ATS Keywords
Database Administrator ATS Keywords: What Recruiting Software Actually Scans For
Applicant tracking systems parse Database Administrator CVs for specific platform names, technical actions, and measurable outcomes before a recruiter ever opens the file. Miss the exact terms used in the posting, such as 'Oracle RAC' instead of just 'Oracle,' or 'high availability' instead of 'uptime,' and a qualified DBA can get auto-rejected before human review. This guide lists the keywords, phrases, and formatting choices that actually move your ATS match score.
Optimize Your CVATS Optimisation
Must-Have Keywords
Include these keywords in your CV to improve your ATS score.
Strengthen Your CV
Power Phrases
Use these multi-word phrases to strengthen your CV.
Avoid These
Words to Avoid
Remove these overused or weak words from your CV.
ATS Score
Before & After ATS Optimization
Before
Missing Keywords
After
Added Keywords
Formatting
ATS-Friendly Format Tips
Use standard section headings like 'Professional Experience' and 'Certifications' since creative headers such as 'My Database Journey' often don't get parsed into the right fields.
Spell out platform names in full at least once, such as 'Microsoft SQL Server' alongside 'SQL Server,' so both the full term and common abbreviation match the ATS query.
List certifications, such as Oracle OCP, Microsoft Azure Database Administrator Associate, or AWS Certified Database - Specialty, in a dedicated Certifications section rather than folded into a paragraph.
Avoid tables, text boxes, and multi-column layouts for your experience section, since many parsers scramble or silently drop content placed inside them.
Save and submit as a standard .docx or text-based PDF, never a scanned image or a heavily designed PDF, so the ATS can extract text at all.
Use consistent reverse-chronological dates in MM/YYYY format so the ATS correctly calculates your years of experience per role.
Match the exact phrasing from the job posting where accurate, since some ATS matching is closer to literal string matching than semantic search.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, most ATS keyword matching is closer to literal string matching than true semantic search, so 'PostgreSQL' and 'Postgres' can score differently depending on the system, and it's worth including both forms once.
No, list the platforms and tools relevant to the specific posting first, since padding with irrelevant technologies can dilute keyword density around the terms that actually matter for that role.
Embed each keyword inside a real accomplishment sentence with a metric, like 'tuned PostgreSQL indexing to cut query time by 40%,' rather than listing bare technology names in a block.
Yes for systems that parse a dedicated Certifications section, since certification names like 'Oracle Certified Professional' are exact-match keywords recruiters frequently filter on.
Yes, tailor the specific platform keywords per application, since a CV weighted toward Oracle RAC and RMAN will underperform for a PostgreSQL-on-AWS role even if the underlying DBA skills transfer.
Yes, especially when the posting mentions 24/7 support or SLAs, since 'high availability' and 'on-call' are common ATS-scanned phrases for infrastructure-critical roles.
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