Everything You Need to Know about Submitting a Resume Online

Nothing is more disheartening when you have spent so much time making a beautiful, creative resume on Canva, Illustrator, or another template tool, but you do not hear back from the company regarding the position you applied for. There are many reasons why you may not have been chosen,, but there is also something called The Applicant Tracking system that is used by many Fortune 500 companies today that could be a reason.

What Exactly does the Applicant Tracking System do?

It was first created for large corporations that receive several thousands of resumes regularly. According to a TopResume article, “approximately 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies rely on ATS software to help streamline their recruitment process.” Now it has become a commonplace tool for companies of all sizes, and it is essentially an electronic gatekeeper for an employer. The system filters each resume into categories and then scans for specific keywords to determine if the resume should be passed along to a recruiter. Even then a recruiter only spends about five seconds looking at your one-page resume, so it helps to submit an easy-to-read and organized resume. In a nutshell, the ATS is used to toss out the “least-qualified candidates, rather than identify the applicants who are the best fit.” Formatting is another huge factor that the system checks for, and if your formatting is off then your resume will most likely be tossed.

How to write a resume that will pass the ATS!

Unfortunately, the ATS system was not invented to make your lives easier as applicants, so it is important to know exactly how to format your resume, so it does not get lost in cyberspace. According to an article by Top Resume, an average corporate job posting receives 250 applicants, and only four to six of those 250 will be contacted for an interview. An even more startling statistic is that 75% of resumes will never even be seen by human eyes.

With all this information in mind, it is easy to think that your resume may never be seen. However, what gets many resumes immediately discarded by the ATS is formatting. The ATS system has trouble reading complex templates with too many sections. Always upload your resume as a PDF unless another format is recommended. The 2020 University Career Center Job Search Guide is available for download on the Career Center’s website. While the resume templates shown are very plain and lack creativity, it is important to follow the font and margin requirements. Arial, Georgia, Cambria, Calibri, Verdana and Times New Roman are some fonts I would recommend. Also what I recently realized on my own resume is that everything does not have to be the same font size. Your header should be the largest font and your content should be the smallest. I would not go smaller than a nine-point font and no larger than 20 for your header. Section headings and job titles can be size eleven, and it is important to bold any universities or other schools you have attended, even for study abroad. Margins should ideally be one inch, but 0.75 is also acceptable. Make sure everything is in reverse chronological order in each section, do not include a headshot, and begin each bullet with a strong action verb. The ATS system also has trouble reading resumes that have columns, so keep that in mind. Always check for grammatical errors, eliminate filler words and abbreviations. Use the job description to add specific keywords the company you are applying to uses. Lastly, resumes should always be one page for those of us with less than ten years of experience outside of college. Especially in the fashion industry, your resume will be looked at very quickly due to the competitiveness and limited time people have in the fashion world.

Sources:

Augustine, A. (2021, February 19). What's an ATS? How to write a resume to beat the applicant tracking system. Retrieved March 07, 2021, from https://www.topresume.com/career-advice/what-is-an-ats-resume

Center, U. C., & Provost, A. O. (2019). University Career Center 2020 Job Search Guide [Pamphlet]. Auburn, AL: University Career Center. https://issuu.com/aucc/docs/jobsearch_revised?fr=sMzg5MTE0Mjk5NDI

Olivia’s Provided Examples of Resumes: