In 2023, Resumes Will be Read by Computers During Job Searches

Resumes being read by computers? And what about making career decisions?

Welcome to the (now) future in which computers reading resumes can influence job search success.

Applicant Tracking Systems are used by approximately 90% of Fortune 500 companies (ATS). As do approximately 70% of larger corporations. In addition, 20% of SMBs.

Still, before you go out and build a cabin in the woods, consider the reality of computers reading resumes. Who else is a part of the process? And how do you make an impression on one?

You should also look into our free resume review and downloadable resume templates, as well as our partners at Leet Resumes’ offer of a professional, free resume rewrite.

If you want to sign up for free, you can upload your resume and let Ladders’ technology show you how your resume will look when processed by an ATS system.

OK, we’ll go straight to Ladders’ Founder and Executive Chairman, Marc Cenedella, for some expert advice:

Your resume has four different audiences.
There’s a 23-year-old screener with a few years of HR experience who goes through resumes to see if basic qualifications are met.

A recruiter, who may be an outside search consultant or an internal HR employee, reviews the screened resumes in order to compile a shorter list for the boss.

There’s the hiring manager herself — while she makes the hiring decision, it’s best to think of her as a client of the recruiting process.

Finally, the company’s HR computer system, known as an applicant tracking system, sits alongside the entire workflow — understanding how the world’s computers read and relay your resume significantly reduces your chances of making mistakes.

Precocious Computers That Destroy Your Life’s Work
The most difficult audience for your resume is an application tracking system (ATS). All too often, an ATS mutilates all of your hard work on a resume.

Avoid the worst outcomes by presenting in a straightforward manner that focuses on getting the words right while being light on unique, quirky, or idiosyncratic formatting.

When you consider the benefits and drawbacks of technology in your own field, you will recall that it has proven to be an incredible tool for connecting us globally, quickly, and with rich data.

You’ll also be frustrated by how frequently it sends the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time, or produces an unexpected result.

The same can be said for the ATS technology that is at the heart of most HR departments today. ATSs are frequently chastised by HR professionals for being difficult to work with, as well as by candidates who frequently feel lost while navigating them.

Imagine a company’s ATS as a precocious teenager assigned to re-type your entire resume into the company’s database. This is perhaps the best way to think about an ATS and how it processes your resume.

The teenager would not understand any of the words, might get things wrong if the structure or formatting is too complex, but would “mostly” be able to re-type what they see on the page accurately.

As a result, writing a resume that isn’t mangled by an ATS is almost entirely about being defensive — avoiding practices, features, or formatting that might confuse the ATS / precocious teenager:

• Avoid using special characters. What exactly is a unique character? Anything in Microsoft Word’s ‘Special Characters’ tab, or ‘Insert > Special Character’ in Google Docs.
• Avoid emojis, fancy arrows, Greek lettering, musical notation, and complicated keyboard notations.
• Keep your formatting as simple as possible. Tabs are generally safe as long as you don’t overdo it. However, tables, sections, and any other word processing feature that adds hidden structure to your resume are not acceptable.
• Please keep your headings as simple as possible. Your work experience should be referred to as ‘Work’ or ‘Work Experience’. “Things I Have Excelled and Thrived At In This Life” should not be included.
• Your educational background should be titled “Education,” not “School of Hard Knocks” or “Degrees Received.” It’s critical for the ATS to be able to import this data into the correct sections of the database, and if you use clever or non-standard headings, the ATS / precocious teenager may become confused.
• In Google Docs and Microsoft Word, only use the basic or default fonts. The precocious adolescent may not have the fancier fonts installed on his computer and will quickly tire of looking for them.
• Assume the ATS / precocious adolescent has a short attention span and will overlook all of your fancy formatting, fonts, structure, columns, and aesthetic balance in your resume.