The process of reviewing and monitoring resumes has become quick which is accomplished in seconds. If you desire to pass your resume from the initial screening process and move into reality called interview, it is a must that you must make some valued changes in the resume. With the abundant applications employers do not have the patience to read through it, they either have a screening system or pick the ones that are eye catching. Glimpsing through a few tips will offer you an idea about how your resume can pass through a simple scan.
How to get past Resume Scanners: 21 Tips
1. Formatting in a professional manner:
To make your resume stand out of the rest, it is mandatory to invest valuable time to it and show interest. The professional and executive resume formats are ones that possess certain criteria within them. The main hints here are easily readable, a properly organised resume, well-formatted, and laid out with perfection. All these aspects will catch the employer’s attention. When a messy or an unprofessional resume is obtained, employers do not invest time in reading it.
2. Mentioning required qualification:
Whenever a job is posted online, legion of responses reach the employer and the employer is drenched with the resumes piled up. It is also important from the candidate’s side to watch out the required and preferred qualification. It is important to mention the qualifications that meet the requirement. Make this as an important note so that your resume stays ahead of others.
3. Easy to read resume:
The recruiters and hiring managers lose attention when they glance into resume with long paragraphs. It is important to avert using paragraphs above 5 sentences as the apt requirement would get buried under the paragraph if it’s long. Make your resume short and sweet which sits within the border of job requirement. Making use of bold, underlining and italics should be avoided and used only at mandatory places. Make sure that your resume highlights achievements which would be beneficial.
4. Main contents in a resume:
The resume should be formatted in a way it looks professional and properly organized with the appropriate font type. The requirement hiring managers are looking for should be made clear and easily findable for the recruiter. The key data required for the employer should be highlighted and made concise.
5. Actual job description:
Instead of using the same resume for all the jobs it is advised to use a custom resume for particular jobs. The job description for each job should be appropriate. Fill in the requirements what the employer asks. Also make sure that you include specific experiences they ask for.
6. Nailing keywords:
Lingo is prevalent in any profession, whatever may be the requirement. To make your resume pass the initial scan, it is mandatory to use keywords. Another important point is to use spelled out form of organizations, titles, certifications, and many other professional related lingos The keywords and phrases used in the resume are important and mandatory.
7. Keyword usage:
The usage of keyword across your resume plays an important role to get it through the initial scan. It is suggested to mention relevant keywords according to your skills related to job at least twice or thrice. Avoid keyword stuffing in the resume. Scanners appropriate for keyword usage are available.
8. Discussion with the employer:
Before formulating the resume, having direct contact with the employer can help a lot. The employer can be contacted directly to know what they expect from the candidate. By knowing the expected skills and experience, relevant keywords can be discussed.
9. Specific mentioning of skills:
All of you are aware that all resume would include skills in one part of the resume. Mentioning basic skills are mandatory but remember to dive deeper so that specific and advanced skills are highlighted appropriate to the job. Some job descriptions may look for basic as well as advanced skills and so try to include them in the resume.
10. Using bullets:
It is suggested to make use of bullets rather than paragraphs. Bullets allure human eyes and make it easier for the recruiter to read through it. Screeners also find it simple to glimpse through bullets rather than holding big paragraphs of history and responsibilities.
11. Seeking help of cloud services:
Wordle and TagCrowd are few services that are utilised in the IT sector as they are the right associate which suggests the right keywords to be used in the resume. The services are user-friendly to be used. The only task here is to copy and paste the job description into the space provided in the generator and the software opens up about the actual keyword to be utilised in the resume.
12. Use actual words and descriptions:
Screening robots hate creative words and they love resumes which are developed with actual words and descriptions. Specific keywords, key phrases and descriptions are needed and not creative ones. To know more about what keywords to use, the company website can also be hunted.
13. Address to be added:
It is important to include address in the resume without fail, as some resume screeners push your resume to the curb when not found. Locations can also be used as a keyword for the screening process.
14. Avert graphics, logo, and tables:
Resumes need necessary data, but make sure that resumes should not possess graphics, tables or logo in them. These types of resumes are prone to baffle and choke the screening system. When the screening robots are baffled they reject the resumes where resumes find it difficult to pass through the initial scanning. It is believed that graphics, logos and other stuff in resumes aren’t professional to look at.
15. Usage of fonts:
It is important to decide upon the font that is used on the resume. This is mandatory to be focussed as the screening software rejects certain fonts such as times new roman or Cambria. Hence usage of Sans Serif fonts like Verdana and Tahoma are advised. Script fonts are one category which should be completely avoided. Font size is also an aspect to be focused on; it would be suggested to avoid using fonts below size 11.
16. Seek social medias help:
The job description and company description can be well learned from the employees who are registered in LinkedIn. Look into the description of the employees and if you have similar skills and experience make sure to add them.
17. Text format of resumes:
Parsing errors are more common in word, in the same manner PDF s are also another category of document which causes issues when met with application tracking systems. So getting along with text which avoids all such parsing errors with the screener can be utilised.
18. Avoid dates before work experience:
It baffles the robots when dates are included before the work experience. The resume can be formatted in a manner where the employer name can be added, followed by title and date range. Remember to include titles of the employer and also the dates for the same.
19. Apply to qualified jobs:
There are candidates who apply for all the jobs they aren’t qualified for. It is important to read through the job descriptions and apply for jobs that the candidates are eligible for. They should hold the necessary qualifications and skills in order for their resume to get through the scanning process.
20. Focus on objectives:
When you start your resume avoid asking the employer what you want. Instead you can offer a skilled resume with what you can offer the employee. Always remember to develop a resume where you express yourself in doing something for the employee.
21. Proof read your resume:
When you have a spelling mistake or a typo error, it is sure that your resumes gets rejected and hence make sure that you proof read your resume several times before sending it. There are number of applicants who send resumes and recruiters do not pick a resume which a candidate has not spent enough time and error free.
Analysis open up that the employers take nearly 11 seconds to glance through it for rejection or short listing. Resumes that pass through specific scanners are monitored and 80% of them are rejected, though they have enough keywords, they still lack certain other criteria’s. Hence formulating a resume with all the above mentioned tips is mandatory. To get your resume pass the initial scan these tips can surely help job seekers.
