In today’s competitive job market, standing out among a sea of applicants can be challenging. With many organizations utilizing AI-driven tools to sift through applications, job seekers must adapt their approach to increase their chances of being noticed. To help navigate these hurdles and improve your visibility, we’ve compiled five key strategies to optimize your resume, enhance our AI- generated scores, and increase your chances of landing an interview. From tailoring your resume to match job descriptions to knowing when to move on from highly competitive roles, these tops will help you make the most of your job search efforts.
- Adapt To Job Description – There are a lot of job seekers in the current market, and applicant numbers have been high! To make your candidacy stand out, make sure that your resume uses the same language and wording as the job description you are applying for. This does mean you will have different versions of your resume, but this alone can help your chances of your application getting forwarded directly to hiring managers. Comb through any important or repeated responsibilities and mimic the wording (rewriting where appropriate to your skills and experience) to help you gain a higher score with AI initial screening.
- Repeat Yourself…. Again! With current AI-generated candidate scores, you can help your algorithm by repeating important tasks you have done, each time you have done them. Yes, in this case, repetition is helpful! For example, if you have experience leading a team in your last three positions, highlight this under each of the three roles. This will strengthen your score around “being a team leader”. Make sure you do this for any important must-haves from the job description that are relevant to your background and experience.
- Set Up Notifications Through #hashtags on LI. Statistically, the quicker you apply, the higher the probability that your application will be reviewed. LinkedIn has made this user-friendly by allowing you to subscribe to hashtags. It is worth the time to start to search different terms and phrases that relate to your specific job title. This may take some time, but worth the effort. Once subscribed, you will get a real-time notification and can apply quickly and help your odds of beating the applicant rush.
- KISS (Keep It Simple Silly) When laying out your skills and experience, you don’t need to use fancy language. In fact, it is highly recommended to do the opposite. Experts recommended keeping your resume’s readability around an eighth-grade reading level. An extra tip is to swap out synonyms for words that are specific to the job, as this will help boost your AI score with how closely you match the role. If the job description uses “proactive”, but you have “anticipate needs”, go with the language on the job description to help increase your rating.
- Move On From Jobs With Too Many Applications. If you happen to find a role that has over 250+ applicants, don’t apply. Sometimes it can hurt your AI algorithm if you have too many applications at the same company. Be intentional about what you apply to, and make sure it is truly a good fit. If you find a position that you are a clear fit for that has over 250 applicants, it can be more impactful to find the Hiring Manager and reach out directly to ask if they are still actively reviewing candidates. They may be able to provide some insight and point you in the right direction.