How to make my resume ATS-friendly?
How to make my resume ATS-friendly?
We are often advised to add certain keywords relevant to our skills and experience in our CV or format it a certain way. Some might assume it is to catch the attention of the employer, but more so it is to get noticed by ATS. ATS or Application Tracking Software is used by recruiters to streamline their hiring processes and make it quicker. An ATS tracks all the applications and ranks them on the basis of their keywords, formats, or qualifications. Now, how to make their resume ATS-friendly? We will also be touching base on how to optimise resumes for ATS.
How to optimise a resume for ATS
How do you really do this? Making your resume ATS-friendly is far easier than it sounds. At its core, it’s all about keeping things simple and following clear, easy-to-use formats. The real work starts when you learn how to optimise your resume for ATS. Here are a few points you can follow to ensure that:
1. Standardise your Key-Words
Use standard and commonly used words and phrases in your job titles, skills and job descriptions. Try mirroring the words used in the job description in your resume for increased relevance to the role.
2. Points over paragraphs
Using bullet points in the descriptions makes them far easier to read through than paragraphs, both for ATS and the recruiter.
3. Clear and concise headings
Don’t go over creatives with your core headings such as experience, education, skills, and certificates. Keep them short, to the point, and hence easily scannable. This is a good point to better optimise your resume for ATS.
Format of ATS-friendly resume
Keeping the format of an ATS-friendly resume should be:
1. Simple
Avoid unnecessary graphs, complex layouts, tables or text boxes. They take extra space and make your resume more stuffed than clear. ATS prefers straightforward formats.
2. Saved and Shared as per File Type
Share your files in either .docx. or. pdf format. These file types are easily readable by the ATS. However, .pdf is still preferred since it has lower risks of getting its formats disturbed when shared as compared to .docx.
These were some common and easy, yet highly important tips to implement on how to optimise your resume for ATS.
Readability on ATS-friendly resume
In addition to these, you must also ensure not to stuff your resume with keywords everywhere. Always balance ATS readability with human readability. Adding too many or insignificant keywords looks unnatural and hurts readability. It might sometimes pass the ATS, but it will certainly catch the eyes of the hiring manager. Hence, maintaining balance and using only the significant keywords is the key.
One can also try the various free ATS-friendly resume checkers available nowadays across the web to get a review.
To conclude, a resume optimised for ATS is simply a resume that focuses on clear formats, simplicity, standard keywords, and concise information. Now, do you know how to make your resume ATS-friendly?
FAQs
1. What does an ATS-Friendly resume mean?
An ATS-Friendly resume is formatted well, concise, and clear and has relevant keywords that Applicant Tracking Systems can easily scan and interpret without errors. Many organisations like Faxoc.com provide these hiring companies with the software to scan resumes quickly and efficiently.
2. Should I include multiple keywords in my resume?
You must ensure to put relevant and standard keywords in your resume in a natural way, while not overdoing it.
3. Do I need to use any special template for my resume?
A clean, text-based template, formatted well, is suggested. You should avoid any fancy templates with unnecessary elements and text.
4. What exactly does ATS do when it scans a resume?
The Application Tracking Software scans your resume to get and organise your information such as name, contact details, experience, and skills, and matches this information against the job description by checking for relevant keywords.
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Naina Singh
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