Receiving a rejection email from a job recruiter when you are so hopeful you'd get called for an interview can be so painful, how much more a job seeker who had submitted hundreds of résumés to different job boards but either got no response from the recruiting agencies or got tons of:
Dear Jones, thank you for applying for XYZ job role; however, we unable to process your application at this time. We are also unable to provide you with feedback regarding your application. Regards.
This is a very common challenge faced by many job seekers today ranging from those at the entry level to those seeking managerial or c-suite jobs. Although receiving rejection emails for job applications can be quite emotional, yet we recommend that you don't get personal with it.
This is because most job seekers don't know the secret of the current recruitment strategy. It's a lot of work for an HR personnel to parse thousands of résumé they receive per job opening. They, therefore, automate most of these processes to speed up the recruitment processes using a software called 'Applicant Tracking System (ATS)'.
Some of the automated processes include: using artificial intelligence (AI) to scan through the résumés of every applicant for specific keywords inputted by the recruiter(s), automated ranking of applicants according to specific criteria, automated rejection of applicants who don't meet the job criteria, automated recommendation of preferred candidates for selection by the recruiters and automated scheduling of interview session with the choice candidates for the job. It is, therefore, important to know that today, most human recruiters have little or no interaction with your résumé as a job seeker during the early stages of application sorting.
Most of the email notifications on application updates you receive from recruiting agencies are automated, hence, only the candidates who have been recommended or selected by the AI for an interview gets to interact with human recruiters during which they would need to prove their suitability for the job role. So, is there something you can do differently to beat the process and rank high on the selected list?
In this article, we will describe what an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is, throw some light on what an ATS compliant résumé is, discuss the benefits of writing such résumés and give you 5 proven tips to getting recruiters' attention with an ATS compliant résumé.
ATS is a software used by organizations or human resource agencies to plan and manage the process of recruiting job applicants, keeping track of their information, as well as sorting & analyzing these information to aid the recruiter's work of selecting the right candidates. This tracking system is very efficient because it makes the hiring process less time-consuming. It has features that allows recruiters to write and post job ads on multiple job boards, and to monitor applicants' responses to these ads.
The ATS automatically searches through each résumé and extract specific keywords as inputted by the recruiter in areas such as education, certification, work related skills, and job experience. Some recruiters also input specific questions into the ATS to easily weed out applicants with unsuitable answers such as: availability of working rights or working visa for international applicants, years of experience, and history of criminal records.
Furthermore, ATS sorts new responses as they are received - rejecting applicants who don't match the job criteria and ranking, according to the highest score (on a scale of 1 - 100% [1]), the most suitable applicants. This makes it easier for the recruiter to select from the candidates recommended by the tracking system.
Now that you know what an ATS is, the next step in beating the automated sorting process is to understand what an ATS compliant résumé is. It is a résumé that is formatted with the keywords drawn from a job's description and has clearly labeled sections which makes it searchable and scannable by the tracking system (1). It is important for you to know that some recruiters use keyword based ATS while some organizations use ATS built on machine learning or Natural Learning Processing (2).
You, therefore, have to bear in mind that your résumé must pass the machine's test before been seen or selected for an interview with a human. Hence, you can't afford to make your résumé overly complicated with graphic designs or scantily simple with no recognizable value to make you rank on the ATS scale. That will be synonymous with writing a résumé that ends up in the system's black hole.
Benefits of writing an ATS compliant résumé
One of the most important benefits of writing an ATS friendly résumé is that it increases your rank score on the tracking system. On a scale of 1 - 100%, you need to aim as high as having at least 80% (1) to have a chance of being selected.
In fact, doing this gives you value in return for the time and effort spent on writing your résumé in response to the job ad. Besides this, a high rank score increases you visibility before the human recruiters who will consider going over your résumé - at this stage, your chances of being called for an interview are high.
Furthermore, making your résumé ATS compliant increases your chance of receiving automated emails stating the 'next steps on your application' from the desired company you wish to work with rather than receiving a 'sorry note of rejection'. Moreover, ATS has features that keeps record of applicants' information - this implies that the résumés of high-ranking applicants are kept in a talent pool or 'talent pipeline' (2).
