Cracking the code for interviews
In the past, interviews were face-to-face meetings
between the employer and employee. That was a time
before advancements in technology made various aspects
of life more efficient. The result of this is an automated
resume drop box that reviews a person’s portfolio before
it actually makes it to the employer for consideration.
These programs look for specific keywords that have
been noted by the organization to find the resumes
that possess the skills, talents or characteristics that are
desired.
Some of the organizations that offer automated screening software include Capterra, Daxtra and ThermoScientific. Melanie Pinola said in her article called “How Can I Make Sure My Resume Gets Past Resume Robots and into a Human’s Hand?” for lifehacker.com that these automated services are becoming more common in the workplace. “Employers and hiring managers are turning more than ever to resume screening software [due] to the overwhelming number of job applications they get,” she said. “It pays to know how these systems, called Applicant Tracking Systems or Automated Resume Screeners, work so you can make your resume more relevant to the job you’re applying for.”
According to Pinola, the process starts with human resources (HR) taking the applications or resumes and putting them into a Parser, which is a program that breaks down the information into specific strings of information and then sorts through the information. The employer is then able to search up what position they are looking to hire and review statistics that score the relevancy, specifically the closeness of attributes to the search criteria, of the resume. The closer the applicant is to the criteria, the more likely they are to get a call from the employer to arrange a meeting about the job. “Clearly it’s vital to include relevant text in your resume,” Pinola said. “But rather than [dumping] all the keywords from the job description in, [you will] need to employ a strategy. Most savvy job applicants are likely using the same keywords in their resumes.”
Depending on the software, there are some formatting methods that can help the program pick up specific attributes that could be lost in the sorting, which would make your score lower upon review by an employer. Vivian Giang, a writer for Business Insider, investigated in her article “These Formatting Rules Will Get Your Resume Through The Screening System” some tactics that Rick Gillis references in his book, Job!: Learn How to Find Your Next Job In 1 Day.
“Do not place your contact information in the header of your resume, because filtering software can be set to ignore headers and footers so there is a risk this information will be deleted. Gillis says [that screening software] may reject serif fonts, such as Times Roman or Cambria,” Giang said. “Choose a conservative font such as Verdana, Arial, Tahoma or Calibri.”
“The smallest font size to use for the body of your resume should be 11 point. Any smaller and you’re probably asking for trouble.”
Headers, footers and font size will not secure that all your information will not be lost. Giang said that Gillis emphasizes how margins and organizational tools can damage the software’s ability to detect specific information.
“[Gillis says] a one-inch margin top and bottom is [the best option]. [He says you should not] use any lines that cross the entire page from margin to margin,” Giang quotes from Gillis. “‘Some filters [will] reject a document for nothing more than having a single line run continuously across the page.’”
The end goal is to wow the robot and get your resume to human eyes for the chance to make your personal impression on your employer. Pamela Skilling, a writer for BigInterview.com says that to reach that end goal, people need to evolve with the new technology.
“The bottom line is that applicants must learn how to optimize resumes to make it through the screening process so you can ultimately get the job you seek,” Skillings said. “It’s imperative to learn how to move past the algorithms.” “This means that job seekers must become more creative in order to make the right impression on both the robots, that initially scan your resumes, and the people who will ultimately read them and need to be impressed enough to invite you to interview.”
Although it may seem stressful to make sure the application is done correctly, this software can work in your favour by sorting the information and highlighting your credentials to the employer. With cyberspace being the first impression for some organizations, always format to impress.
Some of the organizations that offer automated screening software include Capterra, Daxtra and ThermoScientific. Melanie Pinola said in her article called “How Can I Make Sure My Resume Gets Past Resume Robots and into a Human’s Hand?” for lifehacker.com that these automated services are becoming more common in the workplace. “Employers and hiring managers are turning more than ever to resume screening software [due] to the overwhelming number of job applications they get,” she said. “It pays to know how these systems, called Applicant Tracking Systems or Automated Resume Screeners, work so you can make your resume more relevant to the job you’re applying for.”
According to Pinola, the process starts with human resources (HR) taking the applications or resumes and putting them into a Parser, which is a program that breaks down the information into specific strings of information and then sorts through the information. The employer is then able to search up what position they are looking to hire and review statistics that score the relevancy, specifically the closeness of attributes to the search criteria, of the resume. The closer the applicant is to the criteria, the more likely they are to get a call from the employer to arrange a meeting about the job. “Clearly it’s vital to include relevant text in your resume,” Pinola said. “But rather than [dumping] all the keywords from the job description in, [you will] need to employ a strategy. Most savvy job applicants are likely using the same keywords in their resumes.”
Depending on the software, there are some formatting methods that can help the program pick up specific attributes that could be lost in the sorting, which would make your score lower upon review by an employer. Vivian Giang, a writer for Business Insider, investigated in her article “These Formatting Rules Will Get Your Resume Through The Screening System” some tactics that Rick Gillis references in his book, Job!: Learn How to Find Your Next Job In 1 Day.
“Do not place your contact information in the header of your resume, because filtering software can be set to ignore headers and footers so there is a risk this information will be deleted. Gillis says [that screening software] may reject serif fonts, such as Times Roman or Cambria,” Giang said. “Choose a conservative font such as Verdana, Arial, Tahoma or Calibri.”
“The smallest font size to use for the body of your resume should be 11 point. Any smaller and you’re probably asking for trouble.”
Headers, footers and font size will not secure that all your information will not be lost. Giang said that Gillis emphasizes how margins and organizational tools can damage the software’s ability to detect specific information.
“[Gillis says] a one-inch margin top and bottom is [the best option]. [He says you should not] use any lines that cross the entire page from margin to margin,” Giang quotes from Gillis. “‘Some filters [will] reject a document for nothing more than having a single line run continuously across the page.’”
The end goal is to wow the robot and get your resume to human eyes for the chance to make your personal impression on your employer. Pamela Skilling, a writer for BigInterview.com says that to reach that end goal, people need to evolve with the new technology.
“The bottom line is that applicants must learn how to optimize resumes to make it through the screening process so you can ultimately get the job you seek,” Skillings said. “It’s imperative to learn how to move past the algorithms.” “This means that job seekers must become more creative in order to make the right impression on both the robots, that initially scan your resumes, and the people who will ultimately read them and need to be impressed enough to invite you to interview.”
Although it may seem stressful to make sure the application is done correctly, this software can work in your favour by sorting the information and highlighting your credentials to the employer. With cyberspace being the first impression for some organizations, always format to impress.
