Tips for having your resume actually read by recruiters?

30 Comments

1. AnonymousFebruary 10,2022 at 8:54PM UTC

   Does your resume have a bunch of designs on it?
   I've noticed that any of the resumes I weed through- that have designs/logos- typically don't parse right. Standard resumes tend to do fine. Just a suggestion.

2. AnonymousFebruary 11,2022 at 12:13AM UTC

   Thank you, Anonymous. I have a lot of formatting but not graphics in my resume. Do you think that's impacting it's readability? I'm not sure what else to try as I've switched dates, combined positions etc. to clarify that I have the required experience.

3. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 12,2022 at 2:20AM UTC

   So a couple of things. Within an ATS, you typically have two things: A profile that is created when the ATS parses your resume and then your resume saved in there somewhere as a Word or Adobe doc.

   Many ATS systems completely screw up the parsing - I'm looking at you Taleo - and you have to manually correct every single title, company name, dates and experience section.

   As a general rule, your resume should be formatted in the most boring way possible. The ATS hates fancy. No tables, no columns, etc. Text, with the simplest possible bullet points.

   I don't understand specifically by this:

   "even though I have clearly defined start and end dates, instead of 10 plus years of experience, it's listing under five."

   I have heard that having it as a PDF is supposed to cut down on this poorly parsed nonsense but I have not found that to be true personally.

   If you want me to take a look at your resume, reach out to me.

4. AnonymousFebruary 13,2022 at 3:00AM UTC

   Thank you, Joan. It's helpful to know about ATS. In terms of your question, I was referring to programs such as Taleo that for some reason parse my resume to reflect wrong dates. It sounds like my resume is not alone in its parsing problems. I've tried to keep my resume to bullet points and always save as PDF. I appreciate your offer and learning more about ATS was helpful. Thank you!

5. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 13,2022 at 7:22PM UTC

   Just to clarify, the ATS is mixing up dates on your resume - not coming up with it's own dates, correct?

   If it's mixing them up - not parsing your resume correctly - that's pretty normal for some systems like Taleo and ICIMS and I think Workday too - they screw my resume up every single time. I groan when I see I'm taken to a company that uses one of those systems.

6. Marina Z.February 13,2022 at 2:46PM UTC

   Wow, you have mentioned so much here that is great information to know. I have to check these points and see if this makes a difference because I am having the same issue; applying left and right but not enough response. Thank you!

7. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 4:43PM UTC

   I agree and appreciate everyone's advice. This forum is such a great platform to share ideas and best practices. Good luck!

8. AnonymousFebruary 13,2022 at 2:51PM UTC

   So this applies to a portal like Linkedin? I apply to jobs via the site and use the resume I have built there; I will make sure the pdf attachment is in a simple font as mentioned. Thank you!

9. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 13,2022 at 7:28PM UTC

   I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the resume you have built within LinkedIn - I am unfamiliar with that function.

   Personally, I keep one version on my computer and use it as an attachment so if I make tweaks, I don't have to remember to update it multiple places.

   And please please please do not use the Times New Roman font. Yes, it used to be the gold standard for resumes but that was long ago.

   It is the sweat pants of fonts. Use something modern like calibri, arial, corbel, verdana, tahoma - anything modern.

10. Leigh Hammond-CarrilloFebruary 13,2022 at 9:52PM UTC

    I think she means the experience information like what you have put in your LinkedIn profile -- yours (if I've found the right one) lists your experience. Mine lists that, plus bullet points of what kinds of work I performed for each company, like one would on a resume.

    Thanks for the note on fonts -- I was still using Times New Roman! Easily fixed, however. :)

11. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 4:46PM UTC

    My LinkedIn is similar to my resume but I'm noticing that members are now creating short summaries instead.
    Would you recommend summaries, bullet points or a combination per job on LinkedIn?

    I've using Times Roman on my resume as well as I was told it was universal. I'll be switching fonts based on your advice. Thank you!

12. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 4:55PM UTC

    Thank you, Joan. I switched my resume to Calibri. Appreciated your advice.

