Beating Resume Robots to Score Jobs

Have you done everything to make your resume stand out for the people who'll decide about hiring you? Does it look beautiful, read well and have that human touch?

Congratulations: You're halfway there.

Unfortunately, in 2009 that document may never be seen by human eyes if it doesn't first pass muster with a new breed of software screener known as an applicant tracking system or ATS.

In a recent report for TheLadders, ace database reporter Lisa Vaas talked to ATS vendors, analysts and HR pros who use the software to pre-sort senior-level candidates. Here's a sample of the resume tips they suggested to get past companies' electronic doormen:

1. Play it smart with keywords.
Common wisdom dictates that creating a resume that passes muster simply needs all the right keywords. Today's ATSes are much smarter than that and use "contextualization" to make sure that your qualification is more than buzzword deep.

"It's not your father's Oldsmobile, where if you put in 'Java' (as a keyword) an ATS would automatically apply you to Java jobs," Lisa Rowan, program director of HR, Learning and Talent Strategies for Framingham, Mass.-based analyst firm IDC, told TheLadders.

"Understanding that there's a difference between somebody who took a class in Java eight years ago and somebody who's been programming in Java every day for the last three years (and understanding that) those are fundamentally different candidates," is an example of how contextualized resume parsing works, according to Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass, which makes resume-parsing software used to run contextualized searches in many of the leading ATS programs.

2. Go easy on graphics and logos.
Candidates who think that complex formatting, pictures, graphics and logos will liven up their resumes should think again: They're apt to "choke the system" and turn your resume into gibberish to an ATS.

"A lot of the time, (candidates) have so much experience, and they do like to get a little fancy," Laura Michnya, the project manager of recruiting systems and process for BAE Systems, told TheLadders. "And a lot of the time, ATSes don't bring it over cleanly into our system."

3. Watch your grammar and punctuation -- machines notice.
Hiring managers hate these kinds of mistakes, and so do their software screeners. As Rowan explains, "ATS software uses mail merge to populate fields for e-mails to human resources and ultimately to the applicant for follow-up. Poor punctuation and capitalization can confuse the software about where to end and begin a field. It also forces the recruiter to enter fields manually, which might lead them to toss your resume."

4. Keep your story straight.
We all know honesty is the best policy when it comes to interviewing; you don't want to get caught out in a contradiction. That's even more important to keep in mind when an ATS is comparing multiple versions of a resume you've submitted for different positions at the same company.

"There's nothing wrong with catering a resume to the system," according to Jeremy Shapiro, senior vice president of Hodes iQ, the hosted ATS software used by BAE and others. "Just know that we'll have visibility to it. At that point, if I'm the recruiter, I'll actively look for discrepancies. For example, in one resume, (a candidate) might claim five years of experience in something and seven years of experience in another resume. A red flag goes up immediately. You're asking to make mistakes with multiple versions of your resume."

Want to know more about where your resume goes after it's submitted? Check out TheLadders' handy flowchart describing its travels.

Robot image courtesy Flickr user a voir etc., CC 2.0