I explained in the first article how to not get lost in an ATS/CRM system via basic matching rules, now comes the next hurdle, the format in which you send your CV, which is just as important, if not more! Let’s get stuck in to lesson 2 of how to avoid the resume blackhole.
Both recruitment companies and HR teams will use a “parsing system” which is designed to catch the profiles that the matching system may or may not miss but more importantly a parsing system will identify specific content in your CV that’s broken down into smaller elements which are mapped to predetermined fields in the ATS/CRM that’ll later be used for searching purposes.
I’m going to make this really simple, don’t send your CV in a graphical file format such as JPEG/JPG and PNG instead opt for the more traditional DOC or PDF. Once you’re finished editing your CV the easiest way to check it will be read by the parsing system is to copy and paste your entire CV into a new word document… does it look exactly the same as what’s been written? Most of the time it will be ok but if you’ve added images, tables or text boxes it might not come out as you think. Some examples of using images, tables and text boxes include:
1. �at?k Ka? SK. No: 37 ?� Kap?
2. ??? 01/06/1996 20/1880 ??? ???? ????? ????????? ???????
3. *?***** ***** *?***** Al
In these circumstances your details will get lost in a system, that’s if your recruiter hasn’t already filled your details in manually which is unlikely in most cases. Also don’t make your document “password protected” the parser won’t read your CV at all. You want to make sure you’re easily found in a recruitment database containing hundreds of thousands of CVs
If you’re in the design industry it’s important to contain examples of your work but don’t over complicate it and check that once you’ve finished it’s readable by a parser system by copying and pasting it to avoid getting lost
In following articles i’ll explain how to work with your recruiter
