Your Resumé Format Is As Important As Your Experiences and Accomplishments

How to increase the odds of your resumé being screened in by applicant tracking systems

In my work as a career-launch coach, I have the opportunity to review dozens of resumés from college seniors and recent graduates.  I read every one of them to understand the individual and the unique skills, experiences and accomplishments they have to offer an employer. Unfortunately for today's job seekers, employers no longer have the staff to read the resumés they receive. People have been replaced by applicant tracking system (ATS) that manage job openings and screen resumés from job seekers. An employer's applicant tracking system can kill your chances of landing an interview within seconds of submitting your resumé. As flawed as these systems are, they are not going away.

When your resumé is not formatted in the way a system is programmed to search, it will pick up your information incorrectly if it picks it up at all.  Why? Because applicant tracking systems contain different database fields for information on a resumé, such as the candidate's name, contact details, work experience, job titles, education, employer names and periods of employment. These systems try to identify this information on a job seeker's resumé and then populate fields. With the wrong format the wrong information goes into these pre-determined fields. Your resumé and you are kicked out.

I know it's infuriating to work so hard for what you've accomplished only to be bested by a software program.

Here's how to optimize your resumé format to increase the chances of getting your resumé read by a real person and getting you closer to an interview.

Call your work experience, "Work Experience". Most of the resumés I read refer to work experience as "Professional Experience" or some other variation. With resumés getting creativity works against you. The ATS will completely skip over your work experience because you didn't label it the way the software is programmed.

Start your work experience with company name. Always start your work experience with your employer's name, followed by your title, followed by the dates you held that title. (Each can run on its own line). Never start your work experience with the dates you held certain positions.

Never send your resumé as a PDF.  Applicant tracking systems lack a standard way to structure PDF documents, they're easily misread. Upload your resumé as a word document or complete the online application.

No tables or graphics. Applicant tracking systems can't read graphics (this includes symbols and often bullet points), and they misread tables. Instead of reading tables left to right, as a person would, applicant tracking systems read them up and down.

Length of resume doesn't matter. An applicant tracking system will scan your resumé regardless of whether it's one page or four. Submitting a longer resumé that allows you to pack in more relevant experience and keywords and phrases could increase your chances of ranking higher in the system.

Include the appropriate keywords and phrases. Employers use on average 7-10 search criteria to screen a resumé for specific skills and strengths that match the job posting, department needs and/or culture. Reading jobs postings related to the field you are interested in will give you a sense of the key skills and qualities organizations consistently seek. Even if you don't plan to apply for these jobs, scanning the ads will increase your awareness of the most commonly used industry-standard terms and keywords that you should build into your resumé.