Beating the Computerized Systems

A reader writes:

I recently bought your book and reworked my resume per your excellent suggestions.  I thought all of your advice was spot on.  Here's my question: I submitted my resume thru a design firms web portal for the position of Director - Client Partner. (Known in my parlance as Account Management)  I was shocked to see that my resume didn't match with that position...instead it got a score of 609 as a match to Jr. Creative Director.  I'm quite sure an actual human would see that 90% of my resume matches with the job description in the listing. 

With so many sites running some program before a human being will look at your resume (Itzbig is prime example), I'm flummoxed.  Should I take exact words from the listing so I get higher match scores, or should I just not worry about it too much?  I'm in a smaller market (Austin), but if the computer program is not matching my actual skills and experience, what can I do to get a higher matching score?

This is really a two-part answer. The first is YES! If the company is using a computerized screening system, then that system can only screen resumes in one of two ways. It will either ask you a series of questions which are designed to screen out non-qualified candidates OR it will scan your resume for keywords to see whether you match the position.

Therefore, it's critical to include the keywords from the job description in your resume. Don't just add a section for keywords - this will annoy the humans who eventually see your resume. Instead, scatter them throughout the document as part of the resume text.

One important caveat: Do not say anything that's not true. If you don't match the qualifications, the job isn't for you.

The second part of my answer is that, wherever possible, you must do more than simply submit your resume to the computer system and wait to hear back. These systems are just not a reliable way of finding the best candidate. (What they are is a time saver for harried HR departments.)

So, submit your keyword-filled resume, and the start doing some research to find out how you can reach a real person at that company. Try to find managers in the department you're applying to. Start with a site like LinkedIn. you'll have to be a member to contact people, but the site allows you to search by company name and then use your own network to make contact with the employees you find there.

You can also check the company's website and Google to find the names of staff members in the department you want to work in. They key is to find the name and email/mailing address of a real person and then submit your resume to that person with an enthusiastic cover letter explaining that you are so excited about the opportunity, you didn't want to leave anything to chance.

By employing both these strategies, you will greatly increase your chances of success.

Comments

[Jim McGovern]

Full disclosure: I'm the CEO at itzbig.

In response to the poster's question above: Our matching and scoring system is actually much more sophisticated than a simple keyword match. We capture info in structured fields that allow us to instantly match and score candidates against jobs, and jobs against candidates. The system uses different formulas for different job types and weighs a bunch of factors. So, for example, we compare the skills sought by the recruiter vs the skills possessed by the candidate and consider whether a particular skill is required for the job or is very important or is not so important. We do essentially the same thing for a wide variety of items, such as industry experience, education credentials, job location, work authorization status, travel requirements, etc. The closeness of the match between candidate and job on all of these items will determine the score. And, yes, the scores DO matter, because our recruiter customers are going to pay far more attention to high-scoring candidates than to low-scoring ones.

So, the best way to use our system is simply to make sure that your profile or profiles (you can have several if you want, each one optimized for a different purpose) accurately and completely represent what YOU want and your experience, education, skills, etc.

Hope that helps,

Jim McGovern

[Scott Dickie]

This is a great article and I am glad you stressed two of my own points: 1) Never lie on your resume to get a job; if you don't have the qualifications work towards achieving those before applying, and 2) Use technology to your advantage! LinkedIn is a great way to connect with people and there are multiple ways to get introduced to people at prospective employers. Check out my blog for upcoming articles. I also wanted to stress using Facebook in the same way. Many companies have groups, where you can also find people in your area.