Hi ,
When you are applying for a job, 99 times out of 100, your résumé is the first point of contact between you and the hiring manager. In other words, this document is (most likely) where you create the first impression on them.
Meaning, your résumé should be clean, crisp, tight and to the point.
And if you are applying to different jobs, you should be using different résumés. You do that, right? No? Why are you still using the same résumé for every job?
Because every job is different, every copy of your résumé should be different; it must match the job description. Why? For starters, nothing comes easy. No pain, no gain. You MUST put in the hard work to create a résumé that presents the best version of you; the best representation of why you are the best candidate for this job, and specifically this job. And if you put in the effort, it WILL show. The hiring managers will see it as clear as the midday sun.
Conversely, if you don't invest time and effort in writing it, in the best (and sometimes the only) chance of getting your foot in the door, why would the hiring manager invest time and effort in reading it?
Speaking of doors and barriers, with résumés come the necessity of being aware of something called ATS or Applicant Tracking Systems. These are software tools that companies use to automatically screen candidate résumés. Think of it as a computer that scans your document for a few keywords and phrases to see if you might be a possible candidate for the job.
In other words, you must satisfy a robot with your résumé before a human ever lays eyes on it! Unfair? Not really. See, when a job is available, and there are hundreds of applications, it is humanly impossible to look through every single application, just to check if it might be a match. And once that is done, the hiring manager will have to go through all of them again to see which are a possible fit and shorten the list, over and over again. It's a massive pain in the bottom.
Hence, ATS.
But how do you create an ATS-compliant résumé? We live in wonderful times. There are tools and solutions online for (almost) everything. Search online and you will get lots of them. But my preferred one is Ideal Resume. (Affiliate link.) Why? Three simple reasons.
- It's bloody easy.
- It tests your résumé against the job description for which you are applying.
- It makes use of AI to rewrite your document to make it a better fit.
Learn more about Ideal Resume straight from the creator in this under-3-minute video.
Wesley (the founder) has just released a few features to make this tool even better. I quote from his email:
- Matching job recommendations based on the top skills that we’ll automatically extract from your resume. Therefore, in addition to helping you optimize your resume for a job description you’re already interested in, we’ll be finding new job opportunities for you to consider.
- Since the job matches are based on the top skills in your resume and not just a job title, we hope to show you job opportunities that may have previously gone under your radar.
- Now you can upload your resume as a file instead of just copy/paste. With this, we’ll automatically reformat your resume template to make it ATS-friendly. In other words, if your resume template contains any kind of formatting that will cause problems when applying to jobs online, we’ll automatically fix that for you. (some additional user formatting may be required)
- Resume Quality Score: Upload your resume and we’ll scan it for 50 different common formatting and content issues. We’ll alert you to any content problems and explain how to fix them (if we couldn't fix them automatically).
Note that this currently works on desktops and laptops only. So whether you are searching for a job or just want to update your résumé or even play around with Ideal Resume, go for it here.
Here's a bigger tip - if you like it and want to get it at an unbeatable price, search for Ideal Resume on AppSumo. (Affiliate link.) If you aren’t aware of AppSumo, it is a website that provides great lifetime deals on amazing tools and software of all types for anyone, individual or employee or business or entrepreneur.
That's it for today, see you next week with another useful thing.
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Cheers,
Abhilash.
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