Employers and hiring managers are turning more than ever to resume screening software, thanks to the overwhelming number of job applications they get. It pays to know how these systems (called Applicant Tracking Systems or Automated Resume Screeners) work so you can make your resume more relevant to the job you’re applying for.
This infographic gives you a brief overview of how the software analyzes your resume and what you can do about it.
- Your resume is run through a parser, which removes the styling from the resume and breaks the text down into recognized words or phrases.
- The parser then sorts that content into different categories: Education, contact info, skills, and work experience.
- The employer’s desired skills or keywords are matched against the results from above.
- Your resume is scored on relevancy—using semantic matching against the employer’s search terms and your years of experience.
- So, clearly, it’s vital to include relevant text in your resume—but rather than just dump all the keywords from the job description in, for best results you’ll need to employ a strategy. (Most savvy job applicants are likely using the same keywords in their resumes.)