When is a buzzword not a dirty word?

We've all sat in management meetings playing Buzzword Bingo, or tried to have a quiet drink in a bar over-populated by noisy execs braying out their favourite cliches and laughed at them. We all hate hearing the same overused, somehow popular phrases over and over until they become meaningless. But - as much as we hate to admit it - we do all find ourselves, from time to time, giving in to the lure of the magic words and using them ourselves. Not you? I don't believe you. However, fear not. It's time to grasp the nettle, folks - because, in Jobseeker Land, buzzwords are not always dirty words.

Job seeking has changed immensely since the days of buying your local paper and sending off your CV and cover letter by snail mail. Nowadays, applications are made with the click of a mouse, and job websites hold huge databases of CVs that candidates have uploaded for viewing by recruiters. So, your CV's up on Monster (for example), now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the phone to ring, right? Sort of. Recruiters search for CVs using key words specific to the roles they are looking to fill. We use a Boolean search string to sift out any CVs that don't list the requisite skills or words. An example of this is a string we might use to find a Marketing Analyst who needs to have experience in using SAS or SPSS. So the string is: marketing and (sas or spss). The location is specified elsewhere in the search form, for anyone interested. Or, the analyst may have to have Excel as well, so we'd add this into the search (marketing and (sas or spss) and excel). Recruiters have to scan through hundreds of CVs a day, so by filtering out ones that don't contain key words is a must. If they're not in the CV, the CV doesn't reach the recruiter.

The same rule applies to job applications. If you apply for a role that states you must, for example, have skills in SEO, PPC and social networking, then you must make sure they are all mentioned on your CV. Sounds obvious, but I have seen plenty of applications where the boxes on the cover sheet are ticked (e.g. Do you have social networking skills? YES), but there is nothing on the CV to back this up. The candidate genuinely has the skill, but hasn't mentioned it as it may not be a "proper" or "major" part of their job role. If the CV is good, we will call candidates to check on the "missing" skills, but many recruiters don't have the time - or inclination - to chase it up... after all, there are other candidates out there who have made sure their CVs are properly matched to the roles they are applying for. Even if the recruiter is happy that you do have the skills, if the employer can't see them listed on the CV straightaway, then they have to spend their time following it up - or worse, just completely overlook you for shortlisting.

It goes without saying that you should only write on your CV things that you CAN do - there's no gain in using buzzwords for effect rather than an enhancement. However, don't overlook some of the things that you do that you may assume everyone does... and so don't bother listing. Excel is one, as is some of the other MS packages - Projects and Vision for example. Don't hide your light under a bushel - if you've got it, flaunt it! So then, what are going to be the buzzwords for 2010? Logicalis have listed Web 2.0, cloud computing, social media, virtual desktop, security, Microsoft and Twitter as some of their top technical buzzwords for 2009, and these are set to grow in popularity in 2010. Inflecto say that SEO, custom CMS, mobile web development and frameworks (e.g. .net MVC) are being looked for in techie CVs. Technical people tend to use a lot of key words in their CVs anyway - listing programming languages, applications, frameworks, databases etc, so they are already ahead of the game. Brand Republic have reported that social media is overlooked in marketing CVs - of 4500 CVs looked at over the past 2 years, only 6% referenced social media, 9% Twitter and 2% blogging. There is also a shortfall in SEO (4.7%). These skills are some of the most sought after at the moment - so make sure you tell people if you can blog, Tweet or socially network! Jody at Marketing Jive has compiled a list of 100 top marketing buzzwords... I'm not going to list them all, but some may be worth thinking about - mobile, microblogging, lean, ROI, real-time.

Obviously, using buzzwords in your CV can't guarantee you get a phone call, an interview or a job offer - but it does help! The flip side of this is, people being people and all, some of them can get a little carried away and write their CVs almost completely with buzzwords. Watch yourselves... this may attract recruiter phone calls but if there is no substance in the CV to back up your claims of "online evangelism" or "augmented reality", then you won't get far. Everything in moderation, I say.

Anyway, I'm off to polish up my CV. Now, where can I fit "low-hanging fruit" into it?