72% of resumes are never seen by employers thanks to Applicant Tracking Systems (Source: Forbes).
Jobscan.co reports than now 98% of companies are using an ATS.
This month’s edition of the The Economist shared an interesting article titled, “How an algorithm may decide your career“. According to the article, “ Two years ago Goldman Sachs received a quarter of a million applications from students and graduates. Those are not just daunting odds for jobhunters; they are a practical problem for companies. If a team of five Goldman human-resources staff, working 12 hours every day, including weekends, spent five minutes on each application, they would take nearly a year to complete the task of sifting through the pile.”
As a job seeker, how can you get past the ATS?
-Optimize your resume for every job you apply for. Read the job description carefully and lift words from each job post’s expected duties, responsibilities, and skills sections. Use those keywords in your resume.
-Don’t use Times New Roman. According to CIO Online some ATS have a difficult time reading serif fonts.
– Network. There is no better way to ensure your resume gets viewed than by giving it to the decision maker yourself.
Thoughts?