13. Gretchen SkalkaFebruary 13,2022 at 1:34PM UTC

    Yup - Joan has excellent points all around.

    Boring is best when facing any ATS system.
    You want to be sure you're using universal fonts like Arial and Helvetica. Times New Roman is universal, but I do advise to stay away from serif fonts as they can be challenging to some eyes (once past the ATS ;).
    Try to avoid using tables and columns. The system is designed to read left-to-right so content within a table or spread over columns can be mashed up and distorted.
    Keywords are important but almost meaningless without context (how you used the skill, what you achieved through the skill, etc.)
    Scanability - this is good for both the system and the recruiter or hiring manager.
    I'd also add a couple of things I do for clients, which include:
    I create a foundation resume - this is the everything AND the kitchen sink resume. It is not (not ever, ever) the resume you submit to any opportunity, but it's your baseline.
    I think of it as a personal resume buffet, from which you can select the work experience relevant to the opportunity.
    I also look at the specific opportunity the candidate is interested in and I scrape it and create a word cloud from it - this gives me an instant visual as to what's most important on the opportunity. I can then work with the individual to see if and where we can customize the resume.
    Another thing that can be helpful is to determine which composition style the customized resume should be in (chronological, functional/experience, or combo). The way the opportunity reads can sometimes be the guide on that one.
    And, unless you're a physician, professor and/or published - try to keep the resume you submit to one page (and can help reduce the urge to use footers or headers, which can also pose challenges for the ATS).

    I hope something there is helpful for you! Let us know how it goes! ??

14. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 13,2022 at 7:18PM UTC

    Please don't tell people to keep their resume to one page.

    I'll say it once more for those in the back:

    As a recruiter with over twenty years experience, I do not care how long your resume is - content matters, not length. As long as it's relevant and not your entire life story. I. DO. NOT. CARE.

    I have never, ever had a hiring manager tell me they would not speak with a candidate because their resume was two pages instead on one - or three pages instead of two.

    You want to immediately get on my bad side? Squish your resume onto one page in size 8 font and try to make me go blind reading it.

    Your resume should have plenty of white space and be broken up into easily read bullet points.

    Exception to this rule - if you are a new grad with no experience.

15. Gretchen SkalkaFebruary 13,2022 at 9:00PM UTC

    I totally respect where you're coming from, but what I find is that people get messy when they don't consider length.

    The structure gets bloated, unnecessary detail not germane to the opportunity is introduced, grammar gets lost because there is more to weed through.

    As a hiring manager for more than 15 years, I can tell you it was frustrating to receive resumes with everything AND the kitchen sink included. Scanability is very important, especially when you're getting 100 or more resumes for one position - because I do give each one a look.

    For most people, one page on the submitted resume is enough -- I've found. Again, you're experience may be different, your industry may be different - but I've never found that a 3-5 page resume for a candidate for an entry-to mid-level (and some executive except C-suite) is appropriate. The specificity gets lost in often exaggerated detail.

    More is not always better, and when you're competing for a position, you want to make sure the highest-impact, most relevant information stands out instead of getting lost in a sea of text.

    Again, from my perspective and experience ...

16. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 5:03PM UTC

    Thank you, Gretchen. I appreciate your ideas. I like the idea of having a template resume that isn't shared but contains all of my skills. That way, I can remove items that aren't applicable to the job I'm applying for and add in anything else.

    Looking back, I've added to many bullet points per job as I wasn't sure how to tailor my resume in the past. I realize that I need to focus on what the job is requesting rather than supplementary skills.

    With the amount of time people and systems are spending reviewing resumes, I want them to be reading what is relevant. Thank you again! This site is such a valuable resource and I'm glad others are finding my question helpful!

17. Maria Paula CalvoFebruary 13,2022 at 4:20PM UTC

    Wow! I see you are going through a quite common situation these days. And a lot of great advice has already been given to you by the generous ladies in this wonderful community. :)

    Don´t give up, follow their recommendations!

    I personally loved the "word cloud" from job specs that will certainly guide what you should consider as key words for a specific submission.

    So, keep focused! It is all about crossing the ATS stage and with the level of effort and commitment you are putting in this process I am certain you will.

