Emily Worden • Next Act Career

Hi Emily,

Apply for a job, upload your resume, and then manually enter the information from your resume. 

This is the daily grind for job seekers. I’ve got a small hack that will help. 

1. Make a new document, copy + paste your resume information.
2. Make it plain text and unformatted, written in paragraphs and short sections.
3. Copy and paste the sections you need for the job application.

Add anything to this document that you usually need for job applications, like names of managers or references, and their contact information.

Let's talk about why you have to do this:

The reason you have to upload your resume and then retype your resume into the job application is simple: old technology and "must-haves."

There are dozens of ATS out there, and many are older legacy systems that are just not good at parsing resumes. (Even some of the newer ones need help parsing.)

And if the job has specific requirements, these application questions will highlight the "must have" requirements a recruiter is looking for.

❗This is why you shouldn't write "See resume" either.

Because if you see a question like, "List number of years of sales experience" and you write, "See resume," a recruiter will likely just move on to the next application.

And to those who say companies should "do better" and "invest in better systems" - I agree and I have to tell you, many recruiters would agree too. But recruiters and hiring managers are not in charge of which system they use; the company dictates that.

Also, investing in a new system is quite expensive, and when's the last time you heard of a company that happily spent money on a non-revenue-generating activity?

Yes, candidate experience is important, I agree. But the system is not changing anytime soon. So just work your way around it by copy + pasting from a plain text resume.

PRO TIP:

Check out this tip Jennifer left in the comments - I love it! I haven’t tried it myself, let me know if you do:

FREE JOB INTERVIEW WORKSHOP TOMORROW, THURSDAY, 5/29!

I'm happy to part of Job Search Summer School's interview workshop on Thursday, 5/29 at 2:00 pm EST / 11:00 am PST! 

We will be doing live demos of how to answer the most common interview questions:

LEARN HOW TO:
👉 Answer “Tell me about yourself”
👉 Showcase your best experience
👉 Ask smart questions to stand out
👉 Tell STAR stories with an impact

And yes, there will be time for Q&A! Bring your questions, we'll have answers.

This is a FREE event, you can register here: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7321587449384636416/about/. 

To your success,

- Emily

Emily Worden