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ATS system
bmeaningful.com/blog/2018/09/how-to-get-your-resume-past-the-ats-system
Cristine Sousa
The company you’ve always dreamt of working for has posted the perfect job opening.
You want it (along with hundreds of other job applicants) – but you notice that there’s
no email address to send it to. Instead, you have to apply through the company’s
designated Applicant Tracking System (ATS), a system that’s designed to weed out
people who appear unqualified. The hard truth is the majority of applicants are rejected
before a hiring manager or recruiter even looks at the resume. Blame it on the bot!
2. Leverage keywords.
To figure out the best words to use that align with your experience, copy and paste the
job description into a word-cloud generator like TagCrowd or Wordle – bonus if you
add 3 other job descriptions similar to the job you’re applying for. This will create your
keyword bible, consolidating the most frequently used terms from the files. Your task
then is to integrate this list of terms into your resume. It is critically important not to go
overboard with keywords, the bot may seem to like it, but once in human hands, they
will see right through your strategy. Focus on your past experiences and add a few extra
words (or even reiterate the same words) in a section you can call “Area of Expertise”.
This will help sprinkle the keywords throughout the resume making it more appealing
to everyone.
Note here: it is suggested to use not only the acronym of a title, certification or
organization, but also the spelled-out form to ensure that no word goes unnoticed. For
Examples; Masters of Business Administration (MBA).
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