So, in case, you made an application, but you got no response from the recruiters, or you made it to the interview but got no job offer, you don't need to give up. This is because recruiters may consider contacting applicants from their talent pool only when there's a new job opening in the company - so this next opportunity may be the moment you've been waiting for to get the job.
One of the biggest mistake job seekers make is creating a 'one size fits all résumé' which they submit in response to several job ads hoping that this strategy will save them time and also land them their dream job with one of the organizations they applying to. Moreover, some job seekers don't read the job description before jumping into the application pool. Well, more often than not, this strategy doesn't work - this may be why you keep receiving tons of rejection emails.
Another mistake some applicants make is applying for roles that they have no qualifications for hoping that chances may favor them to get the job anyways. So, they are forced to pad their résumés. Even if you do this and you're able to scale through to get an interview, recruiters will most likely spot your inconsistencies and you'd have to explain to the interviewing panel why you did that.
So, what's the best approach to job hunting? The first recommendation on the list is to search for jobs you have qualifications or certification for. Also, read the job description very well before commencing your application and be sure they are what you're qualified and have the capacity to do. Having done this, you will need to write a résumé that is tailored to respond to that particular job ad, don't forget to search the job description for keywords to include in your new résumé.
We strongly recommend that you use standard writing formats for your résumé in order to make the text readable. While it is good to look impressive with your résumé, you don't need to go over board with making it artistic. Remember that your first screening will be done by a software which is programmed to interact mainly with text and not graphic designs, so you need to always put that into consideration.
To make your text readable, you use fonts like arial, calibri, or New Time Roman (2,3) which are commonly used in formal writing. Also, a font size of 12 is generally considered appropriate for writing résumés, and don't go multi-colored with your font color. While inserting images to your résumé may look catchy to the human eye, the tracking system will not be able to interpret it.
Therefore, you shouldn't replace vital information with images or statistical reports. Besides this, ensure that your sections are clearly labeled such as skills, education, certification etc. (3), and ensure that the details of your information are well organized under this sections.
Furthermore, avoid the use of headers and footers. In addition, ensure you edit and proofread your résumé to spot grammatical errors; an error-free content gives your résumé a professional look. Finally, save your résumé in a readable text format such as PDF, doc or docx.
When writing the sections of your résumé, it is best practice to start with your most recent achievements such as: your current or last job experience, your highest educational level or your latest certification. This makes you professionally up-to-date and showcases your consistency in your career field.
Besides this, this format of writing résumé is highly preferred by recruiters because it gives them a quick snapshot of your present-to-past career achievements and experiences (4). In other words, it makes it easy for them to assess your career growth.
On the other hand, this format helps recruiters to easily identify your gap years (if you have any) so that they can ask the right questions about it if you are called for an interview. Furthermore, in fields that are highly competitive and require strong professional track records, recruiters use this format to assess a match between your skill set and your current job experience.
Thinking of making an excellent first impression on recruiters? Writing a succinct professional summary in 3 or 4 lines is the best approach to achieving this. This summary should contain a very brief overview of your job experience, qualifications and the skills you bring to organization or problems you're proffering solutions to. The summary should also be placed conspicuously at the top of your résumé because recruiters are usually interested in reading this overview to get an hint of your professionalism.
Therefore, you don't want to only write a résumé that passes the ATS screening, you also want to ensure that it captivates the minds of the recruiters who will make the decision to further your application with an invite for interview. To achieve this, you need to scan the job description for keywords that you can include in your professional summary to prove to the recruiter that you are the talent sought after for the job.
Some recruiters input knock-out questions intentionally to weed out applicants that do not meet the job requirements. So, it is not enough to write an ATS compliant résumé, you also need to be aware of the questions asked by the recruiters as part of application process.
Ensure you answer them correctly and honestly without over stretching your professional experiences or qualifications for the job. As earlier mentioned, the tracking system automatically rejects applicants that inputs unsuitable answers that indicates that they are not a match for the job.
____________________
Are you job hunting and have submitted résumés that attracted tons of rejection emails from different organizations or recruiting agencies? Do you need help landing that dream job from your desired company?
Don't think too far? At Lizop Writes, we give our clients a game changing experience in their job hunt by writing ATS friendly résumés that recruiters can't overlook.
5 Steaming Hot Benefits of Copywriting
Top 3 Benefits of Email Marketing