extracted keywords into categories:
- Technical skills / tools
- Competencies / behaviours
- Sector terminology
- Qualifications
- Job title language
This makes it easier to map keywords to the right sections of your CV: skills section, personal statement, experience bullets, education section.
What a Manual Analysis Misses
Manual keyword extraction is useful but imperfect. You may miss synonyms, overlook multi-word phrases, or misjudge weighting. An ATS checker automates this process — it analyses the job description algorithmically and gives you a precise list of keywords your CV needs.
CVCircuit's ATS checker does this analysis for you in seconds. Paste the job description and see immediately which keywords are present and which are missing.
Check your ATS keyword match free at CVCircuit.