A digital course, moving house, a 4-month-old and a LinkedIn Top Voice!

Firstly - a big apology.

It has been a few weeks since the last newsletter. But I have a good excuse!

We have been super busy at The Career Gym, we launched our first digital course on writing a killer CV , helped 12 people land roles in January through my 1-2-1 coaching.....

...AND

Something that has made my year already.....

I was selected by LinkedIn as a 'Top Voice' for Job Search and Careers!!!

All this, in the midst of moving house PLUS a 4-month-old - I am sure you understand.

Now the dust has settled, we are back to our weekly newsletter and insights. We will be bringing to you the views, tips and advice from the top recruiters around the globe.

Today I am going to talk CVs, seeing as I am fresh off recording my course.

Having received lots of feedback from people that have taken the course, I am so pleased with how well it has been received.

People have found it has cleared up a few of the myths they have been exposed to, that it has been easy to follow and implement, and also really helped them have trust and confidence sending it out for job applications!

Now, talking of myths and job applications, I ran a poll on LinkedIn yesterday where I asked job seekers....

I have not commented on this poll, on purpose. I know the truth, as do many of my recruiter peers and also the decent Career Coaches that listen to the recruitment experts.

This is concerning though.

You should not worry any more about the ATS when applying for a job than you should worry about which CRM system ASOS.com uses when sending you marketing emails.

Let's address these 2 key answers here.

So what is an ATS? (Applicant Tracking System)

In simple terms, an ATS is how recruiters/businesses track, manage and communicate with the job applicants, or candidates.

Think of it as a digital filing cabinet.

Candidates' CVs & Details come into the system (e.g. via job adverts), they get assessed, then rejected or moved on to the next stage

All communication tends to come via the ATS (to track & log it), and you are ultimately left with one candidate you are looking to offer the job to.

A simplistic explanation, but by no means an uncommon process.

There are many different ATS providers, but they essentially are there to do the same thing. Some more advanced than others, some are rubbish, some good....

But why are some job seekers concerned about them?

Job seekers worry their CV is not being seen by a human.

They are concerned these systems are using AI to screen their CV and then rejecting them before a recruiter has even had a chance to look at their CV.

They worry about keywords and their CV being ATS Compliant

But, does this actually happen???

Very few (under 1%) will automatically reject you for not having the right keywords in your profile.

If you are getting rejected instantly, it is likely due to Killer Questions.

These are ?????? and ?????questions you will answer as part of the application process. E.g. Do you have the right to work in Country X.

Some ATS do indeed have the ability to 'score' your CV and give it a % match to the job advert/description/keywords added by the recruiter. From my survey, only 2% of Recruiters use this function

I have used this function within 2 businesses I have worked at, and the % scores were rarely higher on the most relevant candidates.

You do not need to go through a job advert and cram in as many keywords as possible to get past the 'Bots', no matter what the 'Dimfluencer' with 250,000 followers on LinkedIn says

Don't get me wrong, Keywords are very important, but FOR THE HUMAN READING YOUR CV!!

Always have a person in mind when writing your CV, not a system.

How do I know this? Having used 14 ATS and been part of 3 ATS implementations, I like to think I know a little about it...

I have also written an article on ATS featured by?LinkedIn News ?& surveyed 200 Recruiters on how they use them (see my articles).

MY VIEW

From my experience..

And every recruiter I have spoken to about this..

You are getting rejected by a person. Not a machine, not AI.

Concentrate your energy on writing your CV for a recruiter, what will they be looking for?

Can they see your value and the impact you have made?

Don't listen to people trying to sell you 'ATS Compliant' this, or 'Beat the Bots' that.

They are nothing but A) ill-informed or B) trying to con you out of money.

If you are considering writing your CV as you are either starting or in the midst of your job search, there is some great advice out there. And some really bad advice.

If you are looking to invest in a digital course to help you write a CV that recruiters want to see, take a look at my CV Course - it is a paid course, but a very thorough and good one. You also get your CV reviewed at the end by me - with recommended tweaks and edits.

If you don't want to pay, then like I said, there is plenty of good advice out there. My advice? Listen to the people that have worked in recruitment, that know what recruiters and hiring managers are looking for day in day out.

Thank you for reading!

Russell Ayles, Job Search Coach & Founder