How to make your resume ATS proof ?

You are looking for change & have been going through various job portals & checking with folks in your professional network. You could locate a job matching your profile & aspirations. You did a detailed research about the company, re-wrote your resume & submitted your application. So what happens after you have hit the send button? You do not hear from the employer ever.

This is a story for most of us since 75% of the applications never reaches human. They are scanned & rejected by automated application tracking system(ATS). Most large employers, recruiters & job boards generally use ATS to screen thousands of applications. Besides, a lot of small & medium sized employers have also adopted this technology enabled strategy since it helps them save lot of time & money.

On the other hand, this is a frustrating experience for job seekers since out of desperation either they end up sending standard resume to various job advertisements or giving up. However, there are ways to improve your odds & clear these strong job market walls.

Application Tracking System(ATS) scans resume for specific keywords & phrases & offers  basic career matching between recruiter & candidate. These keywords could be hard skills such as project management & programming languages( to name a few) & soft skills such as teamwork, leadership, networking, mentoring & communication skills. There are higher chances of your resume being rejected if you do not mention your availability for a particular location.

Depending upon how ATS ranks your resume, you may be first in line for interview or may be so far away in the list that your resume is lost. This can happen even with people have requisite skills & experience if you have not optimized your resume for Application Tracking System(ATS). Although the system does help in optimizing the hiring price, it also suffers from bias specifically for candidates who comes from an uncommon background, have employment gap or age prejudice. Such profiles are vulnerable to be rejected.

So how do you pass this ATS bridge so as to at least called for an interview?

1. Include keywords as appearing in the job advertisement in your resume, mention relevant qualifications by name & doubly check your spellings. Since your resume would be evaluated by human at some stage, these keywords should have natural flow in your resume.
2. Showcase your achievements by mentioning examples from your work history. Try to quantify your achievements such as increase sales, market share or signed up clients, saved cost etc., in the best possible way.
3. Use most commonly recognized job titles & showcase in such a way that it portrays increasing responsibility during the course of the career.
4. Mention the city & country in which you want to work which may be different from the city you currently reside.
5. Cover your employment gap by mentioning only year of association with your previous employers( not month).
6. Headline & summary of your resume is really important. It should showcase your profile as perfect for the proposed role. Three lines of your resume summary should underpin required skills & experience( mirroring keywords in job description)
7. Use word instead of any other format, simple formatting & professional font. You can use bullet points however graphs or logos will be rejected by ATS.
8. Filter your social media platforms, Align your resume with your LinkedIn profile. Some of the systems are integrated with social media channels that can scan job seekers activity. So better make changes in your social media handle or change its settings to private.