Of course, my resume is friendly! I am a friendly person!
But is it ATS Friendly?
If you haven’t spent time updating your resume recently, you might want to dust it off – even if you aren’t looking for a job right now. If you are looking for a new job or a change in career, it’s good practice to be prepared, know your value and have your skills and experiences up to date in a ready-to-use format.
Speaking of format, are you familiar with the different commonly used resume formats? The most popular are “chronological” and “skill’s based”.
Chronological Resumes are just that: a chronological list of our education and employment, with a section for awards and accolades thrown in for good measure. These are the most universally accepted styles of resume. They are also easier for scanners to sort and autofill forms. If you are uploading a resume to a job application page or filling out a job seeker profile in JobQuest or LinkedIn, you will find less “blips and blanks” by using a Chronological Resume.
What about a Skills Based Resume? A skills-focused resume is all about your certifications and the actual work you have done. This format allows you to focus on your knowledge, relevant skills and experience. This style is best when you are changing career fields, having a time gap in your employment or for new graduates who might have less time in the work world. It is also a good format for someone who has many diverse skills to showcase.
Of course, you could simply feed your information to a website like “resumes-4-u.com” (this is not a real website to my knowledge) and receive a fancy PDF copy of your resume for an introductory price of $.99, plus an additional monthly fee for ongoing service and edits. These services do not always have user (or employer) friendly formatting. They are also extremely difficult to edit outside of their own programs. They can also be challenging to cancel before your ‘introductory offer’ runs out.
So, what is ATS, and why should your resume be ATS friendly? The biggest reason is that initial reviews of resumes are more and more often not being read by people. They are being scanned by ATS, or Applicant Tracking Systems. These are programs that scan your resume looking for specific skills and keywords appropriate to the job an employer wants to fill. In order to be ATS friendly, your resume should use a simple and straightforward format. You want to use consistent fonts, clear headings and bullet points.
Would you like to guess what happens to a resume that is not ATS friendly? NOTHING. A non-ATS friendly resume is skipped over, and since there is no emotion in an Applicant Tracking System, your resume likely isn’t even put in a “second chance” pile.
How can you learn more about creating a resume that will get you noticed (and hopefully hired) by employers?
Schedule a free one-on-one resume review with one of the MassHire Cape & Islands Certified Resume Writers or take one of our weekly in-person workshops.
More information is available at: https://www.masshire-capeandislands.com/events-calendar/
