5 Resume Ideas; Wrestling With Applicant Tracking Systems

Based upon some of the alumni and student resumes that I have seen recently, I thought it was time to reiterate a few things to keep in mind when building a resume. In this article, I am specifically addressing resumes that are uploaded to applicant tracking systems. There are many ways to know, when applying to a job, whether or not you are dealing with a tracking system; a system that reads your resume, scores it, and creates a profile for you within that firm. Things to look for that might indicate a tracking system:

• When you enter their jobs portal, does the URL turn from an http site to an https (secure) site? You might be dealing with an applicant tracking system.
• When you enter their jobs portal, does the URL turn from the company website www.superbigfirm.com to some sub-domain like jobs.superbigfirm.com? You might be dealing with an applicant tracking system.
• When you click the “apply” button, does the URL change from something like www.superbigfirm.com/jobs to taleo.jobsite.com/23455321hj4h234_4344. This is the guaranteed indicator, when you actually see the name of the applicant tracking system appear in the URL; names like JobVite, Taleo, icims and so many more.

Well, here are some things to keep in mind so that your resume actually gets read. These bits of advice should work well with most tracking systems.

1)     It’s not as much about what you want to say – Resumes are far less about what you want to say – in your terms – and far more about what the reader (which might be an applicant tracking system) needs to read, in their terms. There is no such thing as a “good general resume” that you can just use repeatedly for every job you apply for. You need to recraft the resume so that once the reader finishes reading it, they think “Wow! There is no question here. I cannot see this person doing anything else but working here. Let’s call them for an interview.”

2)     Use exact words – Does the job description list skills and characteristics such as “Bachelor's degree and minimum of two to three years of experience and working knowledge of supportive services and interpersonal skills?” Then you should avoid using replacement words like “B.S.” or “social services” or “people skills”. Also, your total time on task needs to be “two to three years” as stated in the job description, especially if a tracking system is reading your resume, because it will add up the time that it reads. Do not substitute abbreviations or your own terminology, or you could be harming your chances to be called for an interview – remember that when it comes to applicant tracking systems, your resume is scored based upon how you match up with the job description.

3)     Think twice about PDFs – Just because a company website says that PDFs are acceptable does not mean that their applicant tracking system can actually convert the document and “read” it. Many tracking systems are not able to convert your document and so on the initial screening by the system, your resume will score a zero. In fact, it will not likely be seen by a human being unless those that actually received scores did not especially impress the talent professionals who eventually examined the resumes. Only at that point might someone dig into the resumes that scored a zero in the system. Consider uploading as a plain, simply formatted, text-based MS Word document.

4)     Layout counts; when “fancy” causes disassociation of your document– I was recently reading a resume where the writer – a doctoral student – placed their education side by side under the education heading. So his doctoral degree was on the left side and the bachelor’s degree was on the right, instead of listing the doctoral listing first and the bachelor’s second in reverse chronological order, as is appropriate. Applicant tracking systems typically read left to right, and so what it would have read on his resume was “slippery rock university May 2021 slippery rock university May 2018 doctorate of physical therapy bachelors of science in exercise science”. His choice of layout caused a complete disassociation of the data from his educational experience. Most applicant tracking systems are not true artificial intelligence systems and cannot re-associate these data. Similarly, some people create a huge “experience summary” and then just list their jobs without bullet points, in an “experience” section, figuring that the bullets in the experience summary will tell the story. But beware, many tracking systems want the skills to be clearly associated with the individual experiences. Why? Because the HR person or hiring manager wants to know if your experience is recent or not. So your bullets – which should be a summary of the outcomes, knowledge, skills, achievements, and experience you encountered in that, specific job – must be actually associated with each job or volunteer experience. Finally, fancy-schmancy resumes, created in design software that use stars or thumbs-up to rate the level of each skill set – whew! – or designer resumes with skills and your address in a colorful left-hand column and the rest of the resume in the right-hand 2/3 of the page; bad idea, really bad idea. Many common tracking systems have no idea what to do with these things. Sure, some do, but do you want your resume to be scannable by “some” tracking systems or “all” tracking systems? Never assume that just because you are applying to a creative firm – like a PR firm – that their tracking system can actually read creative, designer resumes. Instead, use a text-based resume but include a link to your e-portfolio of work where a potential employer can see dozens of pieces of work. You do not necessarily need to use your resume to say “I’m creative” if you have a polished and massive portfolio of your work.

5)     Fonts – Ah the age-old argument. What font should you use on your resume? Well, a recent review of many of the top applicant tracking systems found that three particular fonts seem to be readable by most of the commercial applicant tracking systems currently in use out there. Which ones? Stick with Calibri, Arial, and Helvetica. Yep. I didn’t say Times New and that is one of the most common fonts used on resumes. No question that many, many tracking systems can scan Times New, but as it turns not, not all of them can.

Again, to close, here’s an important point to remember. The nuggets above are not forged from my opinions. Sure, I’ve expressed opinions in my articles before, but I am basically sharing some facts about how some or all tracking systems work. Sure, some folks can object to the advice above, in terms of how their particular tracking system works, and do keep in mind that some firms simply use their tracking system to collect resumes and they turn off the part that reads the resume (our university does this because people are hired by committees who read all resumes). So, as you embark upon that job search, if you want opportunities to interview for positions, keep your document recent, relevant (write bullets to make sense for the job sought), concise (say more with less) and consistent, top to bottom, and consider all of the quirks associated with tracking systems. Happy hunting.

It’s your future. Take charge!

It's been a hectic semester - in case you thought I disappeared. I'm back and as always, I appreciate your readership.