Many Small Mistakes Cause Applicant Tracking Systems To Block Your Resume

During my free weekly job search webinar Q&A, I'm often asked:

"What's the one thing I can do to make my job search faster?"

The problem is, it's never one thing that's slowing your job search. In order to make a significant change in your job search results, it takes the cumulative effect of many small changes. One thing is never enough to move the needle.

Here are a few of the small mistakes that cause Applicant Tracking Systems to block your resume:

• Spraying And Praying: Sending resumes to many jobs you could do doesn't work well, as ATSs are used to screen out candidates who use a "Spray And Pray" strategy.
• Little Or No Customization: Employers use Applicant Tracking Systems to screen out standardized resumes, resume templates, resumes saved on job boards, LinkedIn profiles, applications via cell phones, and other resumes with little or no customization. To an employer, it appears like you're not even trying.
• Reliance On Publicly Available Research Information: Public information (including job descriptions) give you zero advantage over other candidates. Worse, it's almost always old information, reflecting needs from a year ago or longer, causing you to brand yourself as the wrong fit. This especially includes the job description, which is usually generic, written by HR/Legal, doesn't reflect the individual hiring manager's needs, so it also doesn't reflect actual search criteria.
• Fancy Formatting: Unless you're a graphic designer, employers focus on your content, rather than your design. But ATSs screen out resumes with fancy formatting, because they can't read it or put information in the right fields.

Thank goodness there are much more effective ways to get through and around Applicant Tracking Systems, to get your resume noticed by employers. I'll show you a few during my next free Resume Webinar: Beating The Applicant Tracking System.

I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including job search acceleration, getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, unemployment, "bouncy" recent career path, job search turnaround, seeking raise/promotion, industry in decline/consolidation, long term gaps, family leave, or other of the most challenging job search issues.

Join me for my next free Resume Webinar (enroll at https://x.resumewebinar.com/register for no charge) and learn how to accelerate your job search, so you can find your next job faster in 2023.

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