If you feel like you’re stuck in a rut with your job search, you’re not alone. Countless people are finding it harder than ever before to impress recruiters, even when they feel they wrote an impeccable resume and a detailed cover letter. In fact, for many, it feels almost impossible to even reach the interview stage anymore.
In this guide, we’ll dig into a few reasons why that’s the case.
The Rise of Applicant Tracking Systems
First, let’s address one of the biggest reasons why so many people don’t progress to the interview stage:
Applicant Tracking Software, or ATS. ATS systems are a relatively recent innovation, but they’re already being used by almost every Fortune 500 company in the world, along with a lot of smaller firms, too.
For the uninformed, ATS systems are computer programs that can scan resumes on behalf of recruiters. They look for certain keywords in the resume text to effectively weed out the seemingly weaker candidates and prioritize the stronger ones. It’s a way for recruiters to save time sorting through the large amounts of resumes they receive.
Unfortunately, this means that if your resume isn’t written by a top quality resume writing professional and adapted to suit ATS, it could slip through the cracks. Even if you’ve got a great set of skills, the right attitude, and relevant experience, a few little faults in your essay formatting could completely ruin your odds of getting a call back from a prospective employer.
High Levels of Competition in Many Industries
Another reason why you could be struggling to land an interview is purely down to competition. If 200 people apply for the same job, it’s a plain and simple fact that the vast majority of them aren’t going to be interviewed. In fact, many of them may not even hear back from the company at all, even if they’re well-qualified.
This is the case for a lot of jobs in a lot of industries right now, especially those “dream roles” that a lot of people want to have. This ties into the previous point – one of the reasons why so many businesses have started using ATS systems is because they’re overwhelmed with so many resumes. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t possibly interview every candidate who seemed a good fit.
The solution? Well, when you’re part of a big crowd of competitors, there’s only one way to get ahead: stand out. Applicants must find ways to make their resumes and associated documents – like cover letters – catch the eye of the recruiter. But that, in itself, is another big challenge to overcome, especially when so many other candidates are all trying to make their resumes stand out, too.
Recruitment Processes Are Taking Longer
No, you’re not imagining it. Recruitment processes are taking much longer in a lot of industries. There may have been a time when job seekers could apply, attend an interview later that week, and hear whether or not they got the job a day or two later. But, these days, the process often feels far more drawn-out.
There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, fears of a recession mean that many firms are being much more cautious about who they hire. They don’t want to make mistakes, which can lead to multiple rounds of pre-interview checks and questionnaires to sort through the list of candidates. And even more people are being involved in the hiring process, dragging it out even longer.
What’s more, as explained above, there’s a lot of competition for many roles at the moment. That, too, extends the recruitment process. This can lead to a vicious cycle, as candidates get tired of waiting for a response from one company, so they send out more and more applications to other jobs, saturating every opening and making every role more time-consuming to fill.
Difficulties With Resume Writing
Resume writing is a skill, and it’s one that many people struggle to master. This is especially true in today’s hectic world when getting a job can feel like such a challenge. Plenty of people lack the time or motivation to craft amazing resumes for every application. They may, instead, send out generic resumes to every potential employer, hoping to hear back from at least one of them.
But that’s a mistake. Sending out stock or generic resumes rarely produces the hoped-for results. And that’s not the only error you might be making with your resume. From poor formatting to cluttered visuals, lack of relevant information or simply writing too much, there are lots of things that can make a resume feel subpar and lackluster.
And, with a lot of recruiters and employers being pickier than ever, poor-quality resumes simply will not cut it in today’s world. Often, weak resumes will be weeded out by the aforementioned ATS systems. But even those who pass ATS can struggle to impress recruiters who have 50 other resumes to read, all from similarly skilled and trained candidates in their fields.
Elevate Your Resume to Boost Your Interview Chances
Excessive competition. Complicated new technologies. Drawn-out recruitment phases. As this guide has shown, there are quite a few reasons why you might be struggling to land job interviews lately. But, when we really dig into those reasons, they all come down to one crucial aspect: your resume.
Your resume is your marketing tool. It’s how you sell yourself to prospective employers. It forms their first impression of you, and it needs to give them a reason to get in touch and want to speak with you. Sadly, many resumes fail to do that, leaving many job seekers lost and disappointed.
Fortunately, help is at hand. Leading professional resume writers in Denver can turn your fortunes around. Our resume-writing pros know exactly what it takes to turn a good resume into a great one. We can format your resume for ATS to help you pass the scans and improve it to secure more interviews.
We’re so confident we even offer a guarantee – if you don’t get an interview in the first 45 days after using our service, you’ll get your money back. So, why wait? Get in touch with the team today and give your resume the boost it needs.