Then as now I believe visual appeal is the key to resume writing to land a job. I also feel strongly that more job seekers will get hired via networking and getting a resume directly into the hands of a decision maker, or at least the hands of a trusted intermediary, than by means of electronic submission.
However numerous reader responses to my 8/6 post led me to conduct some further research on the topic. What I discovered is there is now a proliferation of software and products in the ATS market at a price that is affordable for small businesses and placement firms. Thus more employers and recruiters are jumping on the ATS bandwagon to deal with the high volume of resumes submitted for consideration.
This being the case, today more than ever unemployed job seekers and employed personnel who desire to advance their career must take ATS seriously when preparing a resume. This also means writing your own resume is now more complex than ever in terms of knowing what works best for electronic eyes and human eyes; how many resumes you need; how many formats your resume should be in; and which one to use at all times.
So here is some additional food for thought on resume writing and ATS.
1: ATS no longer searches strictly for key words. Now it is capable and programmed to parse and select key words in context. So, although it has value, a laundry list in say an Areas of Expertise section has less value today than in the past unless it is part of a well thought out ATS driven writing process.
Although it appears repetitive to a novice human eye, the computer assigns a value to each key word based on the number of times it appears. This is why advanced resume writing expertise and wordsmith skills are so important.
The ATS compliance process is somewhat complicated and is also constantly changing. But in simple terms certain words and phrases need to appear a number of times in the resume, they must appear in the proper physical location on the resume, and they need to be written in relation to the desired context and relevance of specific job descriptions.
2: I’ve been told by a few SME’s that a candidate profile is parsed, identified and stored in the ATS system as existing or new. So in many systems once a resume is parsed and uploaded that version will remain in the system for a predefined or indefinite amount of time, even if a new one is submitted. On this point I will say that not all experts agree, and most who do say it also depends on the software package.
If true, this means if a poorly written resume and/or one that is not ATS friendly was submitted first and then you edited or rewrote it completely and submitted the new version to the same company for a different job, there’s no guarantee it will replace the one already in the system. Instead you will still be bypassed as being an inappropriate match.
As a job seeker you don’t know which system an employer uses (if any) and when a newer version of your resume will replace the original one already embedded in the system. So my advice is to write and submit your resume with caution.
For those who work in fields or at levels where electronic submission is more prevalent, and for job seekers who target working for specific companies and submit their resume multiple times for multiple positions I’d suggest you get it right the first time or get a professional who knows about ATS to prepare your resume.
3: Key for the resume writer is the ability to read and categorize job descriptions and build favorable profiles based on the data, with particular emphasis on proper vernacular. A resume writer should also pay attention to identify and include specific and non-specific words and jargon that apply to the field and industry the resume is being written and targeted for.
If you have additional information on ATS to share with me and others, please email me and let’s talk. I can then include your knowledge and expertise (attributed or unattributed) in a 3rd follow-up post.
Again, I am available to offer a professional critique of resumes and social media profiles and offer thoughts on how to improve them. Just send it along to perry@perrynewman.com. No cost/no obligation.
No comments:
Post a Comment