What are they?
Step 1 in landing your next great job is to cross the first hurdle towards being considered by having a resume that will get you there. So what’s the best approach?
Situation 1) When applying for jobs at smaller sized organizations where they just ask for your resume and cover letter with pdf to be emailed – your human approach towards fixing up your resume is gonna be your best bet. You know people and you know how the people you like to engage with might think. Use your gut, your education, and your experience.
Situation 2) When applying to any bigger organization which requires you to upload your resume and check how it got parsed into some boxes, you are almost certainly engaging with an applicant tracking system or some kind of algorithmic sorting process. This means while your resume for those smaller organizations may STILL look good for human eyes, NOW it needs to look good for the algorithm which will determine IF it gets seen by human eyes. Here is where you want to consider the value of an AI style resume review.
While we can’t promise to know the personality or likes and dislikes of Greenhouse or Workday, we can pass along 5 helpful tips to keep in mind when preparing your resume for the first hurdle of the application process.
Note this approach to resume writing DOES make your job hunting experience quite standardized. To be the beautiful unique flower you are we recommend checking out our career fairs by state.
Why?
Because in the end, algorithmic machines do not actually think like humans. You see “educator” on a resume and know that this means “learning and development,” as well as “education and development” as well as “presentation skills” and more. A machine may very well not make all those connections. It really depends on their programming. And this is where your human instincts for what “makes sense” will lead you astray. When algorithms are doing any level of first analysis of incoming candidates it’s reasonable to get another algorithmic machine to vet how it looks. Then use your own eyes to spiffy up that machine’s variation on your resume so that while it looks good to machines it also looks good to human eyes.
Aside -
Yes this absolutely puts more work on your shoulders. Having to change a resume for EVERY job you apply is not what your forebearers had to do. It’s more work. It’s not ok, and it’s not fair. BUT until we can all make it fairer, we still need to eat. And when we still need to eat and go to the doctor and pay rent, then we lowly applicants need to play the game to some degree. SO! That being said – what IS a good resume analyzer to go through? We list 5 below. All have some level of free offerings although you may hit a paywall eventually. Just alternate to another one when that happens.
The Goods
Jobscan: Jobscan uses AI to compare your resume with job descriptions, highlighting key skills and keywords to improve your chances of getting noticed by applicant tracking systems (ATS).
Resumatch: Resumatch provides detailed feedback on your resume by analyzing it against job descriptions, offering insights on how to optimize your resume for better alignment with job requirements.
KickResume: TopResume offers a free AI-powered resume review that evaluates your resume’s content, structure, and keyword optimization, providing suggestions for improvement.
Zety: Zety’s resume builder includes an AI analyzer that scores your resume and offers personalized recommendations to enhance its effectiveness and ensure it meets ATS standards.
Resume Worded: Resume Worded provides AI-driven feedback on resumes and LinkedIn profiles, helping users identify areas for improvement and optimize their documents for better job application results.
There are more than these out here but these make a great place to start and get your feet wet with engaging with algorithms, ai, applicant tracking – the whole mess. For more info on AI tools and what applicant tracking systems are check out our ATS Basics as well as our AI Basics as well as our AI Job Hunting Menu of Resources.