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Keywords to Include in Your Higher Ed Resume or CV

by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Sep 16, 2025 | Career Skills, Higher Education, Job Search, Job Search, optimization, Resumes and CVs, transferable skills

When it comes to crafting a resume for higher education positions, it’s essential to go beyond just listing your experience and degrees. Think of your resume as a strategic tool that needs to impress both Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and hiring committees. These committees are on the lookout for specific keywords that highlight your core competencies and align with their institutional priorities.

By incorporating the correct terminology, you can boost your chances of making it to the interview stage. So, get ready to fine-tune your resume and make it not just informative, but compelling! Your future in academia might depend on it.

Why Keywords Matter in Higher Education Resumes

When it comes to landing a position in Higher Education, it’s all about speaking the language of academia. Using the right keywords not only shows that you’re in tune with the environment, priorities, and culture of your potential employer, but it also gives your resume a competitive edge.

These keywords are essential for navigating the intricate web of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which HR departments use to sift through hundreds of applications. Make sure your application stands out by demonstrating your familiarity with the academic landscape!

Below you will find a list of common categories and keywords you can include on your resume. It’s a long list, but it’s not all-inclusive. The best place to search for keywords is in your target job description. These are terms I often include in client resumes, and they are some good skills to start with, as you create your resume. Good luck!

Top Categories of Keywords for Higher Ed Resumes

Teaching & Learning

Curriculum Development
Instructional Design
Student Engagement
Learning Outcomes
Assessment Strategies
Lesson Planning
Classroom Management
Experiential Learning
Workshop Facilitation

Student Success & Support

Academic Advising
Counseling Center
Health Services
Career Services
Internships
Study Abroad
International Student Services
Student Activities
Event Management
Student Development
Student Conduct / Judicial Affairs
Restorative Justice
Code of Conduct / Honor Code
First-Generation Student Support
Retention Initiatives
At-Risk Students
Inclusive Pedagogy
Tutoring
Communication
Empathy
Relationship Building
Problem Solving
Conflict Resolution
Mediation
Crisis Management
Event Management
Facility Management

Student Services

Admissions
Bursar
Financial Aid
Registrar
Student Accounts
Billing
Student Records
Contracts

Research & Scholarship

Assessment
Benchmarking
Grant Writing
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Sponsored Programs
Research Compliance
Human Subjects
Scholarly Publications (Thesis, Dissertation, Journals, Books, etc.)
Research Collaborations
Data Analysis
Reporting
Conference Presentations
Media Appearances / Media Mentions
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
Metrics

Leadership & Administration

Strategic Planning
Annual Reports
Accreditation
Change Management
Program Management
Project Management
Cross-Functional Teams
Committees
Partnerships / Collaborations (Departments, Divisions, Community Organizations, Government, Non-Profits, etc.)
Board of Trustees
Budgets / Budget Administration
Governance
Policy Development
Supervision
Performance Management
Mentoring
Mission & Vision Development
Standards / Standard Operating Procedures / SOPs
Institutional Effectiveness
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Emergency Response
Recruiting / Recruitment

Advancement & External Relations

Alumni Relations / Alumni Affairs
Community Outreach
Corporate Relations
Development
Donor Relations
Fundraising
Government Relations
Legal Affairs
Public Relations
Regulatory Compliance (ADA, FERPA, Title IX, EEO, etc.)

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)

Inclusive Excellence
Multicultural Programming
Equity Initiatives
Accessibility
Community Engagement
Cultural Sensitivity
Intercultural Communication
Culturally Responsive
Bias Mitigation
Employee Resource Groups
Campus Climate
Learning Environment
Work Environment
Stakeholder Engagement / Stakeholder Relations

Auxiliary & Business Services

Athletics
Bookstore
Campus Dining / Food Services
Catering
Housing / Residence Life / On-Campus Living
Marketing
Public Safety
Parking
Recreation / Intramurals
Document Services / Printing Services
Purchasing
Human Resources
Training / Training & Development
Facility Management

Technology & Innovation

Learning Management Systems (LMS) – Blackboard, Canvas, Moodle, Etc.
Online Course Design
Educational Technology
Data-Informed Decision Making
Virtual Learning Environments
Database Management
User Experience (UX)
Dashboard Development
Social Media Management
Google Analytics

Common Software and Web Platforms

Microsoft Office – Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Teams, Microsoft 365
Google Apps (Google Workspace) – Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Google Drive, Google Classroom
Design – Canva, Figma, Affinity Designer, Adobe Creative Suite – InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, Acrobat Reader, etc.
Meeting Platforms – Zoom, Google Meet, WebEx, Skype, GoToMeeting
Website Development: HTML, WordPress, Squarespace, Wix
Data Visualization – Tableau, PowerBI, Qlik, Google Looker
Data Collection and Management – Qualtrics, Access, SurveyMonkey, TypeForm
CRM: Slate, Salesforce Education Cloud, Ellucian CRM, Element 451, TargetX
Student Information Systems – Ellucian (Banner, Student), Workday Student, Jenzabar One, Salesforce Education Cloud, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Housing & Residence Life Platforms: StarRez, Entrata, eRezLife, Roompact, Creatrix Campus, SpaceBasic

