How to Avoid the

Resume Black Hole

A guide to navigating keywords and
Applicant Tracking Software (ATS)

By Lidia Arshavsky, CPRW

JCStrategic.com
Have you applied to jobs that seem like a perfect match for your skills and experience, only
never to hear back from the company?

Have you ever felt like your resume is simply disappearing into a black hole? Chances are,
that’s exactly what is happening.

Today, most resumes and job applications are immediately scanned and evaluated by a
computer, and in many cases, are never seen by a live person. So what can you do to make sure
you pass this initial test and get a set of human eyes to look at your resume?

Here is what you need to know: Your resume and application are most likely being processed
by an ATS (Applicant Tracking Software) system. This system will parse your resume, calculate
the number of relevant keywords in your content, and rank how well your resume matches the
employer’s needs for that position compared to other candidates.

That is why customizing each resume that you submit is so important.

ATS Facts

According to expert studies, 100% of Fortune 1000 companies and 80% of small to midsize
businesses (100-15,000 employees) use ATS systems. They are also used by nearly all recruiters.

The ATS will parse and analyze your resume, and use the information it reads (such as years of
experience, education, and skills) to rank you in comparison to other job applicants. Only the most
highly-ranked resumes will then be read by a live person.

There are two types of ATS systems. The first, less sophisticated type of ATS simply looks for
keywords in your resume or job application.

The second type is more sophisticated, and is used by more and more companies. This type of ATS
looks at the placement of keywords within the chronology of your work experience. What does that
mean? It means that if one of the skills desired by the company is MS Office, it will have greater
weight if it appears in a more recent position (ex: 2013-Present) or a position held for many years
(2007-2013) than in a job held for a shorter period or a longer time ago (2005-2006). The hiring
manager can also assign more “weight” to a particular skills and keywords, identifying them as more
“valuable” than others.

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What the typical ATS-assisted hiring process looks like

Here is how a hiring process using ATS might go:

 The hiring manager creates a job description (if it doesn’t exist already).
 HR extracts keywords from the job description and enters them into the ATS.
 The job ad is posted on the company website and/or online job boards.
 As applicants submit resumes, the ATS parses them to create its own e-form and rank the
resumes based on the keywords in those resumes.
 The hiring manager then looks at the most highly-ranked resumes. In most cases, lower-
ranked resumes are never seen by a live person.

The employers also have the option to add additional questions, which can provide them with
more information or be used to disqualify candidates. (For example, a question like “Are you
available to work nights and weekends?” may be used to eliminate any candidate that answers
“No.”)

So now that you know what the ATS is and how it is used by hiring managers, how do you
customize your resume so it passes the initial inspection and gets seen by a real human?

The first step is to make sure you have the right formatting on your resume to ensure that it is
readable by ATS systems. Next, we will talk about what to do and what not to do in structuring
your resume. Finally, we will look at strategically inserting keywords, including step-by-step
examples.

While these sections contain a fairly long list of bullets, do not be intimidated: simply go through
your resume and check whether it meets the criteria for each one. If it does not, the fix should be
quick and simple.

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Formatting

The first thing to know is that formatting matters. While some jobseekers try to grab attention
using flashy graphics and unusual formatting styles, this can actually backfire, since complicated
formatting may cause parts (or all) of your resume not to be read at all by the ATS.

The good news is that, overall, ATS systems have gotten much more sophisticated. In the past,
jobseekers were told not to use color, lines, or any fonts aside from standards like Arial. This is
no longer the case.

 Here is what you need to know about formatting to optimize your resume for the ATS
system:

