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With
numerous employers utilizing job search boards, in
addition to proprietary company systems as the avenue
for searching for employees, job search candidates
need to understand how the systems are used by employers.
“Many
job search candidates apply online to either job boards
or corporate websites, but they really do not understand
the technology behind the systems,” said Kathy Sweeney,
president of Senior Executive Resumes, a resume writing
and employment coaching firm, based in Phoenix, Arizona.
“It is important to understand how employers search
and what a candidate can do better to be at the top
of the list of potential interviewees.”
According
to Sweeney, there are two ways that employers can
choose to search for candidates on job boards. They
can either pay to search for candidates in the job
board database or post an advertisement for an open
position. While conducting their search, employers
can sort resumes received or conduct their search
for candidates by geographic region, level of education
or requirements of the position.
In
addition, when employers pay to only search a database
of candidates, they can select an option that only
includes candidates who have posted their resume in
a certain amount of time, such as the past 30, 60,
90 or 180 days.
Sweeney
says the most important aspects from a job candidate’s
perspective are three-fold, with each being equally
important. First, the candidate must have “keywords”
in their resume that match the industry in which they
are seeking a job. Job boards rank candidates based
upon ‘relevancy,’ meaning that the more terms the
job seeker has in their resume that match the key
words either posted in the employer ad or used by
the employer searching in a particular industry, the
higher they will rank in the list of candidates.
“If
one candidate has five words on their resume and another
candidate has only two words the employer is using
in their ad, the individual with more words that match
is going to show up higher on the list of resumes
which the employer will review,” stated Sweeney.
Candidates
do not need to have a “keywords” section on their
resume, as many of the systems search throughout the
entire document and will highlight the words as they
appear.
Sweeney
warns, however, that the system may only search for
present tense words, such as sales, instead of the
word sold, so having both terms in the resume will
be helpful.
Second,
the job seeker must update their resume at least every
thirty days in the system. Most employers will only
search for candidates who have posted their resumes
within the past 90 days, as they assume that a candidate
whose resume was posted after that time may have already
found another job. Updating the resume by adding a
new training session or additional keywords will refresh
the resume in the job board system and rank the candidate
higher.
“If
two candidates have the exact same keywords in their
resume that the employer is searching for, the person
who has updated their resume most recently will show
up first,” said Sweeney.
Finally,
job seekers also need to understand that some computer
systems only read text formats. If candidates are
posting their resume into the system with fancy bullets,
lines, bold or underlining, it may kick their document
out of the system.
Sweeney
says converting the resume to an ASCII text format
is the best way to ensure that the resume will be
compatible with all job search systems.
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