Other Common Keywords

Adaptability
Analytical Mindset
Growth Mindset
Attention to Detail
Collaboration
Coordination
Critical Thinking
Time Management
Customer Service
Teamwork
Leadership
Team Leadership
Operations
Planning
Organizing / Organizational Skills
Continuous Improvement / Process Improvement / Process Optimization
Alignment
Negotiation
Assess(ed)
Manage(d)
Create(d)
Implement(ed)
Execute(d)
Develop(ed), Development
Critical Thinking
Increased
Decreased
Drove / Drive
Facilitate
Create(d) / Creative / Creativity
Networking
Present(ed) / Presentation(s)
Flexible
Work Independently / Minimal Supervision / Self-Directed/ Self-Motivated

How to Use These Keywords Effectively

Mirror the job posting: Adapt your resume by weaving in the exact terminology used in the description.
Be authentic: Only use keywords that accurately reflect your skills and experience.
Show impact: Combine keywords with measurable achievements (e.g., “Led curriculum development initiative that improved retention rates by 12%”).
Balance ATS and human readers: Don’t overstuff your resume; ensure it reads naturally and flows smoothly.

Final Thoughts:

Unlocking the next step in your higher education career begins with the right keywords—your ticket to capturing attention and making your resume shine. By crafting your document with intention and authenticity, you not only meet the expectations of today’s institutions but also showcase the unique value you bring. Approach your job search with confidence, knowing that each strategically chosen word brings you closer to new opportunities and professional growth. You’ve got this!

Great Resources for Higher Education Career Advice

If you would like this article as a handout, please support Higher Ed Career Coach by purchasing a PDF version below for $1.

Keywords to Include in Your Higher Ed Resume or CV

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Keywords to Include in Your Higher Ed Resume or CV

When it comes to crafting a resume for higher education positions, it’s essential to go beyond just listing your experience and degrees. Think of your resume as a strategic tool that needs to impress both Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and hiring committees. This document includes common categories and keywords you can include on your resume. If you would like to support this site, buy this document for $1.

Category: Resource Sheets

Tags: handout, keywords, keywords handout, resource, resource sheets, resume

Work with Sean Cook – Intelligent Career Strategies for Higher Education Professionals . I help higher ed professionals take control of their careers with tailored services including resume and CV development, LinkedIn profile optimization and networking strategy, interview coaching, and one-on-one career guidance. Whether you’re pursuing advancement in academia or exploring opportunities beyond the campus, I provide the tools and strategies you need to thrive in today’s competitive job market. For more information, visit https://www.seancook.net/. You can read recommendations from previous clients on my LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanccook/. To schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation, please use the Calendly widget below.

The Applicant’s Role in the Screening Process

by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Feb 7, 2013 | Job Search, Resumes and CVs

What can a candidate do to affect the outcome of the screening process? Not much. You can’t set the search criteria for an employer. You can’t make screeners meticulously follow the criteria they have. And you can’t eliminate bias.

You can only present a coherent argument and make sure that it highlights what you have to offer in relation to the position and the needs of an employer.

How can you describe, explain, or imply a high degree of fit between you/your skills and the needs of your potential employer?
It will not be through the use of buzzwords. It will be through the use of keywords. And the best way to discover the most relevant keywords is to study the employer, read the position description or advertisement carefully, and pull out those elements that seem most important. This introduces the value of “word-farming.”

There are some great tools out there that can help you distill a job description down to the most important keywords. We’ll delve into them in a later post. For now, let’s start at the beginning. If you are going to make a coherent argument, you have to do one thing first…

Know Your Goal

Have you ever heard the term “He couldn’t hit the side of a barn?”
It implies a lack of precision and lack of focus.

How about “shooting from the hip?”
It implies that a person engages in hasty, gut-level reactions, rather than taking carefully-considered and well-planned actions in an attempt to reach a goal.
Let’s consider these metaphors and attempt to apply them to our thinking about the job search process.

How specific is your job target? Is it the side of a barn, or the barn window?

You see, shooting at the side of a barn is a really aimless activity. It doesn’t take much talent. You could almost do so by accident. Bored teenagers shoot paintballs at the side of a barn for something to do. A serious marksman wouldn’t bother. A marksman would shoot out the windows (or maybe the lights!)

