Recently, Avi Ben Ezra, the CTO of SnatchBot said that “chatbots can help both employers outperform their existing KPI’s on HR – and valuable employees to get noticed, if only people understood how technology works”. We took a closer look at to develop a better understanding on this:
What is happening to all of those CVs?
It is now known that approximately 75% of resumes are not perused by human eyes. The issue, therefore, is what does an applicant have to do to beat the CV chatbots? There is also the interesting question of what most applicants will do when they realized that their CV has not been rejected by a human but by a CV chatbot. Although we are not yet making full use of all the benefits of artificial intelligence and neither is artificial intelligence ruling our lives. However, for all practical purposes the technology behind chatbots has just begun and already so much has been accomplished. One of the areas where chatbots are excelling is in the recruitment industry. Just consider all those large corporations, how many applications do they receive on a daily and weekly basis. This is why over 90% of all Fortune 500 companies are making use of CV chatbots to screen all of those applications which are made. This practice has now spread to small companies such as startups. These particular chatbots are known as an applicant tracking system or ATS. The designers of this particular software have been inundated by funding from interested investors. This is a clear indication that this is an industry which is going to grow very rapidly.
The applicant’s predicament
You know you’ve been doing your absolute best when you have prepared that CV. Now it has been rejected after all the trouble that you’ve been through. You’re also under the misperception that some human being has actually taken the time to read through your entire resume. Thereafter they have come to the conclusion that you may not be qualified for the position. This might or might not be true. But there is an excellent chance that a human being has never even been close to that resume. The chances are very good that your CV had been rejected by one of those applicant tracking system robots. Like we have mentioned above 75% of all applications is rejected by this ATS system. When looking at the whole situation objectively, you are probably qualifying for that position. You might also have met all of the requirements. Nevertheless, your CV has to comply with the ATS system in order for you to qualify for that dream job.
Image credit: www.avibenezra.com
How can you beat this ATS system?
Apparently, the primary thing is simplicity. There are still many glitches in the ATS system and therefore they still have problems reading CVs correctly. This is why with applicants using all of those fancy fonts as well as multiple images this may ultimately not be to your advantage. The important thing to remember is that there is a 70 /30 chance that your CV is going to be perused by a robot. These artificial entities do not care about fancy gimmicks and other tricks. Another important area is the formatting of your CV. Apparently, the ATS robots will be unlikely to read any CV which is containing symbols or graphics. The only things which will be acceptable are simple bullet points. Also, use capitalization sparingly for things such as section headers. Furthermore, it is better to avoid tables, rather use tabs. As far as headings and titles are concerned it is best to keep them standard. The same thing should be done for all other headings such as education, summary, skills, certifications, work experience, objective, and profile. Avoid being over creative because this can lead to a situation where ATS will ignore critical information.
Other vital areas
Pay careful attention to things such as keywords. Keep to those which has been specified on the job portals and also on job descriptions. Use them as a guideline because the ATS will look for them in the CV. Stay away from jargons and other nonspecific information. Only make use of job-specific terminology. This is simply because the ATS has been programmed to look for professional and industry-specific terminology. This is why you must pay close attention when going through a job listing. This can help you to identify the jargons and terminology which has been used when putting out the job description. Be very careful with things such as footers and headers. These things are not something with which ATS systems is familiar. You should absolutely avoid including any of your critical information in those sections. It is important to be consistent. Especially when making use of social links such as your LinkedIn profile. Assure that the keywords which you are using on the social profiles and on your CV are similar. This will be more consistent and will indicate attention to detail. To beat the robot, make use of a robot. There is an application known as CV bot which can help you to get past that irritating ATS robot.
What is CV bot?
CV bot is simply a robot which can help you to create a resume which is using the same formulas and language which is used by the ATS robots. This can give an applicant a much better chance to produce a CV which will get the nod from those stubborn ATS robots. When making use of CV bot this will produce a CV which will consider all of the information which has been discussed in this article. Whenever there are changes in the current requirements of the ATS system then CV bot’s owners will proceed to update your CV so that they comply with the new standards. This will provide you with a downloadable CV which will not need any editing or changes. Therefore, all of those applicants who had been so horribly insulted by a nonhuman, this is the perfect way to get your revenge. You may no longer be able to qualify for that job but when a new opportunity arises your chances will be substantially better because you now have the information which can allow you to make better decisions. This can substantially improve your chances of being successful with that next job application.
Suggested reading: Understanding chatbots and AI, with Avi Ben Ezra
