Tip when applying for jobs on line (job application, application, applications)
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I found this on the internet and I wanted to share with you guys:
As many of you know, when submitting your job application online, there are a lot of companies that use software that matches your resume with keywords in the job description (written by the company's HR department or the hiring manager) to determine if the resume either goes into a black hole where no one ever sees it, or if it's actually forwarded for a human being to review.
Taleo, for example, is the system that's encounter most often.
Well, someone I know who works in HR at a Fortune 100 company provided this advice.
When attaching your resume to these online applications, be sure to copy the ENTIRE job description in the posting, paste it onto your resume, and then change the font color of the job description to white.
This way, the software will be able to pick up those keywords in your resume (especially if your resume and qualifications don't match the job description verbatim) so your resume is forwarded to a human being for review and it's not automatically dumped into that black hole where no one sees it by the software.
However, since the font color is white, the text of the job description you pasted into your resume won't actually be seen by the person reviewing it, or if someone were to print the resume.
Just a small tip I wanted to pass along, in case it helps anyone out
First, it's not the job description you should be focused on - it's the qualifications.
Secondly, the first person to see the resume would more than likely notice the entire thing was copied and pasted, and that's when most would eliminate the candidate. Besides, it's rare that the skills of the applicant completely match up with the qualifications.
Lift specific phrases from the qualifications and integrate them into your resume, but do not copy and paste the entire thing.
I'm not going to argue in favor or not of this, but here is my experience. I do not do as you have suggested. I do receive calls from recruiters saying "we have a job for you", then they start to explain the role and that's when I have to stop them and say that isn't my background at all or I only meet a few of those qualifications. These last two days alone I've had two recruiters call and both of them had jobs that lined up only slightly, except I did not have 8+ years experience in X or experience in Y. On both occasions I had to ask if they actually read my resume, and emailed it to them. Then they replied with, "well, I was searching for keywords and...".
If you lie your way into a job it will never turn out good, in fact, it could be a huge professional downfall.
I'm not going to argue in favor or not of this, but here is my experience. I do not do as you have suggested. I do receive calls from recruiters saying "we have a job for you", then they start to explain the role and that's when I have to stop them and say that isn't my background at all or I only meet a few of those qualifications. These last two days alone I've had two recruiters call and both of them had jobs that lined up only slightly, except I did not have 8+ years experience in X or experience in Y. On both occasions I had to ask if they actually read my resume, and emailed it to them. Then they replied with, "well, I was searching for keywords and...".
If you lie your way into a job it will never turn out good, in fact, it could be a huge professional downfall.
Same thing happens to me. Recruiters contact me for jobs, and it is obvious that these recruiters are essentially spamming everybody who has the keywords in their resumes totally ignoring the context. Some of the times, Gmail will even flag the emails as spam.
I know better than to waste my time.
This type of underhanded trickery won't get you very far.
I don't believe the op was suggesting people lie about their qualifications. The point was to try to find a way to work with software systems that look for keywords in order to push a resume through.
That isn't the right way, but I don't see lying as being part of the equation.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Every successful person has figured out a way to navigate the system to beat the odds against them.
You don't really think everyone in management got there or stays there because of their skills and honorable intentions do you?
You can try it. No one is stopping you.
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