When writing your resume, don't ignore the automated system it may likely face

You’re looking for a job. You and millions of other people. You’ve updated your resume on LinkedIn and have uploaded it to job boards. You have qualifications, you're just not getting hits. This can be a frustrating situation.

It may be time to take a closer look at your resume to assure that it is worded and formatted in such a way that it will initially make it through an automated system. An increasing number of companies are turning to an automated candidate sourcing process in the staffing and recruiting industry. By this I mean that when recruiters are looking to match people to jobs they “source candidates,” or find and qualify candidates for an open position, using a recruitment automation process.

There are many reasons for this. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are being used to organize, track, search and engage with candidates. If you're a recruitment company that holds a great amount of candidate data or hopes to grow, this is an essential tool. Within the ATS is a technology known as a resume parser. This is a technology that converts the contents of an electronic document like your resume, from a Word or PDF document into a format a computer can understand. This is done so that information on your resume, like skills, job titles and education is searchable.

Unraveling the mystery of automation

When a recruiter is looking to fill a position, from software within their ATS they conduct a search. ATS generally have their own built-in parsing and search software, but others enhance their ATS with software that is specifically designed to be much better at parsing and searching than the generic built-in variety. Without going into too much detail, parsing and searching software such as DaXtra offers contains many added features to better enable the ATS to run quick and very accurate searches using AI and semantics to get much better results.

The recruiter runs a search over the data within their own database and over job boards, social networks and other online sources, using parameters like location, job title and skills. The technology within the ATS is able to match people to jobs and rank who is the best fit for the job. The recruiter then creates a shortlist of the top ranked candidates and this is what they will physically look over to determine the best candidates to turn over to their client — the company who has hired the recruitment agency to fill the open position. Or it may be an in-house corporate recruiter looking to fill a position within their company. Regardless, your resume may not be seen by a human it until it has gone through an automated parsing system.

No matter if you are the best qualified person for the job, your resume may not make it through the automated process if it contains some common errors. That said, most resumes do make it through because the advanced resume parsing software includes semantic search and can be coupled with OCR capabilities and other technologies. But there are still some common errors people make when creating their resumes that will bump their resume out of the system or make it less likely for it to be found. There are also ways to craft your resume to make it rise to the top of the rankings if you are indeed qualified.

In this article I wrote, Resume secrets you need to know: Tips to get your resume through a parser, you’ll find more detail about the content you should include along with formatting tips. Formatting is a HUGE detail that some people ignore or are just unaware of that could make a tremendous difference as to whether your resume is seen or not.

It includes information like:

• Dos and don’ts regarding keywords, skills and job titles
• Crucial information to include
• Formatting essentials like using a standard font and a Word format
• Tips of graphics usage – photos, headers, tables and images

I’ve read articles lately that stress not to cater to ATS and automated systems. This is true to a point, but you mustn’t make the crucial error of ignoring the automated system either or you run the risk of not landing the job you had hoped for.

Keep in mind, an increasing number of companies use an ATS. To get in front of a human you must first make it through the system. To ignore it is to cut your chances of being hired.

If you have any questions, please reach out and I’ll be happy to help.

c.watson@daxtra.com