Most job seekers - to one degree or another - are now aware that there is a devil in our times wreaking havoc upon their resume submissions. I say resume because the cover letter bears but a small impact upon the percentage “score” generated in an applicant tracking system (ATS) data scan. ATS is utilized by almost all larger companies to simplify for themselves the candidate selection process as application rates (along with population numbers) rise, and hiring managers scream for solutions to their nightmares with sometimes hundreds of applicants to select from.
Simply put, ATS does their job for them, dispensing easily with scores of applicants who do not use ATS when preparing their application, nor painstakingly match their resume precisely to the verbiage of the position ad. Their failure to do so means, most likely, that their carefully prepared documents will never be seen by human eyes.
The problems with ATS are obvious and have been experienced already in HR outcomes - it leads to the same applicant pool again and again showing up - those who are playing that silly game rather well.
When writing resumes, perhaps the best remedy while we have this Devil in our midst is to write a sharply defined resume that truly represents who you are and your unique strengths and accomplishments, perhaps with the help of a skilled resume writer, and afterwards apply with that help, as creatively and as meaningfully as possible, throughout your resume, those missing key words to bring your resume into compatible correlation with ATS. This is what we help our clients with at CareerHD. We help you to stay focused on your attributes and strengths, and how best to represent yourself, your experience and your aspirations, not focused upon that infernal Devil.
