OPTIMIZE YOUR RESUME FOR APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS

By Denis Curtin

Plainfield Library, Wednesday, September 21, 2016, from Noon until 1:30 PM

You may have heard stories of job seekers submitting their resumes online then never hearing back from the company. It was as if their resume ended up in a Black Hole. One of these Black Holes has now been identified. It is the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) used by many companies to initially screen resumes. The Applicant Tracking System is a software application that scans resumes and ranks them according to keywords and skills.

Many qualified applicants are being rejected by ATS, not because of a lack of qualifications but because of unknowingly formatting their resume content so the ATS cannot recognize it. A recent study indicates that up to 75% of qualified job seeker candidates are being eliminated because their resume did not follow the ATS rules Despite Being Qualified for the Job!

Specific recommendations for formatting your resume will be presented in the form of Do's and Don'ts examples. Word Clouds will be suggested as a tool to use in selecting the best keywords and skills for your targeted resume. Wouldn't it be nice if there were a tool that would analyze your resume before you submit it and tell you if your resume is a good match for the job you are seeking? That resume robot for job seekers now exists and will be discussed.

What you will learn at this presentation includes:

How to:

Format your resume to be Applicant Tracking System friendly Avoid common formatting errors that will send your resume into the Black

Hole Use Word Clouds to select the best keywords and skills Use a robot to help you succeed against Applicant Tracking System robots

This presentation by Denis Curtin will focus on these ATS rules and help keep your resume from ending up in the Black Hole.

The Plainfield Library is located at 15025 S. Illinois St., Plainfield, IL 60544

Denis CurtinDenmarc@comcast.net