Stephanie Snyder http://rhresumes.com 3m 727
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto: https://www.pexels.com/photo/graduate-with-papers-and-laptop-excited-about-getting-job-4560150/
While technology helps benefit us all, it can also be a nuisance for others to deal with at the same time. This has been the case in regards to lazy employers now implementing the artificial intelligence used by ATS, applicant tracking software, and programs to weed through submitted resumes to determine who gets an interview. It can be annoying to think about, but you have to do what you can to avoid being penalized by this automated software. If you don’t, you may never get the kind of job you want.
Use Microsoft Word
In some cases, your resume may be kicked out by the software just for being the wrong file type. This may seem insane, but it’s true. These programs are made to benefit employers, and mistreating job-seekers is of little concern to them. These programs reportedly don’t even like PDF files. To play it safe, always compose and export your resume in Microsoft Word. If you don’t want to pay for the privilege of using ancient Microsoft Word software when open source alternatives have been available for free for twenty years, make sure to use online tools to convert your file to a .docx or .doc file. Check to make sure that the conversion process did not significantly alter anything.
Run Your Resume by Professionals
Regarding your resume, it’s always good to get a second opinion beyond your own. You are, of course, biased in favor of yourself. You may not see the flaws that others see. This can be even more extreme in regards to the AI used to pick and choose which resumes accepting. Being able to know what resumes are rejected means being very familiar with the software. Overall, you should consider obtaining resume writing services that will allow your resume to be viewed and critiqued by professionals. This will allow you to catch such errors before your resume is rejected by the software.
Optimize Your Resume with Keywords
Something else that AI-driven ATS software does is look for keywords. If your resume lacks the correct keywords, it may be passed over in favor of resumes that do have those keywords. This may seem farcical, but it is something you must consider as a modern job-seeker. These keywords should match certain terms that are mentioned in the job listing. The software does this to determine whether or not you edited your resume in response to the position offered by a specific company. The software may not actually be smart enough to detect synonyms, so try to stick to the specific terms used in that listing.
Use Spell Check and Grammar Check Extensively
Something else an ATS program will likely do is immediately reject a resume with spelling errors or grammatical errors. Resumes with these kinds of errors probably make up a good portion of the
75 percent of resumes are rejected by the software. Don’t rely only on the spelling and grammar checks in your word processor. These processors don’t always have the most up-to-date rules for spelling and grammar that tend to evolve over the years. They may also be biased towards certain “styles” of grammar rules. US English, for example, is very different from British English in certain ways. Make sure to use multiple spelling and grammar checkers to account for these differences.
Stick to Simple Formatting
Something else you should be aware of is the fact that ATS software will convert your document into simple text. As such, you should avoid any fancy formatting choices. They may cause issues after the conversion. Don’t use colors or overly fancy fonts. It’s also pointless to include things like images, logos, or graphs since these will be removed as well. Overall, it’s best to stick to simple formatting. In fact, you should avoid using bold words and italics too. This way, your resume will essentially be the same before it’s converted as it is afterward.
Overall, job-seekers have a lot to contend with. Despite the fact that obtaining an interview was difficult, to begin with, it has been made much worse by ATS software that utilizes AI to weed out the vast majority of resumes. Stick to the tips above if you want to have one of the few surviving resumes.
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