Writing a Resume to get past the ATS

Source:? The Muse

The internet has radically changed the job search process, replacing traditional methods like "pounding the pavement" with online applications. While this allows candidates to apply for many more jobs, it also means that companies receive far more applications than they can manage. To streamline this, hiring managers and recruiters often use applicant tracking systems (ATS), which organize applications and filter out the most qualified candidates. If you've applied for a job online since 2008, your application has likely gone through an ATS. Fortunately, creating an ATS-friendly resume is easier than you think.

Follow these dos and don’ts to ensure your application makes it through and impresses hiring managers.

1. Do Apply Only to Roles You’re Qualified For

First and foremost, make sure you’re truly qualified for the roles you’re applying to. This doesn’t mean you have to hit every single job qualification or apply to a job only if you have the traditional background for it. But if you don’t have the core skills needed to perform a job, the ATS will exclude your application.

2. Don’t apply to tons of jobs at the same company

An applicant tracking system also allows recruiters to see all the roles you’ve applied to at their company. When you apply for every opening the company has, the recruiter can’t tell what you’re actually interested in or if you’re self-aware about your abilities.

If a company has two very similar roles open, absolutely apply to both. Or if you have a wide range of skills and interests and would be equally happy in two very different roles, then you can apply to both, though you should definitely tailor or target each resume you submit to the specific job.

3. Do include the right words

An applicant tracking system (ATS) functions similarly to a human recruiter by scanning resumes for key information to determine if you’re a match for a job. ATS algorithms and human decision-making both focus on the same essential elements.

To write an ATS-friendly resume, ensure that key information is present and easily accessible. ATS narrows the applicant pool by searching for specific keywords, akin to a Google search but on a smaller scale. Recruiters choose keywords based on the skills, qualifications, and experience vital for the job, such as majors for entry-level roles or coding languages for tech positions.

To get past the ATS, include these important keywords in your resume.

4. Do Put Your Keywords in Context

Applicant tracking systems can recognize that a key skill or experience is present. But interpreting the strength and value of that experience is still for people to do. And humans want to see how you used your skills.

It’s obvious to a recruiter when you’ve just worked in a keyword because it was in the posting, without tying it to a specific personal achievement—and it doesn’t win you any points.

Remember that you won’t be the only one adding those important keywords to your resume. If you are all using the same buzzwords, what sets you apart? Answer: your accomplishments, which are unique to you.

5. Don’t Try to Trick the ATS

ATSs have brought up a whole new host of problems with applicants “trying to cheat the system,”. You might have come across advice about how to tweak your resume to fool an applicant tracking system—by pasting keywords in white, pasting the entire job description in white, repeating the keywords as many times as possible, or adding a section labeled “keywords” where you stick various words from the job description.

Don’t do any of this!

Any tricks that have to do with pasting keywords in white will immediately be discovered because the ATS will display all text in the same color on the other end. So even if this gets your application flagged to a human recruiter, they’ll see that you added the full text of the job description or just wrote “sales sales sales sales” somewhere and move onto the next candidate as quickly as they can. Not only are you failing to prove you’re qualified for the job, but you’re also showing that you’ll cheat to get ahead!

6. Do Choose the Right File Type

In the great resume file-type debate, there are only two real contenders: docx vs .pdf. While PDFs are best at keeping your format intact overall, the .docx format is the most accurately parsed by ATSs. So if you want to get past the ATS, use a .docx file.

7. Do Make Your Resume Easy to Scan (by Robots and Humans)

Fortunately, ATS-friendly resume formatting is very similar to recruiter-friendly resume formatting. Like a human, the ATS will read from left to right and top to bottom, so keep that in mind as you format. For example, your name and contact information should all be at the top, and your work history should start with your most recent or current position. There should be no surprises about where info is supposed to be.

Ultimately recruiters just want to find the info they’re looking for as quickly as possible. So making a resume ATS friendly will actually help your resume be more readable to recruiters as well.

8. Don’t Include Too Much Fancy Formatting

It may pain you to hear this, but you likely need to get rid of that expensive resume template or heavily designed custom resume.

In order to scan your resume for relevant keywords most ATSs will convert the document to a text-only file. So at best, any fancy formatting will be lost. At worst, the ATS won’t be able to pull out the important information and so a person may never lay eyes on your nice designs—or read about the experience and skills that actually qualify you for the job.

Until next time,

James & Sylvia