Unfortunately for potential candidates; Applicant Tracking Systems mean that a significant number of CVs are discarded without ever being read by a human.
The systems operate by identifying keywords and phrases and often award each CV a mathematical score based upon their relevance to the position applied for. Only those scoring most favourably will be set aside for review by HR departments.
Whilst this obviously saves managers a considerable amount of time by filtering out weaker applicants, it does mean strong candidates may be slipping through the net. Finding a job can be made easier by following these tips to ensure your CV makes it past the system.
Formatting
Keep this simple. ATS do not like elaborate fonts, pictures or logos. They get confused by unfamiliar titles, so don't add in extra headings. Also, while it may seem logical to send your CV as a PDF, they find these hard to process.
Mistakes
Mistakes such as spelling and grammatical errors will get your CV discarded immediately. There is no excuse for sloppiness on such an important document. Check through your CV multiple times, use spellchecker and then get a friend to check it through too.
Keywords
Given the nature of ATS, it is obviously important to include the most relevant keywords. Whatever the profession, there will be associated jargon, skills, qualifications and software. An ATS will be searching for these to prove you are well suited to the job.
Look carefully at the job description provided. It is likely to contain the same keywords the computer will have been programmed to look for. There are some useful 'word cloud' generating sites, which could help you identify the most frequently used phrases. Include these in your CV.
Finally, the ATS could be looking for acronyms or the full versions of relevant industry bodies, titles or qualifications. Make sure your CV contains both and you will not have to worry about these being missed.
It is important to make sure keywords and phrases are included in a natural, fluent manner. Attempting to beat the system by using a deluge of keywords won't work - the systems are able to recognise where this has been tried. And in any case, if the CV were to make it through, any hiring manager looking at it could well find it difficult to make sense of it!
Take a look at Pure Resourcing's infographic which illustrates how ATS works and how you can optimise your CV.
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