What should be your resume to be read

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Maria Alekseeva, as a guest writer, wrote a few tips for Lifehacker's resume design. Namely: how to bypass the robot that filters applications on the portal with vacancies or directly on the company's website, and get through to a live recruiter. Further, the word of Mary herself.

What happens to your resume when you click the "Submit" button on the job portal or directly on the website of the company where you liked the job? If this company is large enough, then with a high degree of probability your file will fall into the clutches of a robot.

This robot is called ATS (Applicant Tracking System) - a system for tracking and filtering applications for vacancies. This system scans the resume for specific keywords embedded in the job profile.

Keywords can relate to specific technical and linguistic skills, to the names of companies where experience is preferable for a particular position, the names of prestigious universities that the candidate should ideally graduate from, and much more that the recruiter in charge of the vacancy will find important. Thus, if your resume passes the necessary barrier of compatibility with the ideal candidate profile, then there is a chance that a real person will look at it and invite you for an interview.

How to increase your chances and reach a recruiter in such a situation? Several life hacks to help.

Carefully analyze the vacancy text. List possible keywords in the following categories:

• preferred education (names of the most suitable specializations);
• location (country, city);
• direct competencies (tasks facing a potential employee);
• required knowledge of languages (including programming);
• necessary experience with certain software.

If you are stumped with keyword extraction, use a tool such as composing word clouds. It helps not only to make beautiful presentations, but also to generate ideas! I personally like it, but you can take any other.

Now take a look at your resume. Include missing words and sentences in it, but only if it really relates to you. For example, you really live in such and such a city, have received a diploma in the specified specialization, speak the required language or have the skills to work with the required program, and so on.

Finally, get rid of the "tinsel" in your resume.

The more accurately the resume reflects that ideal profile, the higher the likelihood of getting into the selected pool of candidates with whom the recruiter will work. Thus, "tinsel" will only harm you. What is meant?

1. When in doubt about any part of your resume, ask yourself a question, how important is this information for a specific job that interests me.
2. Down with the pretty pictures and diagrams from your document. Leave just your photo … Why? ATS simply does not recognize graphics, cannot decrypt them.
3. Use fonts that are most suitable for web text (for example, Arial or Georgia). This is more reliable, there is a guarantee that the text will be correctly read by ATS.
4. Simplicity, once again simplicity: no shadows, pretty symbols, Wordart or anything that can come to mind. For the same reason as above.

Finally, check your spelling carefully. ATS only reads well-written words.:)

Good luck with your interview!