 Your name should be on the first line of the document, and should have its own line. Do
not include any additional information such as your contact info, or your credentials
(MBA, CPA, etc.), to ensure that these are not processed as part of your name. Include
that information on a separate line.
 Do not use headers or footers, since they will not be read by the ATS. One exception: if
your resume is more than one page, you may use the footer on the 2nd and subsequent
pages to include your contact info – this way, the information will be seen by a person
reading the document, but not the ATS system.
 Do not use text boxes, as information in a text box may not be read by the ATS.
 It is best to avoid graphics. However, most of the newer ATS systems will simply read
graphics as a series of nonsense characters, which will not affect your ATS rankings.
Thus, although any text within a graphic will be unreadable in the ATS, you may leave a
graphic that you want seen by a live person.
 It is best to avoid templates, since they often include tables, text boxes, and other
elements that cause problems.
 You can use any order you want for the company, job title, location and date of each
work experience, but you must remain consistent from one to the next.
 Remain conservative in your section titles (Summary, Experience, Education,
Affiliations, Additional Information). Something overly creative (“Highlights of work
endeavors”) may not be understood by the ATS, which means it will not properly parse
and rank the information in that section.
 Do not combine sections (i.e., “Volunteering and Affiliations”), as this will not be read
properly by the ATS.
 Ensure that your resume is thoroughly proofread, edited and spell-checked. Not only will
having a typo or misspelled word look sloppy to the hiring manager (and potentially
disqualify you from the get-go), it may also cause the ATS to read it incorrectly and
penalize your ranking.

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  Do not use accents or special characters. These may not be read properly by the ATS, so
the word “résumé” will show up as “r?sum?” in the ATS.
 White space is important, as it indicates the start and end of sections to the ATS.
 Avoid using tables or columns in your resume, as this can distort the order of the
information (see textbox example below).

The problem with tables and boxes

When you include a table in your resume that looks like this:

2013-Present Manager at Acme Corp.

2012-2013 Senior Associate at ABC Inc.

2010-2012 Assistant at ABC Inc.

The ATS will read it like this:

2013-Present

2012-2013

2010-2012

Manager at Acme Corp.

Senior Associate at ABC Inc.

Assistant at ABC Inc.

As a result, the ATS will not be able to tell which job title and company is associated with each
set of dates. And keywords in job descriptions that are missing dates many not be ranked as
highly (or, sometimes, at all).

Avoid tables to prevent formatting and parsing problems. In this case, consider using the “tab”
function instead:

2013-Present Manager at Acme Corp.

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What exactly are keywords?

Keywords are individual words or short phrases used to “score” resumes. The keywords for a
particular position are determined either based on the content of the job description (the same
keywords that appear therein) or when an HR representative or hiring manager specifically
compiles a list of keywords they are looking for.

Here is an example of a job ad for an administrative assistant, with some keywords highlighted:

Administrative assistant
Overview:
Provides administrative and secretarial support services. In addition to typing and filing, assembles
confidential information. Independent judgment is required to plan, prioritize, and organize diversified
workload.
Responsibilities:
 Prioritize, organize, prepare and distribute internal/external documents
 Ensure accurate maintenance of files and databases for efficient retrieval of documents
 Design/create new spreadsheets, forms and correspondence to fit project needs
 Research, collect and compile information on special topics
 Perform other related duties as required and assigned
Qualifications:
 4 year accredited college degree or High School diploma
 3-5 years of administrative experience
 Able to work independently and in team settings
 Effective oral and written communication
 Intermediate to advanced computer skills including databases, Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook

The words and phrases highlighted above are likely keywords being used by the ATS to rank
resumes submitted for this position. If you are applying to this job, you do not need to insert
every single one of these into your resume (hiring managers do not expect even the perfect
candidates to have every single keyword present in their documents). However, it is important to
go through the job description and see if it includes keywords that apply to your experience but
are currently missing from your resume. For example, did you have some experience working
with files and databases that you did not include yet? Or did you mention your computer skills,
but not list the specific programs, such as Microsoft Word and Excel? Going through the job
description and highlighting likely keywords will help you identify information and words that
you can add to ensure a better ATS ranking.

Be aware that only your resume (and not your cover letter, introductory email, or any other
documentation) will be scanned for keywords. When applying online, you may sometimes be
asked to enter your resume information into an online form; although this may feel annoying or
time-consuming, you must do this to ensure that all your information and keywords are in the
system.

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And remember that dates matter. The sophisticated ATS systems will determine the placement of
your keywords, so it is important to include relevant skills and attributes within the job
description for the pertinent positions. So avoid the functional resume format, where you list
your skills and experience in one place, and previous positions and dates in another (without the
details).

