The suggestion to export a resume to plain text is excellent. It had not occurred to me, but it makes perfect sense, and should be a great way to see a resume just as the ATS sees it.
Glad you liked that tip!! Do make sure that your prioritize the human reader when writing your resume. If your resume is reader-friendly, it’s ATS-friendly. 🙂
I like the video and I appreciate the effort but the last point isn't true, not all resumes are reviewed in fact most resumes are not reviewed, and your resume can be rejected without a recruiter even looking at it, for example, if I receive a 100 candidates on a req and we end up making an offer to a candidate, the req will close and all candidates who applied to the position will automatically receive an automated email, letting them know that we've moved with a different candidate, see that's one of the main functions of ATSs is organized and communicate candidate activities. I hope this helps clear up the picture if you'd like to learn more, feel free to reach out.
Thanks Kamara, very helpful! Your pointers about the ATS unable to read headers, footers, images and text boxes did it for me. Also your tip about converting to plain text to see how the resume content is passed on. Great work!
There is SO much fear-mongering out there, and people think their resumes need to be basic word documents slammed with keywords just to "beat the bots" and that's such a shame. Auto-rejections usually come from your right to work, salary expectations, and other deal breakers in the initial questionnaire - not your resume at all!
@@_baller showing you're qualified is the most important. That's not done through jamming a bunch of keywords into your resume. It's done through using accomplishments to show that you can apply the skills (keywords) you're claiming.
Thanks so much for this video, it helped clarify a lot for me as someone who's currently on the job hunt. :) One question - I have a Canva-made CV since I'm in the visual media sector. I have my skills lined up to the left in a panel, but that's the only text in a panel. Is this okay, or do I still need to redo my CV into a Word Doc?
Glad it helped! To answer your question: I really don't like Canva resumes, especially the multi-panel ones since it creates an unnatural reading experience (you probably saw my video about resume templates). You may be in a situation where you're asked to send your resume in Word (eg. to a recruiter trying to present you for a role; sometimes they like to make adjustments to better position you for consideration), so I would recommend that you have a Word version. There are subtle ways you can add visual flare in a Word resume, but even being in visual media there isn't an expectation that your resume needs to be "designy" but there's always the expectation that it's easy to read.
@@thatswhatshesaid Thank you, that makes sense to me! Lastly - if I'm submitting an application through an online portal, it's safe to say it'll go through an ATS system. But if the job application is via email from me to the recruiter, is it likely that resume will still go through ATS?
Okay, the ATS doesn't auto-reject resumes on its own, but does it bias the recruiter's judgment of a resume? For example, does it present a "good"/"bad" match or show keyword % matches? If not, why are there recommendations for changing keywords like customer vs client based on the job posting?
The recommendations for keywords isn't as simple as "just include keywords," and that's where most of the keyword advice fall short. Keywords are only as useful as the context they are paired with. So just throwing a bunch of keywords into your resume is useless. Integrating keywords into accomplishment statements is where keywords become useful. The reason for this is because recruiters read resumes. That's their job. And just reading a list of keywords on a resume doesn't help them see that you're qualified. Reading the keywords within examples that demonstrate your qualifications - that's powerful.
@@thatswhatshesaid Thanks so much for the reply, but that wasn't quite the question that I was asking. Does the ATS bias recruiters by making quantitative or qualitative judgments about the match between your resume and some sort of word bank?
@@-low0l- I answered the question I want you to shift your thinking towards and focus on what you can control: using keywords within context that supports your qualifications for the HUMAN reader to confirm that you're qualified for the job to which you're applying. Further, we can't say that all recruiters use their ATS (of which there are SEVERAL) the same way. And if we want to talk about bias, that's another thing we can't control. Maybe someone is biased towards how you use an 'e' instead of an 'a' to spell your name. That's how irrational bias is. Knowing we can't control these things, we keep our focus on what we can control, and that's creating a well-written document that shows we're qualified. Not blindly trying to shoot for some mystery magic number of keywords.
That it was created so americans were less likely to get jobs, and it favored H1B workers as they were told how it works, Boomer advice need not apply in this digital resume world
***PLEASE READ*** Someone pointed out that I shared the last myth in a confusing way so I want to be extra clear: Rejections are initiated BY A HUMAN not automatically by the ATS, that is, unless you hit a showstopper question. All of the recruiters and Talent Acquisition professionals who I speak to are reviewing all of the applications that come across their desk until they find the right person. It's not in their best interest to trust their ATS to "weed out" candidates because ATSs are inherently flawed. There is no bot that's out to destroy your application before it is accessible by a human. If you receive a boilerplate message rejecting your application, a human is still pressing send/initiating the rejection. So what I *should* have said is that the MYTH is that the ATS is auto-rejecting resumes before they are made viewable by a human (whether the human views or not is a different story) and that the FACT is that any rejection you're receiving is initiated by a human.
