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Match job-post keywords without sounding like a robot
Applicant tracking systems and recruiters both scan for the words in the job post. Here is how to use them in sentences a person would actually say.
Dana Whitfield
Cofounder and CEO
Job posts are written in a specific vocabulary: “stakeholder management,” “roadmap ownership,” “SQL.” Recruiters search for those words, and many applicant tracking systems rank applications by how many of them appear. So your letter should use them. Use them inside proof, where they read as experience, and keep them out of lists, where they read as stuffing.
Find the five that matter
Most posts repeat their real priorities. Copy the post into a document and highlight every skill or tool that appears twice or shows up in the first three bullets. That is usually five to eight terms. Ignore the generic ones, like “team player” and “fast-paced,” and keep the specific ones.
Put each keyword next to a number
A keyword on its own is a claim. A keyword next to a result is evidence. Compare these two lines:
Weak: “Experienced in A/B testing and checkout optimization.”
Strong: “I ran 14 A/B tests on our checkout in 2025 and lifted conversion 11.4%.”
The second line contains the same two keywords, plus a number a recruiter can repeat to the hiring manager.
Follow the order of the post
Order matters too. If the post lists checkout first and analytics third, lead with your checkout result. Recruiters read top to bottom, so the first keyword they find should be the one they were asked to look for.
Put the top keyword in your first proof sentence.
Use the second and third in the paragraph that follows.
Leave tools that appear once in the post for the resume.
Use the post’s exact phrase once, then write like yourself. If the post says “stakeholder management,” say it once, and the next time just name who you worked with.
Know when to stop
Two or three keywords per paragraph is plenty. If a sentence carries four tools, split it or move some of them back to the resume, where a skills section is the right home. A letter that covers 9 of 11 terms and reads naturally beats one that covers all 11 and reads like a parts list.
Make sure the system can read them
Keywords only count if the software can parse them. Keep the letter in plain text or a simple PDF, keep key terms out of headers, text boxes and images, and spell out an acronym once, as in “applicant tracking system (ATS),” because some systems search for one form and miss the other.
Pithy’s Keyword match shows which terms from the post your letter covers and which it misses, and suggests where a missing one could go. It never adds a skill you have not listed. If a keyword is missing because you lack the skill, the honest move is to leave it out and talk about it in the interview.
Three more short guides.
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Write your opening line last
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