Hiring managers spend a huge amount of time screening CVs as part of the traditional hiring process, where CV screening can take up to 23 hours for just one hire. Historically, candidate screening was a time-consuming, manual process. A hiring manager would receive a stack of applicants and spend time reading each one to find the right candidates. According to LinkedIn Insights a cyber security role is likely to have an average of 100 plus CVs for the hiring manager to sort through, sometimes more depending on the role.
The rise of high-volume hiring has made manually managing the resume screening process virtually impossible. Also, with unconscious bias impacting their hiring success, companies are turning to machine learning and recruiters to help with screening candidates fairly.
Hence, a robot will probably read your CV before the hiring manager does. Now that CV scanning software is becoming commonplace, you’ll need to make it through the screening stage before you can impress a potential employer. Your best chance of success is a well-written CV with enough strategy to please the bots and enough personality to engage an employer/recruiter.
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software designed to help recruiters filter, sort, and track job applications. It scans incoming CVs for specific keywords to help isolate the candidates best suited to a role.
For example, the software will scan incoming CVs for the skills and qualifications an employer has outlined in the job description. CVs with all or most keyword terms will go to the top of the pile, and those without may go to the bottom.
Using the right wording, phrasing, and even repetition in some areas when cv writing for AI is key. Highlighting the right skills matched against the job description, picking out the words used the most in the advert and transferring these to your application.
To help, there are various CV templates AI where you can copy and paste the job description into the system, and it will highlight what it believes to be the keywords. We have created information and cyber security job descriptions as examples.
However, don’t overdo it on the keywords; use keywords approximately two to three times at most. Anymore and the system will flag you as suspicious, and you could be deemed as a poor fit.
Using transferable skills can also increase your chances of passing to the next stage—skills such as time management, flexibility, teamwork, and communication, etc.
Focus on your professional background, ensuring that your skills and experience are front and centre.
Prioritise the most relevant information, place everything in chronological order, and ensure that it matches the job description perfectly.
When highlighting your experience, you should always look to quantify results. We recommend not to list experiences dating back more than ten years, including only the most recent and relevant information.
Using AI, it’s important to avoid images, graphics, and logos as the system will not read these formats. So make sure to use plain text as the most suitable option. This means avoiding any fancy formatting, and by converting your file into `plain text` before you upload the information, you will be able to check if anything looks out of place, missing, etc.
Unlike traditional CVs, we also recommend that you don’t put any information in the header or footer of the document, as AI systems will not pick this up.
Keep language straightforward, avoid using jargon, and commonly used generic phrases. There should also be no mistakes with spelling or grammar, as any errors will rule your CV/application out completely.
With so many more candidates now applying for roles, screening without AI can almost seem impossible.
However, there are still doubts about how effective these programmes and systems are to the recruitment sector and if employers genuinely understand how these algorithms work. Although doing the above can get your CV through the door, an employer still needs to read and understand it! Your ability to make a human connection with the employer is still a crucial part of getting called for an interview.
At Via Resource, we help candidates tailor their CV and application appropriately. To ensure you don’t miss securing your dream job.
If you’re interested in looking for a new role in the information and cyber security sector or have a vacancy you’re looking to fill, Via Resource can help. Working with you as your recruitment partner, we can draw on our vast talent pool of professionals and help candidates advance in their careers. Contact us today to find out more
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