How to Check if My Resume is ATS-Friendly

How to Check if My Resume is ATS-Friendly

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1: Save your resume in plain text

Applicant tracking systems have trouble reading embedded tables, symbols, charts, images, and other fancy design elements.  In many cases, the ATS software that companies use will either skip over the information contained in those graphics or return it as a bunch of gibberish. In either case, important information will be 

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1: Save your resume in plain text

left out of your application entry in the system and hurt your candidacy. To determine what information may become garbled or eliminated when passed through the ATS scans, save a copy of your resume as plain text and then review the result. If the plain text version of your resume is missing details from your original resume, has 

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1: Save your resume in plain text

some of its characters saved incorrectly, or looks disorganized (i.e. the heading for your work history appears in the middle of your key skills section), then your resume did not pass the ATS resume screening software test.

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2: Request a free ATS scan

Professional resume-writing service TopResume offers job seekers a free ATS resume scan as part of its free resume review.  In the first half of the review, TopResume provides an objective look at what your resume is doing well and where it is missing the mark from both a content and design perspective.

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2: Request a free ATS scan

In the second half of the review, TopResume shows you exactly what information an ATS will pull from your resume, what information it will be unable to identify and retrieve (such as your name, contact information, most recent job title, and most recent employer), and what top skills and keywords your resume currently ranks for. If the ATS resume scanner is unable to identify any of this 

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2: Request a free ATS scan

important information or thinks you're a fit for a job that you're not, then your resume did not pass the ATS readability test and runs the risk of not getting in the hands of hiring managers or recruiters and runs the risk of not getting in the hands of hiring managers or recruiters.

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