Resume Series Part 3 –Tricks of the Trade
You have completed research in Resume Series Part 1 and dusted-off and tweaked your resume in Part 2. Now, you need the tricks of the trade to get your foot in the door of your future employer.
Optimize your resume for scanning and tracking systems. Employers will at times use technology to sort through resumes. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) sorts, organizes, stores and maintains records of applicants. These programs use a variety of filters and screeners, sometimes called “contextual parsers”. ATS(s) sometimes combine many elements of the resume to create a profile without human intervention to save your potential employer time and money. ATS(s) do not like special situations thrown at them. To ensure your resume uploads and is scanned without a hitch by an ATS, follow tips from Resume Series Part 1 and 2 in conjunction with the tips below:
Stick to standard or system fonts. (Arial, Georgia, Impact, Courier, Lucinda, Palatino, Tahoma, Verdana, Sans Serif)
Use .RTF or DOC file types. Avoid PDF, DOCX, WPD, WPS or HTML.
Use standard bullets instead of paragraphs. Note: Special characters used for bullets, such as, arrows can cause problems.
Graphics of any kind, or JPG, PNG, BMP images should not be used.
Borders, shading or symbols should be avoided.
Do not use words with small text or reverse type.
Nix the headers and footers. They jam the algorithms.
Include your postal address. Many programs will kick your resume to the curb without a postal address.
Replace career objective section with a bulleted qualification summary.
Do not place dates before work experience. It may look better, but, it confounds the robots.
While the ATS software may like the above version of your resume, the digital version may not be the one you would want to present during a face-to-face interview.
Create a visually appealing resume version for your interviewer. The person you are interviewing with will appreciate the extra effort. Below are some tips for an interviewer version.
Avoid templates.
Include design elements, but use them sparingly.
Utilize color and shading.
Consistently use bullet, periods and limited bold.
Avoid underlining.
You may venture out of the typical fonts of Arial, Georgia, Impact, Courier, Lucinda, Palatino, Tahoma, Verdana, Sans Serif. Stick with a font that is easy to read and no more than two fonts at most. As for size, 11 point is a good middle of the road. 12 is too large and 10 is too small.
How far you push creative liberties will depend on your career path. A couple of visual enhancements may be sufficient for an accountant and, on the other hand, there may be no holds barred for a graphic designer.
After completing Resume Series 1 through 3, you may feel confident in your resume and want to make a follow-up call. Forsworn your potential employer in your cover letter that you will be making a follow-up call or email with something like, “I will follow-up with you in a few days to discuss the possibility of an interview. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me at____.” If you say you are going to follow-up, make sure you do. Also, keep a contact log with notes and times of contact and do not be a pest.
Come back soon to this site to see the final Resume Series Part 4 – References.
