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How To Get Your Resume Past ATS In 2020?
Post date: 2020-04-11 10:56:20 Today, almost all the online submitted resumes to most of the large organizations must go through scanning under applicant tracking systems (ATS). So it's not a fun fact that many job applications go to trash even before they got a chance to seen by human eyes. Recruiters use the ATS to read and rank the resume to narrow down the number of applications to only those that are relevant to that job. Unfortunately, you can say the ATS is a necessary evil in the modern job search world. To earn more interview calls, you need to learn how this system scans your resume and grade it. Here we will cover everything you need to know about ATS and discuss the top 5 tricks to get through it.
What is ATS:
The application tracking system is a software, also known as resume robots are designed to collect and sort thousands of resumes to scan them for a few specific keywords set by the hiring authorities and then grade them. If the ATS rank them well, that means the resume is an appropriate match for the position, and then it proceeds to recruit authorities for serious review.
ATS is everywhere:
The use of ATS over the last few years by most of the large companies has increased dramatically. According to research, over 95% of large companies, along with 50% of mid-size companies are relying on this recruitment software ATS today.
So whenever you are applying through an online site, you are going through ATS. Even job sites like Indeed and LinkedIn have built their own ATS software.
Why important:
ATS collects and stores the resumes in a database for recruiting authorities. Let's give a statistical view to see what your resume is up against when you apply for a job through ATS. According to a survey, out of 250 application, 75% are rejected by ATS itself on the basis formatting issues or lacks the correct search keywords. And out of these 25 % selected resumes, only four-six will get a call-in interview.
To get noticed, you must optimize your resume for ATS. So here are the top 5 tips to beat ATS:
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Use Keyword correctly:
That's the most crucial point you must consider not only to get through the ATS but to score a high grade through it. As the software is designed to scan the keywords, the exact list of keywords is entered by the employers may vary for the same position from one company to another. Though that's tricky, one can figure out the appropriate keywords just by looking at the job advertisement. For example, if you are going to apply for a job in a particular industry, you have to notice and identify the primary keywords that relate to the industry or the specific job position. Use them in the context of your resume correctly.
And to be more specific, leave a space before and after "/" between the keywords, as ATS may not be able to see Content Writing/SEO/Word press whereas it's able to read Content Writing / SEO / Wordpress as matching Keyword.
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Format your resume correctly so that ATS can read it:
To ensure that your resume can pass through ATS, always stick to a traditional resume format. There is a top 3 basic traditional resume format that is acceptable for ATS:
Reverse Chronological: That's the most popular resume format for someone having previous work experience and looking for a job in the same field.
Functional: It's proven best with people who want to switch industries or to have less experience as it leads to qualifications and skills instead of their work experiences.
Hybrid: As the name referred, it's a combination of both reverse chronological, functional format that gives you the freedom to use the best features of these two. But, if you are at the starting of your career, this format is not for you.
You also have to keep it in mind that all the ATS is not designed to read documents in .doc or .docx format, so to be on a safe side, you must submit your resume in .pdf version. And one more important thing don't use tables or text boxes as ATS can't read them.
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Level the section and information on your resume correctly:
Make sure ATS can read all the sections correctly. As ATS use Keyword to identify the parts, you need to ensure that all the parts of the resume must be clearly labelled by using standard headlines like education, work experience, and any new experience.
And also, focus that the position and work tenure information that you are providing are clear and consistent and do not overlap throughout your resume. If you have not layout the resume properly in this section, ATS may have trouble identifying the information that leads to an explicit rejection.
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Keep it formal:
Use professional font so that ATS can proceed with it that not only helps to enable your resume to go through ATS but also to grab your employer's interest. It will be a significant turn off to a recruiter if you use Century Gothic or Algerian as your resume font.
Here are some formal fonts you may use in a resume:
• Calibri
• Arial
• Helvetica
• Tahoma
• Trebuchet
• Veranda
• Garamond
• Times New Roman
And don't ever put fancy colors, images on your resume.
