How Google reads your résumé (and recruits)
Are you still believing all that ‘fear the ATS’ hype? Still believe that a made-up, ‘Gandalf’ is waiting to eliminate your CV as soon as you upload it — before it even gets to a recruiter’s inbox or applicant list?
Well brace yourself. It’s a load of crap!
The uneducated spread of misinformation about how recruitment systems work scared a lot of people into believing they had to use a secret set of keywords and load-up their CV with technical jargon, otherwise their applications wouldn’t even make it to the database. It would just simply disappear into a so-called “black-hole”.
A lot of people, maybe even you, have handed over money to these hacks that don’t really understand the whole picture. Maybe they’re only experienced in agency recruitment, maybe they’re only experienced as technical writers, whatever the reasons, they clearly put out information and opinions based on a very narrow view of the employment market. It’s a peeve of mine, because a lot of people ended up out of pocket and 100+ applications later with zero interviews and no job prospects, just like this guy .
This might get you seeing things differently…
If you could think of any company in the world that receives tens of thousands of job applications every single week, that would absolutely, surely, no question, without a doubt, use this type of technology to reduce their recruitment workload, which would you pick?
Let’s just pretend, only for the moment, that this is not a half-cocked recruitment strategy, and that successful businesses would actually entertain recruiting in this way.
Which company would you choose?
I’m thinking Google.
Why not, right? Tech gods, on the cutting edge of everything technically advanced. Algorithm kings that could easily develop the ATS of all ATS’. Well, you may be surprised.
Here’s an excerpt, direct from the Google careers page.
Reading applications
The qualifications listed in the job description are there to help you select the role that best fits your background and aspirations, so pay close attention — recruiters review applications with these in mind.
Applications are read by real humans who are both experts in interpreting resumes and familiar with our jobs — not just the one you applied for. This allows recruiters to route candidates across the entire company. If there’s no current match available, they’ll make a note to follow up with you about future opportunities.
If our recruiters find a potential match, they’ll schedule a call to learn more about your skills and experience. Bring your questions — this is your opportunity to learn more about the role and our chance to hear more about you.
Source: https://www.google.com/about/careers/how-we-hire/apply/
Fancy that! A real human making shortlisting decisions? A real human that reads a CV? Even though we’re talking up to 40,000 CVs received every single week?
Yes. Even though Google receives 2,000,000 job applications per year, a real human being will still read your CV to make an assessment on your suitability.
So. let’s put this garbage to bed. An ATS is not your enemy. It is not the evil gate-keeper stopping your application from getting through the process. The truth is, success hinges on how you approach your job search, and the methods you adopt to get through the competition. That’s all!
So what can you do?
- Don’t be so one-dimensional — job seeking, career development, and recruiting (these days) are all multi-faceted and layered with complexity. The world of finding the best opportunities through seek.com.au and the weekend paper is dead. Long gone. Friendships, networks, and referrals equate to up to 60% of all company hires (depending on which study you read). Social recruiting, memberships of industry groups, social media platforms, interest group meet-ups, online communities, and so on, are all mediums that offer opportunities to build valuable connections. Anecdotally, I would imagine 10% of Australian workers are taking advantage of other platforms, while the other 90% are still complaining as they log onto seek.com.au each morning.
- Become a marketer — just as you delete or bin and ignore emails, letters, flyers, messages, or anything else that isn’t about you or that isn’t to your benefit, so too will the ‘victims’ of your relentless emails asking for a job. If you fail to offer anything of value, you simply won’t be valued. Offering value is not saying “I’ve got ‘X’ experience, I’ve done ‘Y’ projects, I’ve got ‘Z’ qualification” — Who cares? The recruiter has 100 applications, do you think anyone that has ever done a job remotely similar to yours isn’t saying the exact same thing? Figure out what value means to the people you’re trying to be valuable to. Then market the benefit they’ll receive in that area specifically, by having you on board.
- Get over yourself — Sadly, in most businesses, the only time your wants and needs are going to matter, are when you’re an employee, past probation periods, and the employer has legal obligations to listen to you and treat you fairly. Until then, the conversation will need to be about the employer’s benefits and not yours. Scrap your ‘career objectives’, forget answering “I want to be the boss” to the “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” question, and play the game with intelligence. This is a game of psychology, make no mistake. All you need to worry about is whether or not the role and company is a match to your aspirations, then forget about yourself and focus on making the employer feel good whenever they speak to you. It’s always better to get offers and decline them if it doesn’t feel right, than to put people off and leave them with a bad taste after dealing with you. Play the game.
Have you registered interest for our VIP Program? VIPs have lifetime access to everything you need for CVs, Cover Letters, LinkedIn Profiles, Social Media skills, advanced professional networking, email templates, tutorial videos, downloads and more — all for less than the price of a standard CV. visit www.careercartel.com.au to register your interest now.
