Meet Your Nemesis: The Resume Scanner (& How To Beat It)

In an increasingly competitive job market, recruiters are having a hard time keeping up with a multitude of applications and resumes that land on their metaphorical desks everyday.

In fact, if you think most of those resumes land on their desks at all, you might be kidding yourself. The truth is, with so many applications and resumes to sift through, there is a likelihood that your resume won’t reach their desk at all.

So what is getting in the way? Meet every job hunter’s nemesis:  The Resume Scanner.

For the uninitiated, the resume scanner’s main function is to search for previously-fed keywords in each resume, to make sure that the job requirements have been met within the resume. Once scanned, the most relevant resumes are then filed into the company database so that recruiters can have a smaller base of data to work from.

What happens if yours doesn’t make the cut? You can kiss that job goodbye. Recruiters simply do not have the time.

And while the resume scanner can be a recruiter’s best ally in an incredibly competitive job market, it can prove a worthy opponent for many job hunters.

So what’s the best way to beat the system and make the scanner your friend?

Job hunters need to harness the power of keywords. 

Yes, it’s crucial to format your personal summary and job experience in a way that adequately highlights your skills, the key here is making sure that the skills and experience highlighted are actually relevant.

And the best way to do that is by making your resume “scanner-friendly”; this can be done by making sure to include relevant keywords within your resume that leave little doubt that you have exactly what they are looking for.

The good news? You really don’t have to look very far to find the keywords that you need to include in your resume to make it scanner-friendly. Just check out the job description to discern the words that are most relevant to your prospective job.

If you are looking for a job in a specific industry, it can be helpful to include those words in your resume and keep them there. But it can’t hurt to tweak your resume for each job you search and make sure that you are including words that are specific to that particular role for that particular company.

Time consuming? A little. But you can thank us later when you finally do land that dream job. 

And if you don’t beat the scanner this time? Maybe a little rejection therapy is in order before trying again. Once you do land that interview? It might be time to practice. Make sure that you are ready for your next interview by getting your practice in. Check out our job interview AI tool that lets you practice so that you finally get that job. Ready to give it a try?