Insights into the forces shaping our industry.

“75% of resumes are never read by a human–here’s how to make sure your resume beats the bots.”
This headline was published by CNBC in 2019, and I see it surfacing again by a few “career gurus” on Tik Tok as if it is true. 

I read the article and unfortunately, they only cite one source, a so-called career expert, which I checked out and they have no apparent experience in recruitment, hiring, or HR.
There is no data in the article backing up where they got the “75%” from or who else could confirm that no humans actually review the resumes.

Because I don’t post jobs and wait for people to apply, I needed to go to the source to get to the bottom of this.  Dear job seeker, there is no bot to beat, based on the intel I get from HR within the biggest electrical distributors in the country, I can attest, THERE ARE HUMANS REVIEWING YOUR RESUMES, they have to do it before they reject you. All agree that there are simply too many jobs and not enough people and they’re going over applications with a fine tooth comb with the hope of coming ‘close’ and training the rest. I can’t say this is true for companies like Microsoft or Amazon, but you can certainly disconnect the idea that you are being blocked by the bots. 

Do not let these marketing tactics confuse you. Yes, having keywords that align with the job description is important, but not as important as this article makes it out to be. There are companies out there that will help you beat those mean old bots, for a fee…buyer beware! 

If you apply to a job that you are qualified for within their salary range, I promise, human eyeballs are all over that. 

If the company’s ATS (Applicant Tracking Software) was the one automatically rejecting applicants, HR would not drown in hundreds of applications. 

Job seeking is frustrating, I get it. You apply to 200 jobs, and maybe you have a bot doing that for you on a job board and never hear back from anyone, who wouldn’t think it’s AI? It’s not, it’s likely your bot is sending applications to jobs that you are not aware of because you have a word on your resume that fits the job posting, even if that word is arbitrary. 

source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/resume-how-yours-can-beat-the-applicant-tracking-system.html