Short answer
Recruiters find candidates by searching keywords — a job title, a skill and a city — on LinkedIn, in their applicant tracking system and, increasingly, through AI assistants. You get found by using the exact words people search for in your headline, your job titles and your resume, and by keeping those words consistent everywhere your name appears.
Most job seekers think of search as something they do. Recruiters do it too, and you are the result they are looking for. Sourcing a role usually starts with a query — "React developer Bengaluru 4 years" — typed into LinkedIn Recruiter, an applicant tracking system, Naukri, or lately into an AI assistant. Everything below is about being in that result set.
Where recruiters actually search
- LinkedIn. Still the first stop for most sourcing. Its search is keyword-driven and weights your headline and job titles heavily.
- Their own database. Every resume you have ever submitted to a company sits in its ATS. Recruiters search it before posting a new job.
- Job boards. Naukri, Indeed and Instahyre all rank profiles by keyword relevance and recency.
- Google. Mostly for named candidates — someone checking you out after seeing your resume.
- AI assistants. A growing habit: "find me backend engineers in Pune who have worked on payments". The tool answers from pages it can read — your LinkedIn profile, your portfolio site, your GitHub.
Use the words recruiters type, not the words your company uses
Internal titles are the single biggest reason good candidates never appear. If your company calls you a "Member of Technical Staff II" but the market searches for "Backend Developer", you are invisible to that search.
Fix it without lying about your role: Backend Developer (Member of Technical Staff II). The searchable term is present, the official title is intact.
The same applies to skills. Pick the spelling the job postings use. Where two are common — "React.js" and "ReactJS", "Node.js" and "NodeJS" — use each at least once across your profile so either query finds you.
Your LinkedIn headline is the highest-value real estate you own
It is indexed heavily, it shows in every search result, and most people waste it on "Aspiring Software Engineer | Passionate about technology". Nobody searches for that.
A headline that works has three parts: role, stack or specialism, and location or availability.
- Backend Developer · Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS · Bengaluru
- Beautician · Bridal Mehndi & Skincare · Noida
- Data Analyst · SQL, Power BI · Open to Pune & remote
Keep your name consistent everywhere
Search engines — and AI assistants especially — connect records by matching entities. If you are "Rahul Verma" on LinkedIn, "R. Verma" on GitHub and "rahulv" on your portfolio, each is a separate weak signal instead of one strong one.
Use the same spelling of your name, the same city, and the same primary job title across your resume, LinkedIn, GitHub, portfolio and any professional profile. Consistency is what lets a search tool conclude these are all the same person.
Make your resume searchable, not just readable
Your resume inside a company's ATS is a search record. Four things decide whether it surfaces:
- It must parse. Text in images, sidebars and tables extracts badly or not at all. A single-column layout with standard headings is the safe choice.
- It must contain the terms. Skills, tools, certifications and city — in your bullets, where they arrive with evidence attached.
- It must be current. Many ATS searches filter by recency. Re-applying updates your record.
- It must match the file name. Rahul_Verma_Backend_Developer.pdf beats resume_final_v3.pdf, which is what a recruiter sees in a list of attachments.
A portfolio page does more than you think
One indexable page with your name as the title, your role in the first line, and your projects described in plain text gives Google and AI assistants something to find and quote. It does not need to be elaborate — a single page beats a beautiful site built entirely in images that no crawler can read.
If you only do one thing: write the page so the first paragraph answers "who is this person and what do they do", in words a recruiter would search for.
What not to bother with
- Keyword stuffing. A block of skills in white text is visible the moment anyone opens the file, and reads as dishonest.
- Buzzword headlines. "Results-oriented synergistic professional" matches no search anyone runs.
- Engagement-farming posts. Visibility in a feed is not the same as appearing in a recruiter's search, which is keyword-based.
A 30-minute pass you can do today
- Open five job postings for the role you want and list the terms they share.
- Rewrite your LinkedIn headline as role · stack · location.
- Add the market-standard title alongside your internal one in your current role.
- Check your resume parses by copying its text into a blank document.
- Make your name, city and primary title identical across every profile.
When you are ready to rebuild the resume itself, the eResume.live builder's ATS template is a single-column layout designed to parse cleanly, and it exports a text-based PDF that search tools can actually read.
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
How do recruiters search for candidates?+
Mostly by keyword: a job title, one or two skills, and a location, typed into LinkedIn Recruiter, their own applicant tracking system, or a job board. Increasingly they also ask AI assistants, which answer from pages they can crawl such as LinkedIn profiles and portfolio sites.
What should my LinkedIn headline say?+
Your role, your main skills or specialism, and your location or availability — for example 'Backend Developer · Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS · Bengaluru'. The headline is weighted heavily in LinkedIn search and appears in every result.
Does my job title on my resume need to match my official title?+
It should be honest, but it can carry both. If the market searches for a different term than your internal title, write the searchable title with the official one in brackets, such as 'Backend Developer (Member of Technical Staff II)'.
Can AI assistants like ChatGPT find my profile?+
They can surface pages they are able to crawl, such as a public LinkedIn profile, a portfolio page or a GitHub account. Keeping your name, city and job title consistent across those pages makes it far more likely they are recognised as the same person.
Does keyword stuffing a resume help it rank?+
No. Hidden or repeated keywords are visible as soon as a recruiter opens the file and read as dishonest, and they take up space that should carry evidence of your results.
Rahul Verma
Technical Recruiter
Expert contributor at eResume.live. Passionate about helping job seekers navigate the modern hiring landscape with practical, actionable advice.