jash65571/2026-resume-ats-keyword-playbook

This repository is a collection of guides and checklists to help people prepare job applications that pass through Applicant Tracking Systems, the software many companies use to filter resumes before a human ever sees them. It is built for students applying to internships, new graduates, people switching careers, and anyone applying to jobs through an online portal. The repo is organized into four main folders. Checklists walk through resume formatting, tailoring a resume to a specific job, matching keywords from a job description, and a final review before submitting an application. Keyword guides list the terms that commonly appear in job postings for roles such as software engineer, data analyst, data scientist, product manager, marketing, sales, customer success, and project management. Templates provide starting points for resume bullet points, summary sections, referral messages, and follow up emails. Examples show weak resume bullets next to stronger rewrites, and break down a real job description to show how keywords are chosen. The suggested workflow is straightforward: open the keyword guide for your target role, copy the job description you are applying to, highlight the required skills and tasks, compare those words against your own resume, and only add missing keywords if they genuinely match your experience. The repo is explicit that adding skills you do not actually have is discouraged, since it can lead to an interview you cannot back up. It also points to a set of free web tools built by the same maintainer, TryApplyNow, covering things like checking how well a resume matches a job, estimating salary, and finding referral contacts, though the core content of the repository itself is the markdown guides and checklists. This repo does not promise interviews, jobs, or a perfect score from any ATS. It positions itself as a practical reference rather than a shortcut, and welcomes contributions of new keyword guides or better examples through pull requests.