YHT Reader Contributions!
Do you guys remember me blogging about my frustrations with submitting resumes online, and how the computers always filter out my resume based on keywords? Well, faithful YHT reader, Conrad, wrote me a note from the UK with this "bloody awesome" advice:
In other news, YHT readers James and Maria are getting married, and they've created a wiki that documents some info about their lives before they met and during their engagement. They created a little wiki entry about YHT and how it's impacted their relationship. You can check it out by clicking here.
- Wes
Anyway, I noted your frustration at job application rejections by computer. I was recently considering leaving the military and managed to get on an excellent course all about getting back out into the civilian job market. One little gem they showed us was to put all the essential keywords from the job advert in white text in the footer, the computer searches for text and can still pick up the words even though they are not visible when the application or CV is printed off. It gets you past that first cut and hopefully lets you get to the interview stage.Why didn't I think of that? That's a freakin' GENIUS idea and I had to share with the rest of you guys! Thanks for the tip, Conrad!
In other news, YHT readers James and Maria are getting married, and they've created a wiki that documents some info about their lives before they met and during their engagement. They created a little wiki entry about YHT and how it's impacted their relationship. You can check it out by clicking here.
- Wes
Labels: Fan Mail, links, Randomness
posted by Wes at 4:16 PM
9 Comments:
the white text idea is pure gold. way to go royal airforce.
6:04 PMThat seems dishonest to me.
7:26 PMThen again, having a computer filter out applications seems pretty lousy too...
Careful! During my job search I heard of the "white text" trick, but I was warned that some of the resume scanning software picks up on shrewd little tricks like that and will automatically disregard your message.
9:17 PMLooks like honesty is the best policy.
It's not dishonest. Your actual resume will tell the person exactly what you're bringing to the table.
10:23 PM- Wes
Besides, chances are if you are using the "white text" trick, the computer filtering software would filter your resume out anyway.
10:23 PM- Wes
But what if you actually have a decent resume as it is, then you blow your chance by typing all the keywords in white text?
1:23 PMLadies and Gents,
2:44 PMThis was a tip from a professional recruitment consultant who the military bring in to teach us old military warhorses how to cope with the civilian job market, something I found scarier than my tours in Basrah and Baghdad. It still relies on you having a damn good CV once it gets past the computer screening process, and yes some companies will pick up the white text and possibly reject the application. The idea, and it does work, is to get your CV in front of a real person who will read it and then hopefully like what they see. If you use all the words they scan for in your write up then its just going to be as bland as the thousands of others they see. Nothing beats a well written, well presented and truthful CV in the end but an ace up your sleeve is somtimes a good idea.
I'm sorry, but at the end of the day, I can deal with being the guy who was overlooked, but I am just personally not comfortable with anything I feel is underhanded, even if it is sort of a gray area.
1:35 AMThat said, props and respect to anyone trying to get a job, especially former military. It's a tough market, and you have to play all the cards in your hand that are right by you. I'll be graduating in May with a BFA in Illustration, and I can't say I'm not a little worried myself.
im failing to see the underhandedness.
10:18 PMwhen undergrad and graduate level students manage to get research published, they can meta tag and do things of this nature to assure that it will appear when other less computer savvy people are using a search engine or database.
you are promoting your written words, aka resume, in a way consistent with anything that will need to be searched for in a database. whether it is academic search premiere or monster.com, you want your information to be easily found.
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