Resume keyword checker

Paste a job posting and your resume, or upload your resume as a PDF or Word file. See which skills the posting asks for that your resume never mentions, which ones are only sitting in a skills list, and what else they want. Free, no sign-up, and nothing leaves your browser.

How hiring systems read your resume

Most employers put applications through an applicant tracking system before a person reads them. The system turns your file into text and looks for the words the job posting uses — a skill, a tool, a qualification. If the posting says “PostgreSQL” and your resume only says “databases”, the match is weaker, even when you have done exactly that work.

Recruiters skim the same way. They look for the posting's words in your most recent jobs first, then in your skills list. So the question is not only whether a skill appears, but where.

What this checker looks at

• Skills and tools named in the posting — about 170 of them with their common spellings (“Postgres” and “PostgreSQL”, “k8s” and “Kubernetes”). The list is strongest for software, data and IT roles; for other fields, read the “in plain words” part of the result.
• Whether each one is in your work history or only in a list.
• “Any one of these” groups, so “Python, Java or similar” needs one language, not three.
• Years of experience, degrees and languages, compared with the dates and education on your resume.
• Conditions about you, such as “citizens only” or “must already have the right to work” — shown separately, because no resume edit changes them.
• How readable your resume is to a parser: whether it has an email, a phone number, a city, and dated jobs.

Add what is true, where it is true

The fastest way to a better match is not a list of keywords at the bottom of the page. It is one honest bullet under the job where you used the skill: what you built, with what, and what changed. That line satisfies the parser and the person, and it is something you can talk about in an interview.

Questions

Is my resume uploaded anywhere?

No. The check runs in your browser. Nothing you paste or upload is sent to a server or stored — close the tab and it is gone.

Can I upload my resume as a PDF or Word file?

Yes. Upload or drop a PDF, a Word file (.docx), or a TXT or Markdown file, and its text appears in the box for you to check. The file is read in your browser, not uploaded. Scanned PDFs (pictures of pages) and older .doc files cannot be read — copy the text and paste it instead.

Should I add every missing keyword?

Only the ones you have really used. Put each one in a bullet under the job where you used it, not just in a skills list. An interviewer will ask about every word on the page, and a skill you cannot talk about costs more than a missing keyword.

Why does it say a skill is only in my skills list?

Many hiring systems and most recruiters give more weight to a skill that appears in your work history than to one in a list. A bullet that shows you using it — what you built, with what result — reads as evidence; a list reads as a claim.

What does “any one” mean?

When a posting says “Python, Java or similar” or lists examples in brackets, you need one of them, not all. The checker groups those so you are not told you are missing three languages when you have one.

Does it understand requirements that are not skills?

It reads years of experience, degrees, languages and work-permit conditions (for example “Singapore citizens only”). Requirements written in plain words — “experience in an acute surgical ward” — are listed for you to read yourself, because a keyword check cannot judge them honestly.

Tracking several applications? ApplyKoala keeps every job, resume and application together, checks each resume against each posting, and suggests the lines to add from your own experience. See also: guides.