Reverse Engineering Employer Hiring To Get Through ATSs More Often

If you want your resume to get through Applicant Tracking Systems more often, you may be doing what most other job seekers try: Guessing keywords (with AI/Word cloud tool help) based on published job descriptions, and applying to a high number of jobs.

Unfortunately, this approach rarely works well, because it's the opposite of how employer ATSs work.

Or you can reverse engineer employer hiring, get a better idea of the process employers use to pick who they'll interview, and build this into your job search strategy.

If you compare your job search process to the ways almost all employers screen candidates, you'll find:

1. Employer Hiring Process Prioritize Candidates Who Invest Significant Time In Resume Customization: ATS and human review heavily favor the job seekers who clearly have modified their resumes, showing that they meet the individual hiring manager's current needs. Most candidates do the opposite: Spend little time customizing their resume, and invest that time applying to a higher volume of jobs, hoping that doing more of the wring thing will make their search faster.
2. Published Job Descriptions Don't Reflect The Individual Hiring Manager's Current Needs: HR departments write published job descriptions (not hiring managers) for the purpose of reducing risk of HR lawsuits (not to make it easier for you to land interviews or jobs). HR writes criteria before a company's budget cycle, and may reuse them, making them a year old or older. Hiring managers submit current needs to recruiters, who use their current needs as the real search criteria, usually >50% different than what is published.
3. Recruiters And Hiring Managers Aren't Impressed By Qualified Candidates: Hiring mangers expect so many qualified candidates applying for jobs in 2024, that portraying yourself as qualified makes you average. The very definition of qualified refers to the bare minimum of requirements. This might have been enough in 2019, but in 2024, job seekers need to aim for a higher goal in order get more interviews and advance more often.

Good thing there are more effective ways to get past employer resume screening databases by understanding employer hiring processes, and revising your resume/interview/job search strategies to meet them.

If you don't want to just depend on random applications, volume, and hoping you get lucky to find your next job, or if what you're doing isn't producing much luck, let me help. Let me show you changes to your resume and job search strategies to be more effective in getting through Applicant Tracking Systems. I'll also teach you ways to double your interviews, whether you're currently employed, unemployed, age 40+, or have other difficult job search challenges.

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/Registration for no charge) and learn how to accelerate your job search, so you can find your next job faster in 2024.

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