Tag Archives: resume

I’m in the midst of looking for a new job. I’ve not posted here for a few weeks as I’ve been spending time doing just that, getting acclimated to how the process works, how the tools are built, who the players are.

This is not meant as criticism. Just observation from more than a couple years of experience as a leader of people , builder of teams, and hiring manager, as well as more than a couple years of experience within digital products, digital media, segmentation, and targeting of messages along a decision path.

Observation and seeking to understand the market. I fear in my role as hiring manager I did not do enough diligence to understand the market and systems at play. And now in my role as job seeker I’m seeking to stay positive, have some empathy, but position myself optimally.

My hypotheses are:

• There is an over-reliance by recruiters and hiring managers on systems (ATS) that are being used too stringently and are in the midst of evolution.
• AI in the hands of job seekers is allowing the gaming of ATS leading to what appears to be an over-abundance of qualified candidates for any given role.
• As with any market and system, there needs to be humans setting the strategy, staying engaged, and making the key decisions.

I send this along to you, dear reader, as I’m curious to get your thoughts…

FROM THE LEADER’S PERSPECTIVE
The most popular business books on leadership and the most popular business leaders on LinkedIn will, rightly, extol the virtues of the uniqueness of the people on their teams. The coming together of these people such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Many have stories where they gave someone a chance who seemed to not match a particular mold, and that person flourished. I’ve had this happen more than once in my career.

Granting macro-trends affecting the labor market from tariffs to under employment to AI and so on, it seems to be an employer’s market right now. Every market operates in cycles, so this, too, will pass.

Regardless, I have seen a decent number of open roles that interest me and to which I’ve applied. As I cannot control the macro-trends, I’m staying focused on what I have the best chance to control.

THE DANCE: JOB SEEKERS/AI/ATS/RECRUITERS/HIRING MANAGERS
What I’ve seen thus far and am having confirmed through many conversations with those in my network who are both hiring managers and job seekers:

• ATS, by and large, are looking for exact keyword matches. This is the primary cut when it comes to making a decision on who is interviewed.
• AI is making the customization of resumes and cover letters to the exact keyword match relatively easy and efficient.
• However, the AI tools tend to awkwardly place the keywords into resumes and cover letters. Or they will place them there even if the candidate doesn’t have the requisite experience the keywords reference to provide a closer match to the job description since that is the goal.
• So without some editing, the resume and cover letters could pass the ATS, but may lack in terms of human readability – and truthfulness.
• As more people realize how simple it is to use AI tools to align their content with keywords in job descriptions, one has to assume there is an ever increasing number of candidates for roles who look good.
• ATS are most certainly being improved with AI which will alter this process and cause some more bumps in the road as AI reads AI to determine if the human is worthy of the role.

The recruiter would seem to now have a large number of candidates that appear to be good matches for the role. The question then becomes what is the next set of criteria to prioritize the candidates?

Here is the point where the job seeker loses visibility. As a hiring manager, I understand what I would do to address this, but I’m viewing this as a job seeker right now.

NETWORKING AND ATS
It has been granted over and over again that the best way to find your next opportunity is by networking. My personal experience would say by and large this is true.

What I’ve seen and heard related to this is, even if you have a personal connection related to a role you’re interested in, the process will still have to flow through the ATS, then the recruiter, then the hiring manager – even if the person in your network had reached out to the hiring manager about you.

There is a good chance the benefit of the personal connection will not be seen at the hiring manager – unless the hiring manager is willing to step out of the normal process.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
As I said, there is no judgement in what I’ve written so far. I’m wanting to understand the market better for two reasons.

Most immediately, I’m a Job Seeker who wants to find my next job as efficiently and effectively as possible.

But at some point in the future, I will be a Hiring Manager. I will want to ensure I am able to find the best people for my team. And I will want to do it with respect for who they are first, as well as with efficiency and effectiveness.

So I ask you – what are you seeing? What do you think? In whatever role you play in this market.