How to write a resume that both hiring managers and bots will like equally
Olivia Attwood
Certified Professional Resume Writer ● Career Coach ● Executive Resume Writer ● MBA, BEng, CPRW, CPCC
Ah, if only writing a resume was an easy task. Even though all you have to do is just list your skills, education, and work experience on a piece of paper, creating a resume takes a lot of thought and effort.
A few years ago, you only had to please a busy hiring manager to get your resume in the “Yes” pile. Today, you have to write a resume that the bots (Applicant Tracking Systems) like first. If the ATS finds your resume adequate, a hiring manager will see it.
However, hiring managers and ATSs are different from each other. For starters, hiring managers are humans while the bots are, to put it bluntly, bots. How do you write a resume that impresses the bots and the humans at the same time?
Mention your target job title
Make it easier for the ATS to understand the position you are applying for by mentioning your target job title on your resume. This helps a hiring manager tie back the qualifications on your resume to the target position as well.
Make the resume understandable
Many job seekers forget the human reader while writing to impress the ATS . You shouldn’t just pick random keywords and phrases from the job description and plug them into your resume. This creates confusion. Instead, write to give your resume a logical flow.
Write to spark interest
An ATS will read your resume no matter whether it’s interesting or not. But a hiring manager will need a little more persuasion. Write your resume in a way that sparks the interest of the reader. Start with a loaded summary statement that mentions your best professional wins and quantified results.
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Include keywords for the ATS
The ATS ranks resumes through keyword-matching. If you want your resume to be read by a hiring manager, you need to convince the ATS that you have all the qualifications needed for the job. You can do this by incorporating keywords from the job description into your resume. However, ensure that you use keywords in the right context and frequency to not scare away hiring managers.
Choose an optimized layout
There are different types of resume formats. You should always stick with an ATS-friendly resume when you apply for a job online. The only times it’s okay to not use an ATS-friendly resume format are when your resume is delivered physically to the hiring manager or when you work in the creative industry.
Break down the large block of text
Is your resume heavy with paragraphs? A text-dense resume is not appealing to a human reader. Break down larger paragraphs into shorter bullet points to ensure a comfortable reading experience for the hiring manager.
Highlight more achievements
Hiring managers are familiar with job duties and responsibilities associated with many job titles. So, you need to be more impressing when you list a lot of duties under each past role on your resume. Instead, you should impress a hiring manager by listing accomplishments on your resume.
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