Robot-proof Your Resume

Robot-proof Your Resume ShareShare More than 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and many smaller ones, use an ATS to read resumes. The ATS uses a resume to fill in a standardized candidate profile in a database, which HR personnel then search through for candidates to interview. Depending on how your resume is written and formatted, you may turn up near the top of the search results, languish further down the list, or not be in the list at all. Its fairly simple to ensure your resume is robot-ready. Heres how. Use the document format requested by the employer, or one of the following: .doc, .docx, .rtf or .txt. Most ATSs read these formats, but they dont read .pdf files, for example. Make sure your resume has the right keywords. Did you know that the most important keyword is the title of the job youre applying for? Use that job title as the heading for your resume, but its even more important in your Experience section. Even if you havent held that title before, there is a way that you may be able to honestly fit it in. Other important keywords include industry-leading companies (like your past employers and clients, I hope!), products and services, and the skills and tools most often used in the target job. These keywords are generally found in the job posting. Location is an extremely crucial keyword. Employers generally prefer to hire people who wont need to relocate. If youre looking for a job in a different city or state than where you live, its a good idea to add the city, state and zip code of your desired location to your resume. Dont claim you live there, but instead of listing your current address write something like Ready to relocate to San Jose, CA 95134. Realize that ATSs ignore information in headers and footers, so make sure your name and contact information are in the main body of the document, not in a header. The same goes for text boxes and graphics. Its okay to include these, but make sure any crucial information in them is repeated elsewhere. Use standard section headings such as Experience (or Professional Experience, Relevant Experience, etc.) rather than Career Progression and Education, not Academic Achievements.If the ATS doesnt find a section labeled Experience, that portion of your profile may end up empty, and that certainly wont get you to the top of the search results. If you started and left a job within the same calendar year, include the months. An ATS adds up your experience in months, with 2018-2019 showing up as 12 months, Apr.-Nov. 2019 as eight months, and 2019 as zero months. Follow company names with Inc., LLC, Corp. or such designations. Together with city, state and dates, these help the ATS recognize a job in your resume. Unless youre putting your resume straight into the hands of your prospective bossand possibly even thenyou need to make sure your resume is applicant tracking system compliant. In other words, be ready for the robots! Robot-proof Your Resume ShareShare More than 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and many smaller ones, use an ATS to read resumes. The ATS uses a resume to fill in a standardized candidate profile in a database, which HR personnel then search through for candidates to interview. Depending on how your resume is written and formatted, you may turn up near the top of the search results, languish further down the list, or not be in the list at all. Its fairly simple to ensure your resume is robot-ready. Heres how. Use the document format requested by the employer, or one of the following: .doc, .docx, .rtf or .txt. Most ATSs read these formats, but they dont read .pdf files, for example. Make sure your resume has the right keywords. Did you know that the most important keyword is the title of the job youre applying for? Use that job title as the heading for your resume, but its even more important in your Experience section. Even if you havent held that title before, there is a way that you may be able to honestly fit it in. Other important keywords include industry-leading companies (like your past employers and clients, I hope!), products and services, and the skills and tools most often used in the target job. These keywords are generally found in the job posting. Location is an extremely crucial keyword. Employers generally prefer to hire people who wont need to relocate. If youre looking for a job in a different city or state than where you live, its a good idea to add the city, state and zip code of your desired location to your resume. Dont claim you live there, but instead of listing your current address write something like Ready to relocate to San Jose, CA 95134. Realize that ATSs ignore information in headers and footers, so make sure your name and contact information are in the main body of the document, not in a header. The same goes for text boxes and graphics. Its okay to include these, but make sure any crucial information in them is repeated elsewhere. Use standard section headings such as Experience (or Professional Experience, Relevant Experience, etc.) rather than Career Progression and Education, not Academic Achievements.If the ATS doesnt find a section labeled Experience, that portion of your profile may end up empty, and that certainly wont get you to the top of the search results. If you started and left a job within the same calendar year, include the months. An ATS adds up your experience in months, with 2018-2019 showing up as 12 months, Apr.-Nov. 2019 as eight months, and 2019 as zero months. Follow company names with Inc., LLC, Corp. or such designations. Together with city, state and dates, these help the ATS recognize a job in your resume. Unless youre putting your resume straight into the hands of your prospective bossand possibly even thenyou need to make sure your resume is applicant tracking system compliant. In other words, be ready for the robots!