You found a perfect job opportunity, tailor-made your resume, submitted your application online and then… silence! What happened? What went wrong ? Did you know Applicant tracking systems (ATS) eliminates over 75% of applicants before their resume even reaches a hiring manager. Make sure your application makes the cut and does not land to the “black hole” 🤷
What is an ATS Software ?
ATS software automatically scans and processes each job application sent to a company, and then disqualifies applications that don’t meet the requirements the company set.
How to make an ATS Friendly Resume ?
Using an easy-to-read resume format, removing things like tables or images, and including resume keywords from the job description all help make your resume more ATS-friendly.
1. Do not over design
Do not Include Photographs, or shapes or Icons or CLIPART to design your Resume : In order to scan your resume for relevant keywords most ATSs will convert the document to a text-only file. So at best, any fancy formatting will be lost. At worst, the ATS won’t be able to pull out the important information and so a person may never lay eyes on your nice designs—or read about the experience and skills that actually qualify you for the job.
2. Correctly label your sections
Applicant Tracking Systems organize your qualifications based on common resume headings like “Work Experience” and “Skills”. Playful headings like “Why I’m Great” will confuse ATS software. So don’t use them.
3. Use a common resume font
The best resume fonts to get past the ATS are common and easy to read. When in doubt, stick to basic fonts like Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, or Georgia.
4. Include job-related keywords
To determine whether your qualifications are relevant to the position, ATS software scans your resume for specific job-related resume keywords. Although newer ATS software uses AI to understand whether your resume fits the job requirements, many companies still use older software that searches for resume keywords. To increase your chance of getting into the interview pool, look through the job listing for these words to include on your resume.
