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SCAMMING THE RESUME SCANNER
By Tom R. Arterburn
Having difficulty navigating the "resumaze"? Pulling your hair out trying to figure out what kinds of information to include, how to format the document, what type of paper to print it on, and how to send it to employers? Well, if your favorite places file is bulging with bookmarks on resume preparation, you better check the dates on the material, because the rules have changed.
Now, more and more companies are turning to resume scanning equipment and software to weed through their stacks of resumes, and if you thought impressing finicky personnel people was difficult, wait till your resume passes under the eye of their computer counterparts. These cold, calculating cartons of automated components pick through your carefully prepared qualifications like computerized cats, sifting out all the garbage, and going right to the "meat." So beating this system requires some cunning and quite a bit of in-depth research to match a hiring manager's specific criteria for an available job.
After hearing about this latest high-tech threat to humanity, some are already scheming ways to "beat the system." "Andy," a communications specialist with the government, who wishes to remain anonymous, divulged his comical, yet surprisingly practical technique for scamming the scanner. "It searches for key words and phrases in the document, right?" he said with a giggle. "Why not just list:"
EDUCATION
"Plan to pursue doctoral degree at Harvard University."
EXPERIENCE
"Never promoted to higher level positions."
"Too stupid to master programming in C language."
"Rarely receive awards or honors for outstanding work performance."
Andy's cynical strategy is obviously absurd given the fact that the human element will certainly enter into the hiring process at some point. Consequently his creative prank may get a few laughs around the HR water cooler, but it certainly won't get him any phone calls from serious hiring managers who busted the departmental bank investing in optical character recognition technology. However, his strategy does have some merit.
Because the scanning process is based on key words or phrases that the user asks the software to scan for, employment candidates can hypothesize as to the hiring criteria for the job they are interested in, and then "pad" their resume with those terms. If the job-seeker's actual experience lacks relevant skills, they can rely on the "spin doctoring" approach used by politicians who are adept at being all things to all people. For instance, using a resume subhead such as "ABILITIES" will allow you to list not only those things you have done, but also those things you are confident you can do based on education or other life experiences. Use this strategy with caution, though. You'll obviously be expected to backup your claims in a personal interview, where too much embellishment might have you sweatin' like a con at a parole board hearing. They can't slap you in jail for resume fraud before you're hired, but be warned, outright resume lies can come back to haunt you.
Tom R. Arterburn is an award-winning job-search journalist, syndicated careers columnist and professional résumé writer located in St. Louis, Missouri. He can be reached at (800) 669-3857or jrnlyst@aol.com. Visit his web page at
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