Search Engine Optimization for Resumes
It used to be that only bloggers and web developers had to worry about optimizing their work for search engines to read them. But not any more. A Fortune Magazine article discusses how search engines now scan all the resumes that come into a company.
When a resume is submitted, the software parses, scans and breaks out the applicant’s levels of experience. It summarizes some of the key elements for the hiring manager, who can also filter and define criteria. If an applicant meets all the criteria, he or she is considered an “ace candidate” and goes to the top of the list…
Hiring managers set the candidate requirements - years of experience, level of education, location, etc. - and also can determine how many of these parameters the applicant must match.
They go on to advise that you take the job description, pick out key words and phrases and try to make sure that those appear on your resume. I think this is good advice and well worth trying if you aren’t getting anywhere in your job search. Everything that you can do to get your resume into the hands of an actual human hiring manager is worth trying.
I’d also like to say ‘ug’ to this whole search engine optimization for resumes thing. The majority of people applying for jobs aren’t in technology and don’t know jack about search engines. Making job applicants jump through yet another hoop because human resources is too busy lazy to do it’s job properly gets under my skin.
