What Can You Do to Get Your Resume Past the Scanning Software?

You may already be familiar with artificial intelligence when it comes to the smart speakers, like Alexa, in your home. Did you know that companies have been using AI for years to track applicants through resume scanning software? Your resume is scanned to determine if you’re a fit for their open position. So how do you make sure that your resume makes it past the AI and into the hands of the hiring manager?

What is ATS?

An applicant tracking system, or ATS, is software that helps companies organize and store data on job seekers who have applied for their open jobs. Sometimes it will include additional information along with the resume, such as interview notes.

Staffing agencies will use an ATS to keep track of candidates and match them with new jobs from clients. Other companies will also use them, especially big corporations, to track applicant data for the human resources department.

Keywords

The software that scans resumes relies on the use of keywords. The recruiter will enter the important keywords necessary to find all resume matches in the system. It works in a similar way to a search engine, like Google, but only searches the resumes available.

To get the attention of the person searching resumes, you have to use the right combination of keywords for the open position. When you apply, see what kinds of words they use specifically in their job description or be sure to use the most common keywords for your industry.

Formatting

A well-formatted resume definitely gets the attention of the human looking at it, but it also helps the ATS. The easier the format of the resume, the easier it will be to scan and review both by the software and by the recruiters.

AI can sort through words much faster than readers, but a resume always needs to be in the best format for easy scanning.

Length

The rule of thumb used to be just one page for a resume. That has changed over time and it’s a much more flexible rule today. The most important thing is to include enough information to be relevant, which means you may need to extend past the first page.

But that doesn’t mean you need to send in a multi-page resume. Resumes that are too long will be ignored if not by the applicant tracking system then by the person who needs to review it before making the decision to call. Two pages with a simple font and white space is perfect for both applicant tracking systems and recruiters.

Work With a Top Staffing Agency Dallas TX

Are you ready to submit your resume? Contact the team at CornerStone Staffing, now hiring for jobs in Dallas TX.

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