Hey Kamara, Still not sure if PDF or Word is the way to go? I was told PDF is what is preferred from a formating perspective, so when someone else is viewing the file it looks as intended. Wasn't clear if most ATS prefer this or not? Also, if you use text boxes in Word, but then save as PDF will that make a difference in the ATS being able to read the text?
Make sure to check the acceptable file formats when applying on the career site or job board. If PDF is permitted, you can use it. There’s no way to know what most or all ATSs prefer. It’s like saying yes, all restaurants and retailers accept AMEX. 😊 When in doubt, I always recommend submitting in Word. Please don’t use text boxes. They aren’t safe.
Hello Kamara, My resume has my technical skills (keywords) listed in the 'Skills' section. The details and accomplishments achieved utilizing those skills are mentioned in my 'work experience' section. Does that look good to a recruiter? Also, if you could elaborate on quality over quantity, that would be awesome. Thank you for this video. Meher
Hi Meher, your skills section sounds fine. As long as your accomplishments are listed under the roles in which they happened, what you've described is the structure that a recruiter is expecting to see so it sounds good! Keywords quality over quantity: align your keyword choices with the job posting and make sure they are actually words that are found in your own skill set, and you've backed them up with accomplishments.
Even though I'm hurt by your comment, it's important for me to ask: Are you yourself considering self harm? If you are, and provide me your general location, I can help connect you with help. Please let me know.
I saw 4,200 applications for one job a two days ago. This number is currently only for one position. Imagine how many people would apply for jobs at so many different companies? Are you implying that a human is seeing and reviewing each of the 4,200 applicants for a single job? Seems impractical. Is it like ATS takes account into all the qualifications and skills using keywords and other criteria and ranks the applicants? For instance, if applicant A receives 80% match with JD and applicant B receives 70%, the recruiters will first review applicant A's resume, set up an interview, and if the interview doesn't go well then will move on to applicant B. If applicant B get's selected then rest of the resume won't be reviewed by recruiter. Is this the way how ATS works? or does the recruiter uses FCFS for reviewing the resume?
Where did you see 4,200 applications? Was this the number on the LinkedIn job posting? If so that's counting clicks as LinkedIn has no possible way of counting number of applications. There is likely a whole team dividing and reviewing those applications. Unqualified applications are very easy for recruiters to reject quickly, so it's far more feasible to get through high volumes of applications than one might initially think. The ATS is doing very little work. It's really just a database.
@@thatswhatshesaid That's ok. I agree that it is just a database. But my question still stands. Although, ATS can't reject the application, does it ranks the candidates based on match rate? The number 4,200 was shared by one of the hiring manager and I saw it on my LinkedIn feed. I agree, that not all roles has this many applicants, but in today's job market I am quite sure that number of applicants won't be too small as well.
@@vinayjoshi3541 hiring is done on a qualitative basis and that's why humans need to be involved. So whether the ATS is ranking or not (there are countless ATSs on the market) isn't something that job seekers have insight into, and shouldn't influence how resumes are written. We should write with the human reader in mind. If it's good for the human reader, it's good for the ATS.
I have a whole video on customizing your LinkedIn profile URL. Make sure to check it out. And then for inserting the URL into your resume, copy and paste the whole thing into your resume contact section and make sure to hyperlink it.
a lot bs here, caused by systematic delusional optimism, deliberately underpresenting the level of automations. Which HR practioner Human reader) is gonna go through 1867 applications?
@@thatswhatshesaid don't mind people like me. We are just angry. You can tell from the tone that we tye with. The system has frustrated us. Gates are closed for way too many people, even after trying everything ..and then everything else..don't take our negative comments too personal
I can keep disagreeing with you all day and don’t mind to. As noted in the video, auto-rejecting is done by showstopper questions which aren’t very common or by human intervention. ATS’s do not auto reject without human involvement.
@@thatswhatshesaid no the ATS rejects, that's why it was invented and why it exists, so the lazy HR dept doesn't have to look at every resume, you either never worked at a large corporation, are trying to mislead people, or having some other complication
@@_baller again, 100% incorrect. The ATS provides a paper trail. It doesn't remove the responsibility of reviewing resumes or assessing applicants from hiring professionals. So of the 3 options that you've provided me, I'll pick "some other complication." My ability to do my work and empower job seekers around the world is further complicated by comments like yours that spread false information and are somehow convinced by marketing ploys that have been disproven multiple times over.
Because the way it’s been explained by many influencers is considered truth by the masses, when in actuality it is untrue and misleading. This is information relayed from the users of ATSs - recruiters.
You’re actually wrong. Humans (recruiters) are the ones reading resumes and assessing qualifications. Qualifications aren’t proven because you know how to jam a bunch of keywords into your resume.
That’s 100% inaccurate. The ATS doesn’t disqualify first. All an ATS does is take in the info in your application and create a file on you. It’s sad to see you’ve been swayed by marketing pitches about beating the “evil” ATS and now relinquishing total control of your job search to nothing more than a digital filing cabinet.
