When I put an ad on a job board I often get 100 replies, but only 1 or 2 candidates are viable. Since people have to go through 100 terrible resumes to find one or two good ones, electronic filters have been employed. Some of those filters are pretty good. Most of the filters are terrible.
Filters are mostly keyword driven. They have a list of words that have to be on your resume in order for you to be considered. If you don’t have those key words, you will either receive an instant rejection, or nothing will ever happen because your resume is dumped.
There is another reason for the filters. Federal law says large companies have to be able to prove they don’t discriminate by race, sex, age, etc. They have to keep records of everyone they consider for jobs, except for people who are filtered out immediately. There you are! Another government law with unintended consequences. Because they don’t want to have to guess your sex or race, they eliminate you completely unless you are obviously qualified.
The easy way past the filters is to carefully read the ad, and put in all the keywords they use. Even if you do NOT have a particular skill or experience here is how you can put it on your resume. At the bottom just put a line that says, “I know how to fish, but have never done underwater basket weaving, though I can learn.” Because you mention underwater basket weaving, you get past the filters. It is at the bottom of your resume, so no one reads it.
Another method that works is to paste the ad at the bottom of your resume with a note that says, “This is the ad I am responding to.” Every key word will be in it then! Note: you have to do this on the RESUME because the filter is always applied to the resume.
One last note, if you are totally unqualified you will still be instantly rejected by the first human to see your resume. Spamming still does not work. Also, if you are qualified, your resume has to get past the human screener. Well talk about that too.
Something To Do Today
Go fishing for trolling ads. Find a few ads that look very generic. Start collecting them and seeing if they are out there for month or years. Some are a decade old.
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Later: Beat the job boards – posting your resume
– beating hundreds
Now to get past the human filter