Will your resume pass an ATS scan?

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Joywtome231
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Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2024 4:02 am

Will your resume pass an ATS scan?

Post by Joywtome231 »

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are used by employers to help manage the recruitment process. The application is designed to parse resumes and filter based on keywords. Its initial purpose is to weed out applicants, lessening the workload of HR. You can never “beat” an ATS system; the goal is to try and match it, so your resume goes into the system and also comes out the other end for review by a human reader.

If your resume doesn’t include the right keywords, chances are it will land in the online recycle bin and never make it to a human. Keywords are generally those skills acquired through education and experience.

There are a variety of keyword resources: the job posting, industry associations, a Google switzerland phone number resource search, company websites, online business directories, the National Occupation Classification (Canada), the O*Net Occupational Director (US), or visit my website download the free “Do you know your keywords” publication.

Sample keywords for a Sales role include: Account Management, Brand Management, Channel Sales, Competitive Analysis, CRM, Distributor Management, Margin Improvement, Product Positioning, Prospecting, and Profit Margin.

How you format your resume also plays a critical role in the ATS process. In the early days of ATS, it was necessary to convert your Word resume into a very bland .txt or ASCII format before posting onto a website, job board or other online platform. Thankfully, those days are behind us. It is now possible to create one ATS-optimized “Master Resume” in Word that works for both ATS software and the human reader. The trick is to know how to format the document to pass the ATS scanning process.
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