What does that mean for the candidate on the other side of those hiring efforts driven by machines? IT-savvy leaders are offering career mentoring may become more critical than ever before. Therefore, they can give you the right advice to ensure that your resume is optimized to your advantage for AI screening – and additionally to avoid some common mistakes and misconceptions. Consider the do and don’t of these:
1. Don’t use abbreviations and acronyms
Just for a second put yourself in the shoes of a CV screening robot, and try to understand this: “2015 Grad B.Eng 90%GPA – Eng.Dep. JNU, India.” – It is absolute nonsense from an AI point of view. The reality is that the applicants should highlight all their technical and soft skills relevant to their particular job application. Applicant tracking systems map the keywords from job ads to resumes to identify applicants who are ideally suited to the position. In math we know the process as a correlation function. Although recently many AI tools have certain levels of semantic and synonymous capabilities, they may not always detect a perfect match between job descriptions and resumes. Therefore, you need to consider the optimum match and difference to the original job description.
2. Don’t even try to trick the system
It is extremely necessary to stay honest during an application process. We know that certain crazy candidates try to apply for multiple positions in a company, with a small adjustment to their email address, name or CV, as they believe it might increase their chance. Well, you should know that most application monitoring systems are built to detect and report similar profiles. The technology can simply flag you as spam, and affect your chances. In that case you may not even receive a reply from that company.
Known Lesson from SEO
3. Differentiate your application from the competition
Most job seekers believe that using similar keywords used in the job ad, and the 100 per cent copying would get them past the screening step. That’s obviously not the case. In contrast, the applicants should base their resumes on their unique accomplishments, interdisciplinarity and differentiators. Ideally they should avoid overloading their resume with the same keywords from the job description, as this can be identified by advanced applicant tracking systems and it could have potential for poor reflection on the application. Even mentioning your skill sets from other sections of an innovation cycle can be very beneficial as the employers are aware that the added values come from multidisciplinary talents.
You may additionally reconsider to avoid overused terms such as creativity or Innovation. When a system goes through a document set, it would typically sort out terms that are used by other people or redundant terms. If everyone wrote the words ‘management,’ ‘research,’ ‘innovative,’ or ‘leadership,’ the algorithm could filter out those words, even if they are important to the text being analyzed. Bear in mind that AI programs are typically not designed to filter out serious, unique applications. Therefore, judging it is practically left to a human hiring manager.
4. Don’t take it personal
Rejection of the application will intensify the feeling of “why me?” in everyone. Yet remember that rejection is nothing personal, before you start putting yourself down.
You definitely haven’t got the work, or not even a meaningful justification or an answer. But that’s probably only because someone else actually matched the little bit better with the criteria. Often it’s a matter of competition, rather than just personal success. There’s also the bigger picture – The first one on the other side of the table is not a professional hiring manager, sometimes not even a human. AI Robot Recruiters are widely used these days. So, this duel is not personal, and as you know the robot is’t yet responsible how you may feel. The issue is particularly important, especially because of the Corona Crisis and the lockdown resulting from the Covid19.
It’s a duel between you and the machine. On the other side of a duel, it’s not a human – there is an AI software most probably an ATS – Application Tracking System. A typical hiring manager can receive 500 to 1000 serious job applications and emails related to the work every day. No, it’s not like they really want to ghost you. And, if you don’t get a reply, there is no surprise. You’ve better got your own army. It is an accomplishment to make it through all of these levels, but don’t take it to heart if you don’t get the work at the end. Never fight another battle alone.
5. Don’t limit your search to submissions online
Remember that if you want a human to meet you, you need to initiate a discussion with a human. Do some research to get close to the hiring manager using LinkedIn or other networks, and contact him or her directly or through an intermediate connection. If you have an influential mentor, you may ask him to interfere with the process of applying. You may also enter the premium program that gives you access to the hidden job market – the jobs that are not publicly advertised on the major job listing websites.