If you ever shot from the hip, it was probably during a moment of reaction, when you had your guard down, felt attacked or confronted, and responded immediately, in a way designed to help you deflect the arguments of your attacker, or to escape from an unpleasant situation. Is that really any way to approach your job search? Some job seekers browse job postings without specific job titles, employers, roles, or responsibilities in mind, taking an “I’ll know the right job when I see it” sort of attitude. If you aren’t imagining an ideal job or ideal roles, you’ll be less able to coherently present your arguments, and when interview time comes (if you are that lucky), you’ll be responding to questions in the same way. Shooting from the hip is a terrible way to interview.

Aimless is as Aimless Does.

I have a piece of paper tacked to the bulletin board above my desk that reads “Aimless is as aimless does.” It reminds me to set specific goals to hold myself accountable for reaching them.

Notice that the key point is that your goal must be specific.

Aim for a bullseye, not a barn.

Would you really be happy just having any random job? Probably not.

You might get by. You might pay your bills. You might even be able to do so for quite a while. But don’t you deserve more?

Know Yourself First

You are a unique person. No one else has seen the world through your eyes. No one else can bring the exact same mix of qualities to the table.

There is a job out there that you are a perfect match for. And you aren’t going to find it if you view every opportunity equally.

If you are going to have a great résumé, you need to have a goal in mind. My belief is that your goal should be to find an ideal job. Not just any job, but a job that is a good match for your education, skills, interests, and motivation.

When I talk to clients who have been looking for an extended period, I usually see a common thread: lack of focus. They are shooting at the side of a barn, and wondering why no one’s giving out marksmanship trophies!

So set a good goal. Make it as specific as possible (we’ll talk more about how to do this in a later post). And understand that you may not reach it.

But, as Benjamin May once said:
“The tragedy in life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”

Where a Screening Process Might Break Down: The Human Factor

by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Feb 4, 2013 | hiring, Job Search, Resumes and CVs

Screening by Humans

The resume screening process can break down in a variety of ways. In this post, we’ll take a look at the human factor: how errors and bias on the part of persons involved in the screening process might affect your candidacy.

Screeners who just “wing it.” There are a couple of common ways this might happen. First, if it’s a single person, it could be that he or she has sole authority over hiring and thinks: “I’ll know what I like when I see it.” Or it could be that a supervisor has asked a person or committee to do the screening without giving any clear guidelines. In these cases, it is likely that there will be some loose criteria, but unless the person or committee comes up with some that are clear, it’s pretty much like “shooting at the side of a barn.”

(Yes, employers are just as guilty of this as job-seekers!)

Sometimes bias comes into play. Sometimes screeners ignore stated criteria in favor of their own “preferred” qualifications. At other times, a “preference” may be factored into the equation. For example, some employers have a preference for hiring and promoting from within, or through employee referral programs. Some give preference to those that come directly to a human resource officer than to those entered through the web. Some may give preference to candidates who apply through the company over those forwarded by job boards. And some individuals might give preference to people who went to the same school, were a member of an organization they like, or who they know through social connections.

Sometimes, screeners are lazy or disorganized and skim hastily through the résumés. If it is because the person is lazy, there’s just no telling whether there will be a rhyme or reason to their picks. If it is because they are disorganized, they might give early applicants a more thorough review than those they review closer to the deadline.

So what can you do, in the face of human errors and bias? Not much, really.

If a screener is just “winging it,” that is an internal issue for his employer to deal with, and it is well beyond your control. You’ll really never know if this is the case, so don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it. When someone is just making it up as they go along, it doesn’t matter how you’ve presented your arguments. It’s probably a blessing to not work with people who have such a loose grasp on such an important role.
You can never control for a screener’s bias. In fact, there is always some sort of bias at play. In the best cases, the bias is toward a candidate with certain skills or experiences. In the worst cases, the biases aren’t stated, but internalized by the candidate, and it’s likely they justified screening a candidate in or out based on some other grounds. The best way to deal with perceived bias is to tightly align your arguments with a potential employer’s known biases. When reading job announcements, look for the terms “preferred,” “would a plus,” “desired,” or “ideal.” if you lack any of the skills or experiences listed with these terms, you will be less competitive than candidate who have those skills and experiences. The best you can do is argue for transferability of skills, aptitude, and motivation. So write your resume toward related skills and experiences, and describe them in ways that accurately depict your strengths in other areas, and your motivation to close any gaps. This can be done through re-writing bullet points and/or the professional summary on your resume, and through the cover letter. The strategy is simple. Acknowledge the gaps quickly and show how you would fill them, while also showing strong foundational skills in other key skill areas.
You can’t control a screener’s laziness or disorganization. But you can apply early (as soon as you see a position posted), and organize your documents in a clear concise manner, that brings the most important details up front and early, so the lazy screener gets en0ugh information from pre-screening the document’s top third of page 1 that they don’t have to read any further to make an initial decision. Basically, make it easy for a lazy person to quickly see what you have to offer.

