Avoid the Resume Black Hole With These Tips

Avoid the Resume Black Hole With These Tips Tired of applying and never hearing back? Use these resume tips to ensure your application makes it past the electronic gatekeepers. If you’ve ever looked for a job, you’re probably familiar with the notorious resume black hole. It goes something like this: You find the perfect job online, submit your resume, and then wait, hoping against hopes that you’ll receive a call back. More often than not, no one ever contacts you about your application and you’re left wondering what you could have done differently to change the outcome.Sound familiar? You’re not alone.As a career coach I often hear from job seekers who are frustrated by the lack of response from employers. What many of them don’t realize, however, is that often times, the hiring manager never received their job application.Let me explain. Before your job application is passed along to the hiring manager, it first has to be reviewed by one, if not two, initial gatekeepers: an electron ic screen known as an applicant tracking system (ATS), and a junior-level HR coordinator.In both of these cases, the gatekeeper has been instructed to scan the document for important pieces of information and terms related to the role at hand. If the resume meets this criteria, it will pass through the screen and make its way to the next reviewer, either an experienced recruiter or hiring manager who will have a better understanding of your work and capabilities. If your resume doesn’t make it past these initial gatekeepers, the hiring manager is never made aware of your application.Below are some resume tips to help your application avoid the resume black hole and make it through these initial reviews and to the top of the hiring manager’s pile.Avoid the Headers and FootersDon’t insert your contact information into the actual â€Å"header† portion of the Word document. This can get scrambled by the applicant tracking system and cause confusion for the re cruiter. Instead, decrease your top margin on the document to 0.5 inches and place your name, contact information, and hyperlinks at the top of the page.The same goes for using the â€Å"footer† section of the document.Stick to SimplicityWhile you may want to demonstrate your creativity to the hiring manager, the resume is not the place to do so. In fact, most ATS systems get easily confused by a resume’s extra bells and whistles, such as logos, pictures, embedded charts, symbols, and shading, and could easily reject your application out of confusion.Stick to standard fonts that are ATS-friendly. This includes Calibri, Arial, Tahoma, and Cambria. Click on the following link to view a full list of the best fonts for your resume.Use standard headers for the different sections of your resume, such as Professional Experience or Work History, Education and Professional Development, Technical Skills, and so forth.Lastly, upload your resume as a Word document instead of a PDF to the employer’s career site. ATS systems still have trouble processing PDFs and may miss important information in your resume. Save the PDF version for when you’re emailing your resume to a networking contact and want to ensure the formatting remains intact.Proofread Your Resume CarefullyWhile you may get dinged by a recruiter for misspelling â€Å"definately† when you meant to say â€Å"definitely,† at least they’ll be able to figure out what you’re trying to say. A software system will not. Don’t let your application get tossed into the resume black hole because of a simple typo.Proofread your resume. Then proofread it again. Then hand it over to your friend who majored in English and have them review it. Silly mistakes can be easily avoided if you take the proper precautions with these resume tips.Incorporate Relevant KeywordsEvery profession has its own set of jargon, acronyms, certifications, and skill sets that describe their work and industry. ATS systems are programmed to look for these resume keywords to rank your application and determine if you’re a good fit for the role.In order to make it past these initial reviews, it’s incredibly important to optimize your resume with relevant keywords. Start by reviewing the job descriptions you’re applying to and take note of the terms that routinely pop up on these job listings. If you possess these skills, incorporate these terms throughout your resume in the Core Competencies and Work Experience sections. Be sure to include a Technical Skills section towards the bottom of your resume that lists the systems with which you are proficient. You can also copy and paste a number of job descriptions into JobScan.co to identify the most frequently used resume keywords and see how your application measures up.Before you sit down to write out your role and responsibilities from your previous positions, take a look at the sample job descriptions you’ve gathered that represent your job target. How do they define the position and its responsibilities? What specific language do they use to state the core requirements for the role? If you’ve done that work before or possess those qualifications, describe it on your resume using the exact same wording.In addition, be sure to include the acronym as well as the full name of every job title, certification, degree, or organization that’s associated with your professional experience and qualifications. For instance, you may put â€Å"SSGB† after your name at the top of your resume, but be sure to also spell out â€Å"Six Sigma Green Belt† under your list of certifications. The same applies for common industry terms; while your job title may be â€Å"Director of MARCOM,† it’s important to also include the term â€Å"marketing communications† when describing your role.Don’t fall into the resume black hole. You may not be ab le to control the recruiter’s actions, but these resume tips will ensure your job application makes it past the ATS screen and onto a human being for review.This article was originally published on TopResume.TopResume is a Talent Inc. company, the personal branding destination for all career-driven professionals. Through our extensive network of professional writers, we offer career advice and analyze and write more resumes and LinkedIn profiles than any other service in the world. Ready to get started? Request a free resume critique today.

Humorous Quotes on Love and Marriage

Humorous Quotes on Love and Marriage Poking fun at love or marriage can be a dangerous proposition when youre making a joke in the presence of your loved one. Humor is like spice: the right amount can make a delicacy out of a bland meal. The key is the right amount. Use a humorous quote to season your words with the right amount of humor. Even then, be prepared to duck, apologize, and eat your words. At least, youll be able to attribute them to someone else. Thyra Smater Winsolow Platonic love is love from the neck up. Lily Tomlin If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question? Woody Allen Love is the answer, but while youre waiting, sex raises some pretty good questions. Unknown Love is telling someone to go to hell and worrying about them getting there safely. Rogers Willson It doesnt much signify whom one marries, for one is sure to find out next morning it was someone else. Edgar Watson Howe A woman might as well propose: her husband will claim she did. John Updike Every marriage tends to consist of an aristocrat and a peasant. Frank Zappa I detest love lyrics. I think one of the causes of bad mental health in the United States is that people have been raised on love lyrics. Bill Cosby For two people in a marriage to live together day after day is unquestionably the one miracle the Vatican has overlooked. Honorà © de Balzac Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane. Ray Bandy Honeymoon: A short period of doting between dating and debating. Johnny Carson I know youve been married to the same woman for 69 years. That is marvelous. It must be very inexpensive. H. L. Mencken To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia - to mistake an ordinary young man for a Greek god or an ordinary young woman for a goddess. David Bissonette I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste. Beverly Nichols Marriage: a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters written in prose. Henry Louis Mencken Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didnt, theyd be married too. Helen Rowland When you see what some girls marry, you realize how they must hate to work for a living. Anonymous Theyre almost inseparable. Sometimes it takes ten people to separate them. Anonymous If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? Lord Dewar Love is an ocean of emotions entirely surrounded by expenses. Helen Rowland A man snatches the first kiss, pleads for the second, demands the third, takes the fourth, accepts the fifth†¦ and endures all the rest. Helen Rowland In olden times, sacrifices were made at the altar, a practice which is still very much practiced. Anonymous Love is one long, sweet dream and marriage is the alarm clock.