If you could automatically be in the top 25% of candidates when you applied for a job,
would you do it?
Optimizing your resume for applicant tracking systems can help.
Find out my top 5 tips to make your resume work with applicant tracking systems and to
impress the hiring manager.
I’m Jen with The Career Force.
We help smart, career-minded people stand out in today’s job market.
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Applicant tracking systems are software used by companies to manage all the candidates
applying for positions.
It’s used by over 90% of large companies, and the majority of medium and small companies
are shifting this direction as well.
Applicant tracking software sorts through all the resumes that are received for a position
and turns them into a standard basic format.
It then takes these standardized resumes and checks them against the job description to
see which ones are the best match.
This way when a recruiter or a hiring manager is deciding who to interview, they already
know who is most likely to be a good fit for the position.
A resume that is tailored for ATS or applicant tracking system is also going to be well formatted
and easy to read.
So when that recruiter or hiring manager does have it on their desk, it’s going to be
very simple for them to understand your qualifications.
I mentioned at the beginning of the video that applicant tracking systems will put you
in the top 25% of candidates.
So how does that work?
Applicant tracking systems on average reject 75% of the resumes they receive as not being
a good match.
This means for the typical position, you’ll be in the top 25% just by being able to pass
the software screening.
ATS is set up in connection with specific jobs.
Each job that’s in the system is going to look a little bit different.
The hiring manager defines the skills and the different keywords that may show up on
the resume that are most important to being able to accomplish the job.
Then the software performs the match.
So here’s my first tip: Use the same words that are used on the job description.
And if you see words used multiple times or phrases used multiple times, these are even
more critical to include on your resume.
Once your resume is screened through the system and determined to be a good match, it will
move on to a person for review.
They’ll determine whether you get a call for an interview or not.
Let’s look at how ATS performs this match.
ATS uses optical character recognition.
It sounds complicated, but what it really means is it scans the document looking for
characters or letters and numbers that it recognizes.
While it’s really smart in this way, meaning it can scan PDFs or word documents and other
forms, it’s not sophisticated enough to recognize unusual characters.
What this means for you, and my second tip is: Keep your font simple.
Think Times New Roman or Arial.
These are easily read by any of the applicant tracking systems on the market today.
Also, because applicant tracking systems scan for words, it’s not going to recognize pictures.
Avoid putting pictures, especially if they’re in some really creative font on your resume.
ATS works best with simple formatting and clear wording.
Don’t try to get too creative.
So when you put work experience on your resume, write “work experience.”
Don’t write, “fun jobs I’ve held” or anything like that.
You want it to be really simple for the software to understand what you’re about to talk
about in that section.
ATS also doesn't play well with columns or tables.
Make sure those aren’t on your resume.
It used to be pretty common for people to put tables of their skills on their resume,
and that was fine when a person was reviewing them.
But more than likely, most of those are going to get ignored by the system.
Mastering applicant tracking systems makes a huge difference in whether you get a call
for an interview.
Have you tailored your resume to work with applicant tracking systems?
Let me know in the comments below.
Let’s look at the last and probably the most important tip.
Because ATS is set up to work with each job, you’ll need to update your resume for every
different job you apply for.
The original resume you set up should be mostly usable.
You’ll likely just need to tweak a few words here and there to make sure they best match
the job description.
Setting your resume up to work with applicant tracking systems can be a little bit overwhelming.
If you need some help, we’ll tailor your resume for you.
Check out the link below to find out more about our customized resume service.
Set up your resume to work well with applicant tracking systems and you’ll be much more
likely to get interviews for jobs.
I’ve compiled all my tips related to applicant tracking systems and the other keys to landing
your next job in a handy guide.
If you want to find out more, check out the link below to get your copy.
Thanks so much for watching.
I’ll see you in the next video.