Welcome to the Machine - Aplicant Tracking Software

I have been hearing more and more about resume filtering software being used by companies.
According to Bersin by Deloitte, HR research specialists, more than 60 percent of all companies have some type of applicant tracking system.

I wanted to hear what the experts thought of this, so I reached out to them.
Here is what they had to say:

Many companies use either a software program to review resumes or an assistant. What are either of these reviewers looking for? They are looking for keywords. If the job ad says, "we are looking for focused individuals ..." and the resume says I have great attention to detail ... TOSS it's not a match even though there are transferable skills and the candidate is really the ideal match.

-      Cathy MacKinney, HR Coordinator III

Companies often use Applicant Tracking Software to screen resumes for certain keywords. If the resume doesn't include them, it's likely that the applicant's information may not get passed on to an actual human for review. When applying for jobs, look to see what the description includes as requirements. It could be anything from experience with specific rules & regulations to certain software packages or systems. If you have the required experience, make sure it's included somewhere within your resume (and not just in a cover letter).

-      Jessica Hanchey, National Recruiter

I'm sure there are some companies using screening software, but I think the myth of screening software is much more pervasive. I have never used it. Much more common are screen in, screen out questions in online applications. These can be automated to screen in or out candidates based on common responses. So not really related to how one writes a resume. 

-      Finnian McNeff, Director of HR

The most important part of how screening software and applicant tracking systems work is that they screen people out who don't meet the minimum requirements. That's why it's so important to tailor your resume to job descriptions because the computer can't tell if you don't have the skills required or just forgot to add them to your resume. Taking the extra 5 minutes to tailor your resume can be a huge deciding factor on if you'll get to the next step!

-      Shideh Andideh, Recruiter 

I don't have any experience with resume screening software, but in general they trigger off keywords as specified in the job description. In general, I imagine that a PDF is a better source to this software (rather than a word document that may have all kinds of embedded tables and typically some proprietary nature). The best advice to get around such software is to network!

- Frank Goovaerts, Director of Student Career Success

 

Frank's statement about networking is a great piece of advice. Most jobs you get will be because you know someone there- so stay active on LinkedIn and keep in touch with your past colleagues.
For those of us who are applying to a job where we have no connections (which doesn't mean you can't still get that job) it helps to understand how to optimize our resume's for the software.

 

7 TIPS FOR RESUME OPTIMIZATION

1. Include keywords from the job description in your resume
2. Do not format your resume with headers and footers
3. Don't use photos or graphics
4. Name your sections something standard, such as "Work Experience" "Education" etc.
5. Do not use acronyms unless they are the same acronyms used in the job description
6. When displaying something on your resume with an associated date (like work experience) the proper layout is Job title, Company, Employment date in that order
7. Submit your resume as a PDF - other document types can get messed up depending on the how they are opened.