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Optimize Your Job Seeker Profile with Key Skills to Get Noticed by Employers

Are you tired of feeling like your job seeker profile is lost in a sea of cleared candidates? Want to make sure that recruiters notice you? Look no further! We’ll show you how to optimize your job seeker profile to make sure it does some of the heavy lifting when it comes to landing your next cleared job.

Let’s start by fully completing your ClearedJobs.Net job seeker profile and giving some extra attention to your Key Skills section. Get ready to level up your job search game and make your profile a magnet for recruiters!

How Job Seekers and Employers Search for Each Other

Why are the Key Skills on your profile so important? Find out by learning how job seekers and employers find one another on ClearedJobs.Net.

When you search for jobs online, one of the first steps you take is to search using relevant keywords, keyword phrases, or Boolean search strings. The search results you receive on ClearedJobs.Net are a list of job titles, along with the company name, required security clearance, location, and the date the job was posted.

Here’s an example of some results when you search for the keyword “SIGINT”:

Search results like this allow you to quickly assess which job postings are of interest to you and decide whether to click through and read the full job posting. It’s an efficient way to search for job opportunities, as you can quickly filter and prioritize based on a couple important highlights.

On the other side of the table, when recruiters search for potential candidates, they use keywords and phrases just like you. It’s important to understand their search results are not your actual resume – just like your search results are not their actual job postings.

Recruiters see a list of the demographic details that you entered on your job seeker profile. These demographic details influence whether or not a recruiter will click through and review your resume. That’s why it’s crucial to pay attention to the information on your job seeker profile, particularly your Key Skills, to entice recruiters to take a look at your resume.

This is what it looks like when employers search for candidates on ClearedJobs.Net:

Do Your Key Skills Make Employers Click Through to Your Resume

If you look at the employer search results example above, you’ll notice the Key Skills section is your best opportunity to quickly paint a picture of who you are as a candidate to employers. The details you choose to highlight there make or break how successful your profile is at capturing a recruiter’s attention. You want them to click “view resume” because you touched on skills they’re looking for in an ideal candidate.

You have the opportunity to enter up to four Key Skills, so choose your entries wisely. When selecting your Key Skills, it’s essential to be specific and descriptive, as vague or generic skills may not capture the attention of recruiters.

If we look at the examples above, right off the bat you have a better idea of the kind of experience and qualifications Jane Jobseeker has. She listed hard skills in her Key Skills section that are keywords employers will likely be searching for, like “Cybersecurity” and “ISSO.” This provides an understanding of her capabilities at a glance and increases the likelihood of recruiters clicking through to review her resume.

On the other hand, Joe Jobseeker led with soft skills like leadership and communication. Those may be important skills needed for success, but they’re not typically keywords that a recruiter will search for to identify candidates that meet the minimum qualifications of their job openings. So instead of vague or generic skills that don’t provide meaningful information to recruiters, focus on your unique skills and certifications that are relevant to the job you’re seeking.

It’s also important to be careful with the abbreviations or acronyms you use in your Key Skills section. Avoid using ambiguous or obscure acronyms that may confuse recruiters. For example, if you list “FMV” as one of your Key Skills, it could stand for “Family of Military Vehicles” or “Full Motion Video.” Make sure to provide context and clarify any industry-specific acronyms or abbreviations to avoid any misunderstandings.

Also, remember to select the number of years with each skill you list. This provides recruiters with valuable information about your level of expertise and allows them to assess your qualifications more accurately.

Bonus tip: If you’re transitioning out of the military, include your terminal leave date in your Key Skills. Remember, this is a great section to quickly paint a picture of who you are as a job seeker.

Refresh Your Account to Stay at the Top of the Search Pile

Another tip to help employers find you on ClearedJobs.Net is to regularly refresh your account. When recruiters search the resume database, their results are in reverse chronological order, with the newest and freshest profiles appearing at the top.

Therefore, if you haven’t logged in to your account in a long time, your profile may be buried deep in the search results, and recruiters may not even get to it before finding other qualified candidates. By logging in regularly, such as weekly or monthly, you update the date associated with your profile and show recruiters that you’re still actively searching for a job.

Some recruiters also have saved search strings that target new or “fresh” job seekers, similar to job alerts that job seekers set up for new job postings. Refreshing your profile can increase your visibility in these searches and increase your chances of being noticed by recruiters.

Understanding how job search results work and optimizing your job seeker profile can significantly impact your job search success. Providing clear and specific Key Skills, being careful with abbreviations or acronyms, and regularly refreshing your profile can help you stand out to recruiters and increase your chances of getting discovered. So take some time to review and update your profile to make the most out of your job search efforts. Good luck!