The fact is that even the best professional resume writers who plied their craft ten years ago wouldn’t stand a chance in today’s new competitive executive, technical and professional management job market. The reason is simple and that is back then resumes were written for actual people to read and the simple fact, is that today humans just aren’t reading resumes any more.
Sound odd? Well read on, because it in fact makes perfect sense. Time and again in recent months stories have appeared in the news about thousands of people in one city or another who showed up to apply for the same few job openings. While these are extreme cases, the truth is that companies the world over are now being pelted on a daily basis by unprecedented numbers of resumes for C-level, management and technical positions.
So with this new high level of incoming resumes, one would think that the hot new position to apply for would be “resume reader”. Fact: Human resources managers are now using new state of the art HR software that scans and searches resumes for certain keywords and key phrases unique to positions they are intending on filling. Resumes that are pre-selected using this software are the resumes that will in the end, be read by humans. The rest are shot straight to the dumpster out back.
When contacted by phone, Ivan Janitra Podiman of www.resumemapping.com was able to lend some insight into how to write a resume that will make it past this type of HR software and on to a set of human eyes and hopefully make the final cut. “Understanding precisely how this new software works and what it searches for are key to writing an effective resume today”. “You see, so many old rules simply don’t apply anymore”.
“For instance today’s new software is programmed to search for technical skills, so they should be prominently listed up front”. “This is contrary to resumes of the past that would always have job experience and goals listed prior to technical skills that tended to be listed after wards to buttress experience and goals.” He went on further to say, “Also the old one page rule for resumes is pretty much out the door as well.”
Fact: Effective use of keywords and key phrases is both a science and an art form. Also due to continual adjustments and changes in how and what software programs look for can make understanding and effectively using keywords and key phrases difficult to say the least, for the novice
