These days, job seekers are spending a lot of time wondering what happened to their resumes. People with good work experience and strong employment backgrounds often are puzzled when they don’t hear anything after they’ve applied to an online job posting.
Recently, a job candidate told me how frustrating it was to get very little response to the resumes he spent hours e-mailing in response to online job postings.
The first thing I asked him was “Are you using a plain-text resume?
When it comes to resumes, job seekers are familiar with the three traditional formats: chronological, functional and curriculum vitae. When applying for a job online, you need a new resume format: a plain-text resume.
Employers’ large and small now use the Internet as a recruiting tool, and with the volume of candidates the Internet brings, employers cannot keep up with the amount of resumes flowing in daily. In order to sort through all those resumes, an applicant tracking system has been developed, known as ATS.
So, who scans your resume — a person or tracking software?
The resume format you choose determines who is most likely to scan your resume. If you want to send your resume to a person, the best choice is a Microsoft Word document that is pleasant to read and will capture attention by using bullet points and bold-face text.
When applying online, it is best to use is a plain text or ASCII format for your resume.
A plain text-format resume is not pleasant to read, and unless you are a computer programmer, at first glance you can get lost in the content. However software tracking systems are drawn to plain-text resumes with key words and if you are not sending this format, your resume likely will be stored in a database with countless others.
What does this mean? It means that in order for your resume to stand a chance of getting seen you need to incorporate the following:
• Use key words described in the job posting throughout your resume, key words are noun phrases, industry terms and technical skills that reflect those listed by the employer.
• Convert your resume to plain text by using a simple font. Stay with New Times Roman or Arial.
• Capitalize headings, employers’ names and job titles.
• Embed key words throughout your resume — in your summary, accomplishments, and education, certification, and role descriptions.
