The Impossible ATS Perfect Match Theory

By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP

According to this Forbes article, if your résumé doesn’t align perfectly with the open position, it may not be a priority for the hiring team to review.

This is not entirely true. Your entire resume does not have to align perfectly with the job posting; you actually only need about a 60% match in skills, tools, and experience.

But also key: You want to make sure that the resume title, summary, and skills sections address the needs of the company. And this means that these sections at the top of the resume align pretty perfectly with the job description.

Then, your experience section is filled with results and impact that prove why you deserve the job instead of someone else. You can’t prove that with only skills and actions.

If your resume doesn’t address the company’s needs and prove through results why you are the best person for the job, you’re probably not going to be a priority for review, wherever you send it.

The company’s screening software, called ATS or applicant tracking system, can be given algorithms, parameters, and search commands that can favor rigid, keyword matching, which can make job searching a bit more difficult for people who are trying to transition to another field or whose diverse backgrounds don’t perfectly align with predefined sector categories. 

Whether you have a varied background or not, you don’t want to put ALL of your experience in the resume, just the experience that demonstrates to the hiring team why you’re a great hire for that specific position.

Plenty of my clients have landed awesome positions by applying to jobs online. Some were not a perfect match, but because they addressed the company’s needs and showed impact in their experience section, they got a good shot at a position that they were interested in.

Nobody expects you to be perfect. They do expect you to be qualified and logical about the job application.

****

Better job. More pay. More control.

For a free resume review, please contact us at Control Your Career!