The lack of skilled IT workers is hurting the deployment of emerging technology, according to a new survey from Gartner. In areas from cloud to cybersecurity, this crisis is expected to last for years to come.
Furthermore, it conveys a false sense of positive feeling. For example,
those in transition are advised to customize their resumes to the job openings
they’re applying to. Sounds logical, but it’s a laborious process that can take
hours of close work, even though, at the end of the process, clicking on Submit
or Apply gives a sense of satisfaction.
But it’s a false satisfaction because nowadays, most if not all such
submissions are going through electronic software called an applicant-tracking
system, or ATS, which has its own rules. If the applicant does not obey the
rules, the resume or application goes into the proverbial black hole and never
reaches its intended destination. That’s where the hurt comes in, because the
applicant will never learn why it happened or how to correct the process for
next time.
So, what to do?
Here are several suggestions. They apply only to electronic job applications, which means you should have two versions of the resume: one for ATS software so that it will reach a recruiter and another one for a human.
1. Submit your resume in
Microsoft Word format.
2. Do not include tables
in formatting the text.
3. Be aware that there
are many ATS providers, including archaic and new versions. As a candidate, you
have no way of knowing which one your resume will have to deal with, and pdf
files or files formatted in other ways might not be able to get read into every
type of ATS software.
4. Don’t format your
resume by way of the use of a resume template.
5. Use the standard,
customary section headers for sections and put them on separate lines.
6. Type those section
headers in all capital letters, such as "Professional Experience,"
but do not type anything else in all caps. Of course use a capital letter at
the beginning of a sentence, for the words in course titles and for all
proper nouns.
7. Be consistent when
listing your previous companies and titles -- whichever you want to list
first for emphasis.
8. List a company name
with its appropriate suffix such as Inc. or LLC.
Otherwise, the company name could be mistaken for a different company.
9. Separate each resume
section by a blank line, but never add a blank line within a paragraph.
10. Do not number the pages because computers see all information as continuous. Your page number would wind up appearing at random somewhere in the middle of the document.
As you can see, the foregoing steps may appear as details, but as
another adage goes, “The devil is in the details;" and that notion
could be both crucial and decisive for your future career.
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