Job searching is indeed a hard task.
Let's get real.
You have great CGPA in college, you
did your graduation with flying colors, you made cool projects, and also earned
online course certificates. And with huge expectations you are applying to that
online job opening in your favorite Company, for days, weeks, and months…., and
what you get is stone-cold rejection!
You must remember that you are
applying for a job along with millions of job seekers aka your competitors, for the same position, for the same Company,
and with same qualifications as yours. This is the part of job seeking phase
where we start questioning our abilities and toss your certificates out of the
window. With no success in view, you have two options: lose all hopes in
humanity or change your job hunting strategy.
And the best time to change your
strategy is now!
The Initial phase of job rejection: RESUME.
Have you ever received any friend
request from an unknown person, and you immediately hit 'reject'? Yes you have.
We choose not to waste our time knowing anything more about an unknown person,
just because we don't like his 'Profile'. Your resume is your academic profile.
The recruiters are out of time for most of the time, they have meetings,
deadlines, interviews, and what not. And your resume just has 5 to 7 seconds to
make you visible to them. All the rest will be discarded without a second
thought.
The pandemic has captured businesses
into your mobile. The unemployment has been the reason for exodus of resources
in search of better career. Loads of resume get flooded in the single company
for a single job opening. Imagine analyzing thousands of resumes in a day.
The recruiters of giant techs do not have all
day to screen your well-designed resume. They just toss your resume
away.....not in trash......... but in ATS.
ATS, What’s that?
Applicant tracking system or ATS is document
screening software that analyze your resume in 2-3 seconds. This eliminates the
load of applications that the recruiters are looking for and give opportunity
to the best. ATS converts your well-designed resume into a text file then looks
for the keywords, sections, and skills that your recruiters are looking for. To
crack this phase you would have to make your resume ATS friendly.
ATS optimized resumes go to the final
decision phase, the HR. Saying that you would get selected or rejected because
you have ATS resume is half-truth. ATS is just filter that picks out candidates
with selective skills with non-relevant ones.
Public Sectors could use the ATS that
would be efficient to choose the right candidates, rather than accepting hundreds
of applications from PhD holders to fill a peon’s position. Like seriously.
Not all recruiters use ATS
There are chances that your regional
recruiter expects well-structured resume that used best tools out there,
including tables, graphics, fonts and all.
You do not need to strictly comply
with ATS template. Your resume must fit the job requirement as much as your
recruiter’s scope. Every resume must be optimized with the area you want to
work. You would not require taking a minimally designed resume to the graphic
design position. Moreover, local companies do not really mind reading your
resume, as they do not have enough application to screen.
But bigger companies that use ATS do
not require these. ATS, a software, is really not interested in the creativity.
It reads text and might have problem reading fancy texts and graphics. So
before applying for any position do read the requirements if the company needs
ATS resume or not.
Writing a proper resume increases your
chance of getting hired. ATS or not, it all depends on the position and company you are applying for. After all, your resume must reflect your merit,
excellence, capability, and the true YOU.
