Tips and Tricks on Writing an ATS Friendly CV

Photo Credit: Pixabay

They say that it will be a long time before artificial intelligence will be able to replace a human. However, hiring managers all over the world have already adopted the ATS methods and now the Applicant Tracking System is helping the hirer sort through hundreds of resumes one gets every day.

It’s been said that a big percent of the candidate’s success lies in his ability to dazzle the employer in the resume. But how do you get on good terms with the ATS? Keep reading and find out how to tailor your document and make sure it stands out for the ATS CV checker just like the professional CV writing service does.

How to Match the Job and the ATS Requirements?

Those who have done their share of research before writing a CV know that it’s essential to reflect the duties and responsibilities the job requires in your document. However, don’t make it sound too good to be true.

Make sure you highlight the skills necessary to do the job in your CV, however, vary the word-choice and use the synonyms for the key-words. The ATS is taught to pick up on the variable verbiage of job-postings as well. It might be a bit difficult for the graduates with no or little work experience to write a good graduate CV, so make sure to read the vacancy very attentively.

How to Describe the Skills to Get Through the ATS CV Checker and Interest the Hirer?

Many employees have been studying the use of keywords in the job documents and are now overcompensating the usage of them in their CVs. Mind that the ATS will not invite you for the interview, the hiring manager will. So, don’t make you CV sound too robotic as well.

Instead of including the “Keywords” section go for the traditional “skills” section. If you don’t know how to make your CV stand out, intersperse the whole resume with your skills while backing them up with the job experience.

Don’t Try Too Hard To Trick the System

The ATS has been recently improved to skip through long lists of keywords, especially those written using Microsoft Word’s Properties. You won’t be able to mess with the system by including the keywords listings in a white font color either.

Don’t Neglect the Advantage of Cover Letters

In order to ease the task of selecting from plenty of applicants, hiring managers also pass on the cover letters to the ATS. The total number of the keywords used in the ATS CV and cover letter will determine if the applicant is a good hire for the company.

What Aspects are Worth Focusing on?

The fact that different companies are using services of many different ATS providers confuses job candidates. All ATS have different priorities established in them. The most common aspects that ATS focus on is the information you put in the education and skills section, past performance experience and the information about previous employers.

Also, remember: if you are looking for a work abroad, you should know the CV writing rules that exist in that country. For example, when working on your CV for the UAE keep in mind that potential employers will judge the candidates on such aspects as age, gender, and ethnicity.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Consider the ATS CV Format

Study the job listing carefully in order to see what document format is preferable to send. Some ATS can only work with .doc or .pdf formats, while others can deal only with the .txt or .rtf files. If there are no specific requirements for the document format in the job advertisement, use a Microsoft Word .doc file. Also:

• Make sure the significant information is visible to the ATS checker.
• In order to signpost the content of the CV uses clear proper headings, such as Education or Experience.
• Represent the bullet points of the CV in a simple single column format. Avoid using italics, underlined or bold text.
• Since not all ATS can interpret header and footer content, describe prominent information in the document body.
• Use full names for the job titles and companies. Omit abbreviations.
• Put the text on the left and the numbers on the right.
• Abbreviations are unnecessary when listing the years as well.

Check the CV Yourself

Take advantage of online scanning tools that allow pasting your resume and the job description to see how many matches have you got.

Finally, remember about human interaction as well. While the format of your CV should fit the ATS, the word-choice and tone of the resume should appeal to and engage the hiring manager.