If you haven’t been in job search mode in a few years, you will find a very big change has occurred. Recruitment firms, large and medium businesses have adopted automated systems to manage their applicants. One of the pitfalls of these Applicant Tracking Systems are that there are only 4 parsing technologies in the world and not all of them are created equal. What does this mean to you? You need to ensure that your resume is Search Optimized. These systems search your resume by keyword and it is essential that you incorporate these search words into the body of your resume.

Keep it simple! It also makes sense to keep tables and lines out of your resume wherever possible as the parsing technology does not always know what to do with them. If you worked as a CFO at Dupont and you write Dupont underneath your title of CFO, some parsers will not pick this up and put your title as Dupont. As a more “seasoned” recruiter I worry that great candidates slip through the cracks when companies depend solely on these parsers. Rest assured the parser that we use at Fresh is the best technology there is and we rarely have these issues. I have heard many stories from my colleagues and from candidates of some nightmares. The only solution is to ensure that your resume is simple, ensure that key skills, key words and job titles are front and centre.

Ensuring that your resume is Search Optimized is essential now when job searching. Not all ATS parsing tools are created equal and if a company has a sub par system your non-optimized resume could fall through the cracks

In saying all of this, don’t forget to optimize your LinkedIn profile as well. This is an essential recruitment tool today and a great number of people are finding jobs on LinkedIn so make sure your profile shines as well as your resume and cover letter.

Finding a job can be a daunting task but with all of the tools available today a prepared candidate with a search optimized resume and a great linked in profile can find that amazing job efficiently and enjoy a Fresh Start1

Happy job searching!