There are two main categories of keywords:

Hard skills (and titles)

These keywords are fairly straightforward, in that they are skills or titles that you either have, or
you don’t.

Either you know UNIX, Project Management or Spanish, or you do not.

Keywords may also include names of major companies (PepsiCo, JP Morgan) or schools
(Harvard, Local University, etc.).

Soft skills (hard to prove until hired)

These include such keywords as oral and written communication skills, problem solving, team
player or leadership.

Some experts claim that these terms are of no use on a resume, since they cannot be proven.
However, hiring managers still include them in job description/requirements – so when they do,
it is best to include them. Keep in mind that it’s better to include them within your job
descriptions and bullets (in context) rather than compiling them in a separate list of skills.

There are a several websites that can read the text of your resume and the text of your job
description to scan it for keywords and see how many you have included, such as jobscan.co.
Although some of the keywords these automated programs bring up will not be relevant, pay
attention to whether there are additional keywords you can work into your resume.

“Required” vs “Desired”

Often, a job description will list “required” skills and qualifications as well as ones that are “recommended” or
“desired” (this means the hiring manager thinks they would be nice to have, but not strictly necessary for a good
candidate). Whenever you have qualifications that are only “recommended” or “desired,” be sure to include
them anyway. If an employer receives more applications than expected that meet the “required” qualifications,
they may turn some of the “desired” qualifications into requirements.

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What NOT to do

Do not include keywords if you do not actually have that skill. You will be caught, and it will not
be pretty. (Just imagine how terrible it will feel if you are asked in detail about that experience at
the interview, and you are unable to provide an honest answer.)

And don’t try to “cheat” by including white text keywords, the full job description at the end of
the resume, or any similar tactics. The ATS will see it and highlight it, and jobseekers caught
using such tactics will be disqualified.

Examples

Here is how we helped a teacher modify his resume for a summer counselor position.

First, take a look at the teacher’s initial description of his experience in his resume:

Computer Camp: Teacher and Curriculum Writer

 Prepared, wrote, and taught curricula for multiple computer courses.

 Created and led daily activities for campers of age 9-17, including an outdoor activity class that
earned the highest camper rating in camp history.

Now look at the target job description. Keywords are highlighted in Yellow.

Technology Counselor
If you have tech skills and like working with kids we have the best summer job ever! Technology
Counselors teach tech workshops, supervise campers and participate in fun camp activities. Qualified
candidates have knowledge of the tech topic and are proficient with the software to teach classes in one
more of the following areas:
 Designing Video Games using Neverwinter Nights, Flash, and Game Maker
 Web Design using Notepad, HTML, FrontPage, PhotoShop, PHP, CSS
 Programming using Java, C++, Game Maker
We are also looking for counselors with experience in tennis, drama, soccer and swimming to lead
activities. The ideal counselor is eager to share a passion for recreation with campers and motivate them
to explore new activities that will benefit their bodies and minds.

And here is the job description from before, modified to contain relevant keywords.

Computer Camp: Teacher and Curriculum Writer

 Prepared, wrote, and taught curricula for several tech workshops and classes, including C++, Java,
HTML, and game design.
 Created and supervised daily activities for campers of age 9-17, including an outdoor recreation class
that included hiking and swimming and earned the highest camper rating in camp history.

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Here is another example: a bullet from a marketing resume.

 Created marketing strategy, including brochures, collateral, and branding images.

Now look at this excerpt from a job description:

Looking for someone who has experience creating marketing plans, branding, and writing copy.

Now, the bullet is transformed with the keywords in mind:

 Created marketing plan, wrote copy, and created branding.

The modifications are fairly minor, with a change in terminology (turning “marketing strategy”
into “marketing plan”) and specifying the work done based on the keywords (“wrote copy”
instead of “created brochures,” although both of these refer to the same activity performed by the
applicant). However, by describing the experience in the same terms as the employer, the
applicant increases the chances that the resume will be ranked more highly by the ATS.

Conclusion

The goal of your resume is to convince a hiring manager that you deserve an interview; but the
only way to do this is to ensure the resume is read in the first place. By applying these keyword
best practices, you are ensuring a higher ranking from the ATS and a better score compared to
competing candidates.

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