Most Important Keywords for the Food & Beverage Manufacturing Industry

By our guest blogger, CareerTuners

Is your resume getting noticed? Recruiters and employers in the food & beverage manufacturing industry rely heavily on Application Tracking System (ATS) software to analyze resumes and shortlist applicants. One critical way to optimize your resume for ATS is to add keywords.

Keywords are nouns or noun phrases that ATS algorithms “catch.” They help indicate to employers that the candidate has skills that match the job requirements. Common keywords include job titles, terms, tools, technologies, degrees, licenses, certifications, training, patents, publications, and locations.

There are two types of keywords. Hard keywords are those that can be quantified or that someone can take a test for, for example, the names of marketing analytics programs. They are the most important with respect to ranking in ATS. In contrast, soft keywords are abstract skills that are hard to test for, but are critical to succeeding at your job, e.g., strong interpersonal skills.

Below are some important keywords for food & beverage manufacturing management positions, in bold.

Feel free to copy and paste these terms to your resume if they match your skill set.

However, merely mentioning these keywords in your resume is not enough. You must also write powerful accomplishments that highlight these skills. After each keyword are the most critical questions you should ask yourself before incorporating it into your resume:

Day-to-Day Operations

Operations Management: Did you spearhead improvement projects to boost operational efficiency?
Employee Training & Development: What employee training and onboarding processes did you develop? How did you elevate customer service across the board?
Vendor Management: How did you streamline vendor management and increase vendor compliance to company and industry standards?
P&L Management: What steps did you take to reduce costs? What metrics did you use to measure financial growth?

Business Development

F&B Sales & Marketing: What steps did you take to align F&B marketing with the latest industry and consumer trends?
Client Relationship Management: What steps did you take to form long-lasting client partnerships? Did you strengthen relationships by increasing product penetration?
Mergers & Acquisitions: What challenges did you face in leading M&As to expand brand outreach and operations in new market segments?
Research & Analytics: What tools did you use to perform research on industry trends, prospective clients, and market analysis?

Food & Beverage Manufacturing

Food Automation: Did you increase operational efficiency and customer order fulfillment by introducing robotics and automation solutions? By how much were you able to reduce contamination?
Clean & Functional Ingredients: What clean and functional ingredients did you introduce to meet the rising health consciousness among customers?
Alternative Food Production: What steps did you take to produce milk and meat alternatives? Did you drive market share gain as a result of introducing alternative food products?
Product Innovation & Development: What challenges did you face while introducing innovation in texture, nutrition, and ingredients?

Food & Beverage Distribution

Inventory Management: What steps did you take maintain optimal inventory levels? How did you ensure safety and vitality of time-sensitive and perishable products?
Cost Control & Optimization: How did you reduce costs related to product wastage? What steps did you take to align staffing with volume forecasts?
Food Packing & Labeling: Did you revamp packaging to make it eco-friendly?
Delivery Schedule & Route Optimization: How did using digital scheduling tools help in creating cost-effective schedules? What was the impact of productivity?
E-Commerce Food Distribution: What steps did you take to move towards an e-commerce platform? How did you maintain product quality standards?

Food & Beverage Quality Assurance

Regulatory Compliance: How did you improve regulatory compliance at your facility?
Sanitation: What measures did you introduce to ensure cleanliness and sanitation of production and service equipment? What protocols did you design for contamination-free food transfer and storage?
Food Safety: Did you introduce rapid testing and other techniques to ensure food safety?
Quality Training: What steps did you take to keep your staff updated on the latest food safety regulations?
Quality Documentation & Data Storage: Did you revamp quality documentation to improve adherence to quality standards? What tools did you use to make quality data easily accessible?

In addition to these, consider carefully going over the job listing you are interested in for keywords. Which ones are you familiar with? Weave these keywords into your resume.

By asking yourself these questions, you will be able to uncover accomplishments that highlight your strategic leadership skills. This will not only optimize your resume for ATS-compatibility but also set you apart from other applicants.

Click here to view all industry articles created by CareerTuners.

At CareerTuners, we help ambitious professionals land their dream jobs by providing professional, Applicant-Tracking-System-compatible resume writing services. Some of our other services include cover letter writing, LinkedIn profile development, interview coaching, and resume distribution. To check out our free resources and blog, please visit careertuners.com.

Bristol Associates, Inc. is an executive search firm with over 50 years of excellence in recruiting nationwide. Bristol specializes in recruiting for the Casino Gaming; Facilities and Concessions; Food and Beverage Manufacturing; Hospital and Healthcare; Hotels and Resorts; Nonprofit; Restaurant; and Travel, Tourism, and Attractions industries.

If you’re interested in working with Bristol Associates, click here if you’re an employer or here if you’re a candidate.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter here.