You Wouldn't Want Your Skill To Be Forgotten Alongside Your Resume, Would You?
What are some easy yet very effective strategies to avoid the resume graveyard when the average corporate post receives over 250 applications and only has seconds to pass the sniff test? The Horrible ATS Applicant tracking systems, or ATS, are, in fact, here to stay. This was the true even before the epidemic, and now as remote and telework are more common, many positions are no longer constrained by regional boundaries and instead draw applicants from all over the country.
Two-thirds of large corporations and roughly one-third of smaller enterprises are believed to employ ATS, making up 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Consequently, whether you want to or not, make sure your CV is optimised to accommodate modern technology or it won't ever find its way to something with a pulse. Make sure you've incorporated crucial words and phrases from the job posting, especially the job description, into your text by carefully reading it. A Little Originality Your CV doesn't need to be a work of beauty unless you're in a creative industry like photography or graphic design, but it also shouldn't appear like your fifth-grader played around with Word.
Short, straightforward bullet points with the places and dates positioned to the right should be used in your layout. If you find it to be complicated or difficult to read, it probably is. If your aesthetic distracts from the information, it doesn't matter a damn. Err on the side of less is more if in doubt. Instead of succumbing to the want to dress things up with the Apple Chancery font, resist the urge and stick with Calibri, New Times Roman, or Arial.
Remember to include your address (or city if you like), personal email and phone number (do not provide contact details at your current or previous employers), and your professional website or LinkedIn handle in addition to your full name. And move! Although resumes are by their very nature dull, your language doesn't have to be. Promote yourself! Hiring managers and HR experts cringe at the mere mention of weak and worn-out words, passive phrases, and business jargon, much like Voldemort's whispered murmurs in Harry Potter. Instead, search for opportunities to substitute action verbs for these. There are literally a billion options available to help you spice up the business retreat you arranged, conducted, or coordinated.
Beyond Your 9 to 5 We so frequently have blinders on, believing that our only relevant experience is limited to our own work path. False. The ability to display soft skills like leadership, community involvement, honesty, and discipline may all be demonstrated through side jobs, gig employment, and volunteering. Of course, it's best if you can match this extracurricular activity as closely as possible to the duties and obligations of the position. Include numbers whenever you can when describing your accomplishments in these roles, such as "I helped deliver more than 25,000 hot meals to low-income seniors last year alone." Read it once, then read it again. I cannot emphasise this enough: p.r.o.o.f.r.e.a.d. Once you've done that, repeat the process numerous times.
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