How can you make your CV stand out?


Due to the increasing number of applicants employers receive for each job, it has become pertinent for them to use applicant tracking systems (ATS) that scan resumes to make the selection process easier. ATS only recognize certain keywords entered by the hiring manager, they pre-filter and score for relevance, and send only the most qualified ones for human review.
Research has also shown that recruiters spend only 6 seconds looking at a resume, so if your resume does not have these keywords and if it does not convince a recruiter in 4 seconds, it is very likely to be thrown out. ATS are also used to organize and contact job candidates in some cases, it is mainly used to simplify the hiring process for companies.

You need to make your CV stand out so the recruiter will find it attractive and you might end up being called for the job interview.

How do you know the right keywords and format to use? Shortemps has compiled a list for you.

Update your CV according to the job description – As said earlier, ATS search for some particular keywords which mostly were used in the job description; they could be based on skills, experiences, location, former employers or work experience. Read the job description carefully, take note of the keywords mentioned and use them, nail the correct keywords so your CV will be recognized. You can make use of services like TagCrowd to know what keywords to focus on using the job description.


Think of ATS as a search engine – Think of the system as a search engine like Google, how do you insert keywords into the search engine to give you results? For instance, you want to find out what the Berlin conference was about, you search for ‘Berlin 1884’ or ‘Berlin and the colonial masters’, these are keywords and some ATS might be set to recognize the ‘and’ conjunction. It could work out if you indicated Berlin as your skill and 1884 as your years of experience.


Mention keywords more than once – Some ATS rank candidates if a keyword that is being sought for is mentioned more than once...
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