- On average, recruiters spend only six seconds
reviewing a resume before deciding
whether to continue reading it.
In this video, I'm gonna teach you
how to make every second count.
- [Narrator] The first person to read your resume
isn't a person at all
and 75% of resumes will be cut
before they ever reach human eyes.
- Why is that?
Well, your resume may never reach human eyes
because of a big wall
named ATS, Applicant Tracking Systems.
These are AI programs that a lot of companies use
to scan resumes and filter out applications
based on keywords related to job requirements.
When these programs scan your resume,
if it's not formatted the right way
or using relevant keywords for the job you're going after,
ATS won't even let you in the door.
Here's how to get around it.
Number one, tailor your resume
to the job you're applying for.
Resumes often lack job specific customization.
Admit it, you love that Easy Apply button a bit too much.
Go ahead, you know you want to, there we go.
No judgment, but what happens as a result
is when folks are applying for a marketing job,
they're usually sending the same resume
they'd use if they were applying for a job in education.
Don't do that, employers are looking for candidates
who have the specific skills
and experience needed for their gig.
If you're always sending a general resume
with no keywords, formatting,
or anything related to this specific role,
the ATS won't let you in the door.
To solve this, you wanna use a tool like Jobscan.
It lets you analyze individual job postings
and identify the keywords
and skills the employer is looking for.
This way you can
just naturally sprinkle them throughout your resume.
Just upload your resume,
copy and paste the job posting, and then review.
Jobscan will compare your resume against the job posting
and provide a match rate.
It'll tell you which phrases and skills from the posting
are missing from your resume.
You can also save a bit of time
by creating a resume for each industry you wanna apply for
and just having it always on hand.
This way you can always have
an already-existing template to work from,
making tailoring it a lot easier.
Hack number two, use action verbs
to show your accomplishments.
Action verbs allow you to highlight your accomplishments
in a quick and efficient way.
Think bullet points and quantifiable results.
Instead of wrote articles for "The Food Blog,"
go with researched, wrote,
and published four articles for 'The Food Blog."
This is your time to show your contributions.
Instead of saying department sales increased by 13%,
say increased department sales by 13%.
Use words like achieved, created, developed,
managed, increased, and improved.
Using passive language makes it
unclear who performed an action
or places an emphasis on the action,
rather than the person who performed it
and that's not what we're trying to do here.
We want all the focus on you.
If you need inspiration,
you can find a deep list
of industry-specific action verb keywords
with Resume Worded.
It offers a variety of resources,
but most importantly a database of action verbs.
Just go to Resume Worded
and click on Resume Review.
Put in your career level
and upload your resume.
Resume Worded will provide feedback on your resume,
but more importantly click on Action Verbs
to see some effective action verbs to use in your resume.
You can choose from strong accomplishment-driven verbs
to research and analysis.
Match the verbs you choose
with the skills listed in the job posting.
This is yet another way to naturally put in
relevant keywords to make sure your resume
makes it past their software.
Hack number three, don't go overboard with the keywords.
While putting keywords into your resume
is very, very important,
you don't wanna do what Jobscan calls keyword stuffing.
This is when applicants
excessively use keywords in their resume
whether they're relevant or not.
It's like when you make an IG post
and attach a ton of popular hashtags
that aren't actually relevant to the post.
Speaking of which, quick story.
Taleo ATS software caught a job seeker
trying to beat the system by stuffing hidden keywords.
The applicant repeatedly typed accounting
into the bottom of their resume,
then highlighted it white so it's invisible to human eyes.
Unluckily for them, a human wasn't actually looking at it.
The software could see it clearly as day
and called them out.
Do you understand what it must feel like
to get called out by an AI?
A good rule of thumb is to only use keywords where relevant,
specifically in your summary, skills,
and work experience sections.
Trust me, I've done the research.
You're not as smooth as you think you are.
It'll be pretty clear that your keyword stuffing
when your home address is on SEO Lane
in Boston, Marketing Plan-achusetts.
Hack number four, keep your formatting simple.
If you are an employer looking at a resume
and you only had six seconds of attention to give,
would you wanna see this or this?
Clarity is king when it comes to skimming.
You can solve formatting problems
by using one of these free resume templates
designed with readability in mind.
All you need to do is download the offer
I'm gifting you down below.
You are very welcome.
Just cut and paste your info,
then edit it to your liking.
With multiple options to choose from,
no matter which one you choose,
your employer will be able to find
the info they need quickly and easily.
While these are all designed with readability in mind,
it's for human readability.
So if you want to easily be read by an ATS,
you'll wanna go with template number five.
It has a lot less boxes and columns
which sometimes make it hard for the software
to read your info.
Hack number five, spelling and grammar.
According to a study,
six out of 10 US resumes
contain spelling and grammar mistakes.
Though seemingly small, these errors can make you
look careless and very unprofessional.
Grammarly can help you easily catch mistakes
and make sure your resume is polished and error-free.
Again just copy and paste your resume into the tool
and it'll highlight any spelling or grammar errors.
It'll also provide suggestions
on how to improve your writing
and make your resume more effective.
While we're on the topic of spelling and grammar,
even though it may be very tempting,
avoid using overly complex language
or insider business lingo.
Keep your language simple and easy to understand.
We only have six seconds, instead of saying.
Ascertain the delineation of multifaceted project scope
and conducted detailed needs assessments
to generate comprehensive project plans
encompassing all aspects of project management
from inception to implementation,
just say created detailed project plans
from start to finish
by assessing project needs and scope, keep it simple.
Hack number six, another set of eyes.
Whether it's a professor, mentor,
career advisor, or a current colleague,
it's very important to get your resume
in front of a set of eyes that aren't yours or AI's.
The best thing to have someone say
is, "This part doesn't work for me."
Put your ego in the back seat.
Whether you agree with their critique or not,
the devil's advocate perspective they provide is invaluable.
It can help shine a light
on last-minute areas for improvement
that may have gone unnoticed.
Hack number seven, convert your resume to a PDF file.
Converting your resume to a PDF format
maintains the clean formatting
that you've worked so hard on up until this point.
I'm very proud of you by the way.
PDF files are also compatible with most devices and software
which means that your resume can be easily viewed
and shared by potential employers
no matter what program they may be using to view it.
A lot of word-processing software programs
such as Microsoft Word have built in options to save
or export your document as a PDF file.
You can also use online converters
to change your resume to a PDF file for free.
Some popular options include Smallpdf,
Doc to PDF, and PDFConverter.com.
The concept is simple for all of them.
Just upload your file,
choose your file type, and convert.
By following these seven strategies
and using these tools,
you can create a compelling resume
that will not only make
a great impression on potential employers,
but also make sure you get past any AI systems
trying to keep you out.
Remember to tailor your resume
to the job you're applying for.
Use action verbs to highlight your accomplishment.
Don't go overboard with keywords.
Keep it simple and easy to read.
Get proof reading to ensure your resume is error-free
and turn it into a pdf.
With these tips, your resume is well on its way
to getting the responses needed to land your dream job.
As always, if you like what you heard
and you wanna learn more,
subscribe to the channel and learn more.
Until next time.
(bright music)
- I can'T find this client info.
- Have you heard of HubSpot?
HubSpot is a CRM platform,
so it shares its data across every application.
Every team can stay aligned.
No out-sync-spreadsheets or dueling databases.
HubSpot, grow better.