Job Hunting Tips to Beat ATS and Ageism

handshake for an interview

My earliest resume experience was in the late 70s helping my father climb the corporate ladder. Every few years, my mother would type up an all-purpose resume and cover letter, make dozens of copies of THE SAME RESUME, and send it to several job openings across the country. My contribution was to type the addresses onto the envelope, stuff the envelopes, then lick the stamps and envelopes. We used a typewriter, resume-quality paper, envelopes, handwriting (cursive!), lickable stamps, and a post office.

Those days are LONG gone!

Job hunting today has turned digital practically overnight and nearly every job requires an online application. The process may seem easier until you get deep into the process and realize, after applying to hundreds of jobs, that you aren’t getting any interviews. Why?

The culprit: ATS.

ATS stands for applicant tracking system. It is software designed to simplify the process of finding qualified candidates for recruiters. It didn’t take long for recruiters and hiring managers to become bombarded with hundreds of applicants each day for any one job. Additionally, the larger the company (such as IBM, Google, Amazon), those applications can quickly add up to thousands. The solution came in the form of ATS.

Good for recruiters. Not so good for applicants. Why?

Because few job seekers know of its existence.

File courtesy of Victoria Ipri, founder, Revamped Resumes

What does ATS do? The artificial intelligence built into the ATS software screens and reviews every resume submitted. Each resume is scored against the keywords within the job description. Applications that score above 80% advance to the recruiter’s desk; the remaining applications are rejected. Without that high score, your opportunity to reach a human recruiter or an interview is lost instantaneously!

First please the computer, then please the recruiter

To beat ATS, you must think like the software. That means abandoning the eye-catching, colorful resumes that were popular in the past. ATS works in tandem with OCR – Optical Character Recognition – to scan your file, convert it into a plaintext format, then extracts your information and experiences from that file. Fancy fonts, blocks, boxes, tables, or other eye-appealing design will only confuse ATS, and result in an immediate rejected. To increase your score and reach a human recruiter, these 9 points will help you beat ATS.

Top 9 Actions to Optimize Your Resume for ATS

  • Choose the right font. Acceptable font styles are sans serif, i.e. Arial, Calibri, Helvetica. Once you’ve chosen, stick with this font throughout. You can use bold, small caps, all caps, etc., for emphasis, but keep the font style the same.
  • Set your margins. ATS reads up and down the page, not left to right, so be sure to left- justify all page content, including bulleted items. The hard-and-fast rule of 1” margins doesn’t hold. 0.5” all around works just fine.
  • Avoid use of tables, cells, graphs, boxes, or columns. ATS cannot read these features. When using bullet points, only use the “dot” · as ATS cannot read other bullet styles.
  • Avoid use of headers and footers. Do not put contact information or page number in headers and footers. ATS cannot read these areas of the page.
  • Include your LinkedIn profile link with your contact information. Many studies have proven the profile link is equally, if not more, important than your geographical information. Do not add your personal street address; only city, state, zip code.
  • Front-load your resume. Place your most important qualifications, skills, and keywords on the first page. Busy recruiters review a resume’s first page more thoroughly than ensuing pages, and are far more interested in your most current skills.
  • Tailor your resume for each job description you apply to. This is critical as every job link (job opening) does not use the same keywords. It can be tedious and frustrating, but the process will get you into the hands of a human recruiter. Public ATS systems, like SkillSyncer, allow you to copy/paste your resume and a job description, which is then scanned and scored. You’ll know instantly if your resume will pass ATS!
  • Watch those acronyms – If you earned a BS in Engineering, write it out: Bachelor of Science (BS) in Engineering. ATS can’t understand acronyms, so always spell it out and place acronyms in parentheses to ensure you get credit for this accomplishment. For accreditations to which you would typically add your name, skip these in your contact information area and mention elsewhere in the document. NOTE: Adding acronyms to the end of your name can cause ATS to assume those letters are part of your last name, which can cause a host of issues in terms of identifying you, filing your resume for the future, etc. Whenever possible, spell out the accreditation, followed by the commonly known letters, i.e. Master of Social Work (MSW) or Human Resources (HR)
  • Spellcheck! Nothing kills your chances of an interview faster than spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. Get a friend to help or use an app like Grammarly to do a more thorough check than can be done with Word spell checking.

Ageism and Job Hunting

The last recession exacerbated the concept of ageism, and since then, older employees have been fighting to remind companies of their worth and value. Just as Baby Boomers and GenX regained employment traction, the economy takes another hit, creating millions of unemployed workers (of all ages) across the country. Those over 50 and unemployed feel kicked in the teeth – again.

The good news is, recruiters are interested in the value a candidate brings to a company—not their age—and therefore focus on a candidate’s most current skills (see point 6 above). Front-loading your resume with the last 10 years of pertinent experience is what attracts a recruiter—once you pass ATS. That means whether you have been employed for 10 years or 30, the most recent experience is of greatest value to the recruiter.

For work histories greater than 10 years, Victoria Ipri, President of Revamped Resumes, recommends creating an “Additional Past Roles” section to your resume. List your job titles and the companies. It is not necessary to describe these roles in detail, as the titles often imply an applicant’s experience. See these examples:

Then, once you acquire an interview, you can share the details of your experience and past roles.

In a recent webinar, I went into detail about ATS and job search. Listen to the recording of, Job Hunting after 50: Tips to Beat Ageism and ATS.

Not too long ago, we had record-low levels of unemployment. We will once again return to those record lows, giving Baby Boomers and GenX plenty of employment opportunity. This may be the nudge you need to pursue a second act! With the knowledge gained from learning ATS and the new digital job searching landscape, you’ll be landing great interviews faster than ever.

Are you in a job search? What are some of the headaches, hassles, or questions you have? Please comment and share with others!

Kristen

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2 Comments

  1. Victoria Ipri on April 21, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    Kristen, this is fantastic insight for older professionals seeking new roles. Succinct, accurate, and beautifully written. You go, girl!



  2. Kristen Edens on April 23, 2020 at 8:37 pm

    Thank you, Victoria! I learned from the best!
    I agree as there is so much to know about ATS and job seeking. The more we know going into the process, the more confident we can be.
    Thanks for reading and sharing.