Is there a website to check if a resume is ATS-Friendly and if it is showing the right keywords for the job being applied to?

3 Comments

1. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistMay 31,2024 at 2:23AM UTC

   There is no such thing as an ATS-friendly or compliant resume. No matter how much someone wants to charge you $1000 for one.

   I have experience with 7 or 8 different ATS and with different configurations of those systems.

   Here's what happens (on all the systems I've ever used) when a new candidate applies to one of my open requisitions:

   I click on their name in the list of new applicants for that requisition. Their resume has not been ranked. It has not been sorted for keywords. It has not been "scored". It has not been filtered.

   There typically is no sorting involved with the application process – which is where keywords come in.

   I click "download resume". It downloads in whatever format - Word doc or PDF - the candidate uploaded it. I look at their resume. With my eyeballs. Every one.

   There's no need for me to search by keywords for new applicants because you're sitting right there in the list of new applicants.

   I know most candidates don't seem to want to hear this, but when they're being rejected, they're being rejected by a human. I'm the bot.

   I suggest you thoroughly read the job posting and if you have the experience they're looking for - especially the Required Qualifications - make sure it's reflected in your resume.

   There is an entire industry that has grown up around trying to scare jobseekers into parting with whatever money they have left. Telling them that if they don't shell out bucks for that secret sauce course guaranteed to get you a job paying $30k more in 3 weeks or that you need to have your resume re-written so it "gets past the ATS".

   There is no getting past the ATS. The goal is to get INTO the ATS so you can be considered for the position.

   ATS are not nearly as sophisticated as those folks would like you to believe. They are essentially electronic filing cabinets where recruiters move applicants through the process, schedule interviews, send emails - it's where we generate offer letters from.

   Websites that scan your resume are notoriously bad - I guarantee you if I ran my own resume through one for my current job, I'd probably score 50%. If you use one, please take the results with a grain of salt.

   You want to have boring formatting - no fancy graphics, no tables or columns, simple bullet points.

   Please let me know if you have any questions.

   GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

2. Danica A.June 1,2024 at 1:38AM UTC

   Thank you so much for the advice! This is very detailed information. I think you are right, most of the candidates (me included) get scared that the ATS will automatically reject us.

3. AnonymousJune 1,2024 at 2:11PM UTC

   Never pay these companies that promise such rewriting. Align your resume to the job description by feeding it into an AI program like ChatGPT. It will help with algorithms. Other than that, it’s a toss up.