Five Simple Tips to Get YOUR Dream Job!

Having completed my masters’, it’s been a while that I have been searching for my dream job. After applying for around 80+ vacancies, I still have no luck. It’s really very frustrating. All the advice from the HR “experts” for job seeks are just not working. Customized CVs and cover letter that I have spent hours on preparing, find its way to dustbins. This might be the story of many of you trying to change or start your career. Expert suggestion – no they are the story of the past. Something new is in the game.

A Piece in the Heap

Just imagine, you go out shopping for a pair of shocks, in a store where all of them are put in a 6x4 wooden box which is at least 4 feet tall. If you are lucky, you will be able to get your idle shocks - maybe after much struggle. Sadly, that is not always the case, and if you are short of time, you'll have to settle with just what is available at hand.

The recruiters around the world face the same problem - piles and piles of CV. People have some limitations. The recruiters cannot access all the CV within the given time frame. The viable solution they apply to the problem is the Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

What is an ATS?

An ATS is a software that enables electronic handling of recruitment needs, namely by sorting through thousands of CVs, to determine which ones are the best fit for the positions for which they were submitted.

ATS process CVs like recruiters’ glance at a resume for certain criteria for inclusion. However, human recruiters often look for grounds for automatic rejection, such as spelling errors or lack of relevant skills, applicant tracking systems operate by searching resumes for keywords and skills, then calculates how much experience the applicant have in those skills. Finally, the ATS decides how well your application matches the job description and ultimately decides if your resume is worthy of being seen by a human recruiter. Hence, applicant tracking systems help employers save time and paper and help them stay organized.

Problem with ATS

ATS kill 75 percent of candidates' chances of landing an interview as soon as they submit their resumes, according to job search services provider Preptel.

If a job seeker's resume isn't formatted the right way and doesn't contain the right keywords and phrases, the applicant tracking system will misread it and rank it as a bad match with the job opening, regardless of the candidate's qualifications. This entails, if a jobseeker follows the popular HR advice to make his/her CV standout to the HRM, he/she run the risk of being rejected immediately by the ATS – resulting to loss of time, effort and dream job.

The way out

There are numerous free CV analysis and professional services that provide free analysis and suggestions to make your CV machine readable. Some of them are www.cvknowhow.com, www.cvnow.com.

However, since these websites provide only one free review, it is better to format a CV before applying for the analysis.

Following are five tips to consider while preparing a CV for your next dream job:

1. KISS

Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS). While ATS is a machine, current technological development puts a limit to its capacity. Different formats, designs, tables and boxes, italics and colors are alien to the system. Also, it doesn’t understand the creative headings or titles. Hence, using a simple format, font (Times New Roman, Arial, etc.) and classical headings (Personal Summary, Professional Experience, etc.) is the key.

2. Keyword Stuffing

Though it may seem smart to identify the keywords in the job description and stuffing the CV with the keywords, don’t overdo it. Some ATS is designed to identify repetition of in a CV. Any keyword repeated more than 3-4 times might lead to rejected CV. jobscan.co helps you in comparing your CV and the job description of the job you are applying for to find out matching percentage. tagcrowd.com helps to generate keywords.

3. Acronyms

Use complete/whole terms along with acronyms. Using only the acronym decreases the chances of a good match.

4. Job Title Matters

Having a job title in your CV matters a lot. For each job you apply for, tweak job titles to fit the role. Small changes to your job titles can make a big difference with an ATS.

5. Networking

The technology has given great opportunity to access people around the world. Establish a network with people in the company that you are thinking of joining. As 80% of the job vacancies are never posted, you might be able to land in the job you are looking for without having to through ATS.

The job search process is frustrating. The advancement in the technology has made the process even more complex. ATS is the new norm in the world recruitment process and you should not let technology stand between you and your dream job. ATS make the recruitment process much more streamlined. Its use will ever increase. These are the basis the applicant of today must know.

Now that you have found out ways to get past the ATS, change your approach and you are sure to be successful in landing that dream job.