    Best of luck!

18. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 5:06PM UTC

    Thank you, Maria. Focusing my resume as well as modernizing it are two big takeaways from this post. I appreciate your 'word cloud' approach.

    I'm willing to put in the work but it's very easy to get stuck in the same submissions. If you don't know what you're doing wrong, you keep making the same mistakes. It sounds like I'm not alone and for everyone that took the time to share their expertise, I'm grateful for your advice!

19. AnonymousFebruary 13,2022 at 4:56PM UTC

    I read that the ATS prefers Word over PDFs and PDF can have trouble with readability in most ATS programs. Is this true? I've been submitting as PDFs and wondering if my application is even getting through the system. I don't have Microsoft and when I convert google docs to MS docx my formatting gets screwed up (bullet points not lining up to text)

20. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 13,2022 at 7:07PM UTC

    I do not know of any ATS that prefers Word over PDFs.
    To my knowledge - as both a candidate (who has used both Word and PDF docs) and a recruiter with over 20 years experience - they are treated the same.

    Many ATS systems just do not parse documents correctly - I'm looking at you, Taleo. You have to, unfortunately, manually correct the info by cutting and pasting. That's for your profile. Your resume should also be saved in the system and should be fine to be viewed.

21. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 5:16PM UTC

    Joan, Leigh and Melanie, When I applied for my current position, I submitted my application and didn't hear from them.

    Realizing that other portals generated incorrect information, I reviewed my profile. It was a disaster, I wouldn't have selected me for an interview.

    I took the time to update my profile, reformatted my resume and saved as a PDF and removed my existing application.

    I applied again, contacted the hiring manager alerting her to my new profile and resume. I was called for an informational interview that led to being hired. We can do all the right things but we're not always aware of how our information is received.

22. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 14,2022 at 5:41PM UTC

    CONGRATS on your new job.

    I'm surprised that you did not see the improper parsing when you were originally creating the profile. The system typically shows you what a bad job it has done parsing your resume when you're in the process of creating your profile.

23. Leigh Hammond-CarrilloFebruary 13,2022 at 8:54PM UTC

    I have found this to be true as well. The parsers absolutely massacre everything and can't even seem to read plain text. I have to go in and edit. So I use Word unless they require PDF.

24. BeaBoss979975February 13,2022 at 6:04PM UTC

    I buy an old version of Office and use that for Word files. They are cheap on EBay. I'm using Word 12. It works fine.

25. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistFebruary 13,2022 at 7:10PM UTC

    YOU SAID:

    " If your resume gets a low ranking within the Applicant Tracking System Review it means that it's not going to rank high enough to be seen by a recruiter"

    This is not necessarily true. I have been working on ATS systems literally since they were first invented and I have never worked on one that is set up to "rank" submissions.

26. Emily LamiaFebruary 14,2022 at 1:19AM UTC

    Such great comments in here. I echo what a few folks have said about networking and in fact, that is THE game changer my clients have found in the past 6 months in particular.

    I saw how many clients I work with (I'm a career coach) have had luck getting their applications seen (by reaching out with powerful messages on LI) that I shared a few examples.

    Maybe this will give you some ideas for your outreach to get those resumes seen!

    https://www.pivotjourneys.com/blog/should-you-reach-out-on-linkedin-when-you-apply-for-a-job-definitely

27. Sabrina CortesFebruary 14,2022 at 2:42AM UTC

    Even if your resume doesn't have many graphics on it, if there are tables (with or without lines), that could be part of the problem because that information can either get "lost" or misread by the ATSs.

28. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 5:19PM UTC

    Thank you, Sabrina. I took out a hidden table and when I checked my resume, it uploaded correctly. I thought having the resume saved as a PDF would avoid those problems. I appreciated your advice!

29. Sabrina CortesFebruary 14,2022 at 7:07PM UTC

    I'm glad it was helpful! :)

30. AnonymousFebruary 14,2022 at 4:41PM UTC

    I appreciated everyone's advice! Looking forward to reviewing your notes and making my resume more accessible by ATS and recruiters.