This post is part of a series adapted from my e-b0ok “7 Points to a Winning Resume.” Next up in the series, we’ll explore the applicant’s role in the screening process, and how you can increase your possibility for success.

The Screening Process: How Recruiters Choose Candidates Worth Pursuing

by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Jan 30, 2013 | hiring, Job Search, Resumes and CVs

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How Will You Stand Out from the Crowd?

Once a job application arrives at an employer’s office, the screening process can begin. As mentioned before, screening might be done by a single person, by a group of persons, or by a machine. You may not know which approach a company takes, unless you ask specifically about how screening is done in the department or division where an opening exists.

There may also be nuances between writing for a machine and writing for human. Lacking information specific to a particular type of screening software, job seekers must do their best to present their arguments in language that can be easily filtered by both human and machine.

Let’s imagine a “typical” screening process, discuss some possible stages in that process, and then imagine some strategies that might be useful for capturing and keeping the reader’s attention.

It’s probably impossible to give one explanation that will cleanly and accurately describe all the nuances to different stages of the job search process, but let’s try to describe some generalities.

I have been on many screening and selection committees during my career, and I’ve seen a few thousand résumés during that time. My explanation of the screening process is heavily drawn on my personal experience. In no way should it be construed that my experiences are somehow universal. However, I do believe that I can bring some insights about how résumé screeners and job search committees might conduct their screening processes.

A “Typical” Screening Process

In my experience, screening works like this:

Application packets arrive at the employer. This usually happens these days via e-mail or through a database-driven form that is part of an online application system.
Some companies may use software to scan your documents or keywords and phrases before a real person takes a look at. This is less common in small businesses, non-profit organizations, local governments, and academic institutions.
Other companies may allow a recruiter or members of a search committee to view a candidate’s materials as soon as they are available in the system, and to rank them.

Keywords/Scanning/Rubrics

Whether your résumé is screened by a person or by a computer, some sort of ranking system will likely be used to determine the degree of “fit” between the candidate and a fictional “ideal” candidate. Such a system relies heavily upon the use of scoring rubrics, which are much like the guides that a teacher might follow in grading a standardized test.

Ideally, the screeners use a scoring rubric to rate each candidate on their match to minimum and preferred qualifications. Ideally, those members of the committee follow those guidelines and come up with a list that accurately reflects the match between each candidate and the stated needs of the employer.

Ideally. Not always in practice. But ideally.

In the next post in this series, we’ll explore ways the screening process might break down, and what you might be able to do to minimize the possibility that you will be screened out of a process.

Keywords: Turn Your Resume Into A Ticket in the Door

by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Jan 28, 2013 | Job Search, Resumes and CVs

Think of your resume as a ticket. It gets you in the door. That’s it.

A good resume captures and keeps the attention of the person reading it, and creates in that person a desire to know more about you. Hopefully, that desire will lead the reader to seek out more information about you and to put your candidacy into context. This could mean that the reader goes on to read your cover letter. It could mean that you get invited to interview for the position. But it’s not likely that someone will just read your resume and offer you a job.

Resumes are used by employers for screening candidates, but interviews are used for selecting the best qualified person for the job.

If you’ve never been on the hiring side of the table, the screening process may be foreign to you. So let’s dive into that part of the process and try to understand it.

The Screening Process

Screening can happen in many different ways.

A single person might do it.
A committee might do it.
Sometimes, a machine might do it. (Initially.)

But let’s not confuse the issue. They are all looking for the same things. You might call them keywords or key concepts or key phrases, but essentially they are the same thing.

A keyword is not the same thing, necessarily, as a “buzzword.” It can be, but it really depends. Many job seekers spend time consulting websites, resume books, and their colleagues and mentors about what the latest hot topics are in their industry. The difference between a “buzzword” and a keyword is this: a “buzzword” is a word that everyone is talking about; it may or may not relate to the position you are applying for; a keyword is a term that relates directly to the specific role to be played, and therefore, is directly relevant.

It’s important to recognize the difference between these two concepts. One (using “buzzwords”) is a cynical ploy that may lack coherence; the other (using keywords) is a smart, strategic move that brings together the aspects of your unique offering, and shows the match between what you offer and the employer’s needs.

I’m often asked by job seekers if I have a great list of keywords for jobs in higher education, and I tell them that I do not have a comprehensive list. In fact, I think it would be a disservice to develop one and put it out there as the end-all, be-all guide. In a later post, I’ll tell you why I feel that way, and give you some practical tips on ways find the best keywords for your target position. But next, we’ll delve further into screening processes, how they work, and how they might break down.

This post is adapted from my e-book “7 Points to a Winning Resume,” which I am adapting into a resume-writing crash course, for those who can’t afford to hire a professional resume writer, or who simply want to write a better resume on their own. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll delve into resume and CV writing strategies, though additional excerpts from the e-book, and guest posts from professional resume writers and career coaches.