Don’t let the “Robots” reject your resume. How to write your resume so it will be accepted by Applicant Tracking Systems.
Applying for work? You need to write a robot friendly resume. If you have not encountered an on-line job application where you are asked to upload your resume, you are in the minority. It is common in 2016 for on-line job boards, recruiters and companies large and small to use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to manage job applications. The Applicant Tracking System will automatically transfer the information from your resume, populate a database, and match candidates to positions.
The ATS is a great tool, but you could inadvertently eliminate your resume from the competition if you are not careful. Follow these formatting tips to Write Robot Friendly Resume:
- Use keywords from the job advertisement that relate to your experience
- Name and contact information should be at the top of the page, but not inside a “header”
- Include a “Profile” section with a bullet list of experience, skills and qualifications – make sure to use keywords from the job advertisement
- Use simple fonts such as Arial, Tahoma, Times Roman, Verdana
- Use standard titles – Objective, Profile, Work Experience, Skills, Education
- Use standard format for work experience, beginning with the most recent – company name, job title, dates, description of accomplishments
- If you have an uncommon job title make sure you change it to a more familiar title
- Use proper capitalization, punctuation and spelling
- Word or Text file is better than PDF
- Don’t use headers or footers
- Don’t use images, graphics, logos or tables
- Don’t use acronyms or abbreviations on their own (always use both the short form and the entire word)
- Save your resume file with your name and date. This will help both you and the recruiter keep track of your most recent resume. The most common resume file name used by people is “resume” – wonder why your resume might be misplaced?
- Final word of advice to Write Robot Friendly Resume don’t use fancy formatting, keep it simple.
It is important that you review your resume before applying to a job. Make sure you include relevant keywords from the job advertisement. Only use keywords that relate to your experience. The ATS will use “keywords” to match candidates to jobs. Don’t be tempted to fill your resume with keywords that don’t relate to your actual job experience and skills. This will only frustrate the recruiter and damage your reputation as a candidate.
If you are interested in a job and feel you are a good match, it is always a good idea to follow up with a phone call. Don’t leave your fate with the “Robots”. The ATS is a great tool, but you could inadvertently eliminate your resume from the competition if you are not careful.
Do you have a resume question? Leave a comment here on Fusion’s Career Planning Advice Blog.
