I woke up this morning to find a friend of mine complaining on her linkedin that she got a regret mail in less than two minutes after sending in her application(for a job I guess). To her it seemed the whole process was just a farce and they probably already had their candidates, she said they couldnt have gone through her application in less than 2 minutes of sending it in. ehm she is right, it isnt humanly possible to but it is possible nonetheless and that is why I have written this post. I always say the world we live in is a fast evolving one, technology has rewritten the evolution story; the apes of today are not only our hairy primate cousins.. they are also those of us who are oblivious of the sophistication of our world... and we all are in one sector or the other.

What my friend and alot of people dont know is that recruitment in the world of today is automated beyond the scope they thought possible, most big recruiters as a matter of necessity use ATS(Applicant tracking system) to sort applications. ATS is like Heimdall of Thor, deciding who gets through to the HR(Jotunheim). if a company like Shell advertises a position that has only 2 slots they would get about 1000 applications in just a day. to sort such massive applications ATS is used.. The software selects and ranks applicants based on certain criteria and keywords that have been fed. for instance if having a masters degree and proficiency in Ms office is a prerequisite, the software would automatically disqualify any applicant whose resume doesn't contain this. So 2 minutes is more than enough time for ATS to appraise and automatically send a regret mail to not just my friend's application but 10 others.

Now that you know what ATS is, you must also learn how best to write ATS compliant resumes/CV. This is necessary because Machines and programs are unassuming, as such you would need to keep details explicitly lettered out in your resume. Dont go thinking it could be inferred from your CV that you have proficiency in Autocad simply because you stated you detail using CAD. Remember before your resume would get read by a human HR, it probably would have to be appraised by ATS to be worth gambling one's time reading it. The best way to write an ATS compliant CV is to write your CV based on the job description/requirements posted by the recruiter, to attain maximum points to rank higher, lift keywords from it to your CV. e.g if the recruiter indicates in his job advert that he wants a critical thinker, in your CV under your personal skills/attributes list critical thinking as one of your traits. it is important that you avoid fancy resume/CV, I have a penchant of decorating resume too but this gets in the way with ATS as it often times cant read through tables, custom formatting etc. so keeping it plain becomes necessary to get that fancy job. lastly always send in a .doc(not .docx) rather than pdf, unless when stated otherwise.

I may have left out a couple of things that didnt come to my mind right now but I believe this should you get you through Heimdall, when you get to Jotunheim, don't forget to tell Thor I said I am gunning for a body like his but pounded yam and Egusi with eletu(Rabbit meat) escorted with Ozu(palm wine) no gree stop to dey taste like heaven in my mouth.

Well written

Nice write up.

Oh yea! right on point!