Are you getting the silent treatment when you submit your resume to a company online? Yeah, you know what I am talking about! You spend countless hours filling out online applications, attaching your resume and formulating custom cover letters only to hit “submit application” and away it goes into “THE RESUME BLACK HOLE”. Where does my resume go? What can I do to keep my resume out of that black hole and, hopefully, get it reviewed by the Hiring Manager? As mystifying as it sounds, the “Black Hole” can actually be explained quite easily…here is some insight.
Where does your resume go?
Many, if not most businesses, now use applicant tracking systems. This is a software package that acts as a gatekeeper and is supposed to help the Hiring Manager handle the mass amounts of applications they are receiving in this job market. The software sorts, categorizes and stores thousands of resumes and analyzes each before determining which ones are actually worthy of human eyes. Resumes will NOT show up in a search if it does not have the exact words or phrases that the Hiring Manager is searching for. Keywords represent the knowledge, skills abilities and experience the employer is looking for in a candidate. This can mean “hard” skills (job/profession/industry-specific), technical terms (i.e. hardware or software programs or languages), job titles, certifications, industry specific awards, acronyms or lingo, professional organizations, types of degrees, names of colleges and company names. Your resume, itself, must be tailored to the position and the cover letter must highlight the key competitive differences that are described in the document and make you the candidate they should select.
Tailoring a resume to each opening for which you apply obviously takes time, so adopting this approach necessitates another change in your job search strategy. In essence, it forces you to abandon the scatter-shot method of application—applying for any opening where you are even partially qualified—and replace it with a more focused strategy in which you limit your efforts to those opportunities where you are truly competitive and most likely to be engaged by the work involved.
How do I gain access through this automated road block?
This is where keywords and phrases are so very important. All too often, qualified candidates face rejection because these software packages are programmed to scan and recognize pre-programmed words and phrases that are not included in the resume you submit. You need to make sure you mention every qualification as listed in the job description and use the same keywords and phrases to optimize your chances of your resume getting passed on to a real person.
Only apply for jobs that are a strong match for your background. With so many highly qualified professionals looking for a job, competition is fierce, and employers are being very selective about the candidates they bring in for job interviews. Applying for positions in which your skills and qualifications most closely match those in the job description will increase your odds of getting through the system.
I hope that understanding a little more about applicant screening/tracking software will enable you to submit a better resume that will eventually land on a human being’s desk!
