This article focuses on improving your resume, so it gets found by an ATS, and to get better results with matching software. I wrote two introducing paragraphs; feel free to skip them to go to the best parts. And please let me know in the comments what you think, if my article was helpful for you! 

Why you want your resume to be found by an ATS

When you write your resume, you want to stand out of the crowd, add your personal touch, and blow people’s minds! But you won’t get the change if recruiters are not able to find it. And nowadays, what might stand between you and your dream job are ATS systems, resume matching software, and other recruitment applications.

Back in the day’s recruiters could lose your printed CV in drawers or other places. Now your resume can get lost in folders, or left in the dark because of not recognizable search terms.

So these days, it is crucial to adjust your CV to make it well readable by recruitment automation software or other recruitment applications.

Therefore it is necessary to ATS-proof your CV. Still, you want to reach recruiters, but for that, you need them to be able to find your resume through the search engine of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

To help you get your dream job, I will share some crucial information about ATS search engines, vacancy keywords, and matching software. And, as icing on the cake, I will provide you with a fantastic tool to scan your CV. Polish it, make it perfect, and stand out of the crowd with your ATS-friendly resume!

Watch out for the ATS’s filters and Boolean Search!

Filters and Boolean Search. Love or hate them, but they exist to make recruiters’ lives easier. Recruiters work on many vacancies with many candidates. So yes, they need ways to filter out people who lack specific attributes. And recruiters are provided with these tools by recruitment software developers. 

The way it works is quite simple. It starts with a vacancy. A company that needs a new employee writes a vacancy and makes up some must-haves and nice-to-haves. So, for example, the must-haves are:

• Experience: 4+ years
• Job title: Project Manager
• Location: London

The recruiter looks at the vacancy and starts working. She/he will search inside the ATS for candidates with those must-haves. These are pictures from ATS systems search engines. Here you can see, they are trying to make sure even CV’s with types get found. However, it really takes a course before recruiters start doing this:

And here, you can see how your profile might look inside an ATS’s search result. As you can see here, it is essential to have a good picture. On the other hand, they mostly focus on must-have skills.

And if there are still too many candidates on this list, recruiters can add extra filters like degrees, studies, courses, and personal qualities. Make sure that you have written down all your unique attributes in your CV, so read the next part about recruitment terminology carefully.

Use this Vocabulary to get your Resume Found by an ATS

If you want recruiters to find your CV in a clunky ol’ ATS or even the newer ones, you need to use the same vocabulary as recruiters do! If you are looking for a particular job, take a peek at your favorite vacancies, and copy the keywords.

Because for sure, recruiters use them to search for you!

Let’s imagine you are looking for your dream job as a Recruitment Consultant. In that case, you definitely should incorporate words that describe your experiences and the job. I reviewed 5 vacancies for terms, and I found all these common terms that describe recruitment consultants. 

Recruitment Consultant, entrepreneurial, account management, sales, resilience, dynamic, positive personality; fun; fluent in English; self-starter; communication skills; Immunity to frustration and disappointment; headhunt; sourcing skills; introducing candidates; proactive; negotiation skills; cold & warm calling; business development; interviewing skills; innovative.

So when you are writing your CV, it is very important that you use these words to describe your experience. Those words you can apply in your resume, and try to match these to your experience as good as possible. Because for sure, recruiters use words that are available in their brains. If recruiters work on vacancies, they write and/or read the vacancies, use those words, and type them into the ATS’s search engine, or filter on these words.

DANGER: don’t lose yourself in crafting a buzzword-filled CV. Although it helps your resume to get found by an ATS, make sure recruiters like it too!

Extra Keywords to get your Resume found by an ATS

For free: some extra inspiration for things you need to write down in your CV.

• Geographical: If you want your job to be close, write down your home address. Or try something naughty. If I’d be willing to move for a job, and the vacancy says the job is in London. I will have a problem. If I use my current home address (very far away from London), the filter will exclude me. This is a 100% guarantee. So I would better use one in London. There is nothing wrong with cheating a little bit to achieve your dreams.
• Drivers license: if you have one, but you leave it out because you don’t think it is relevant for the job. Just be careful: when recruiters encounter a massive list of candidates, they might even use this filter.
• Contact details: I have seen filters that exclude resumes without contact details, and I don’t understand why candidates would leave this out. You want recruiters to be able to contact you, right? Just add everything: phone number, e-mail address, Skype id, etc.

Get your Resume Found by Matching Software

Then there is matching software. Some types are more sophisticated than others. You can roughly boil the software’s capabilities down to this; it looks at how many keywords in your CV match with the keywords in the vacancy. So, play it safe and see if you can use the same keywords from the job description to describe your qualities. In this case, even if the matching software is not too sophisticated, it can match your CV properly!

I have tested our matching software with two different resumes. One was very short and to the point and it did not get me the results I wanted; 34 jobs in telesales. Well, that’s not my passion. But the other CV worked out pretty well. In this CV, I wrote down in detail all my experiences and (soft)skills, with keywords I have seen in my favorite vacancies. It worked! STAA matched my resume with jobs in online-marketing, SEO-marketing, content marketing, and copy-writing. Yes!

Scan your resume before sending

Before you start applying, please make sure your CV is perfect. For this purpose, I’ve found an excellent tool for you. This tool from Jobscan scans your CV and shows what you need to rewrite.

Conclusion

Now you see the importance of adjusting your CV correctly. I have provided you with knowledge and a tool to make sure your CV gets found by recruiters using search engines inside Applicant Tracking Systems. And how to get better results with matching software. Rewrite your CV and get ready for your dream job!

If you are interested in some more tips, we’ve got another helpful article to write the perfect resume!