{"id":925827,"date":"2026-10-12T20:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925827\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T20:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:54:11","slug":"resumes-what-to-include-for-applicant-tracking-systems-and-recruiters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925827\/","title":{"rendered":"Resumes: What to include for applicant tracking systems and recruiters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting a job has never felt harder<\/a>, with the rise of applicant tracking systems<\/a> (ATS) resulting in resumes getting filtered out<\/a> before they have the chance to be seen by a recruiter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the reason the software isn\u2019t accepting your resume can be as simple as saving the document in the wrong format, according to former recruiter and founder of project Roar, Catherine Harris.<\/p>\n

\"Employer<\/p>\n

Resumes are being sorted by applicant tracking systems before humans take a look at them.\u00a0iStockphoto<\/p>\n

\u201cSome applicant tracking systems are hugely sophisticated, there\u2019s been huge investment in there, but some of them are not. The problem is, you don\u2019t know which applicant tracking system you\u2019re going through,\u201d Harris told Sylvia Jeffreys during an interview on her podcast The Pay Off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we need to appeal at the base of the market … they don\u2019t read PDF documents, they don\u2019t like tables, they get messed up by tables and icons and pictures, so all of those things need to be removed out of your resume.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Harris has seen some \u201cbeautiful resumes\u201d, the effort put into making them look good ends up being to the jobseeker\u2019s detriment since the ATS can\u2019t read them. <\/p>\n

This means the best way to make a resume is to go \u201cback to basics\u201d and use Microsoft Word, unless a job ad specifies resumes can be in PDF form.<\/p>\n

As for the content of your resume, you need to have the exact keywords both ATS and recruiters will scan your resume for, so Harris recommends printing the job ad and going through it with a highlighter to identify both the hard and soft skills you need to include and use the exact wording for those skills.<\/p>\n

Harris summed up the perfect resume as follows: \u201cA Word document, [with] no columns or tables or logos or pictures, and it\u2019s got standardised headings, it is no more than four pages, and it\u2019s really emphasising the last 10 to 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another part of the job application process that\u2019s also usually included on a resume is your referees, and there is more to it than simply asking someone to give you a referral.<\/p>\n

Lauren Anderson, workplace expert at Indeed, advises choosing a referee who you\u2019ve worked closely with, rather than a relative or friend or a person you\u2019ve been out of touch with for years as it could cause some doubt.<\/p>\n

She also recommended letting the referee know you\u2019ve applied for a job, and giving them some information about the position so they can tailor their review of you to the skills needed for the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there\u2019s no need to script your referee\u2019s answers, giving them a sense of what they may be asked, and what the employer is looking for, can help them provide thoughtful, relevant examples rather than ones improvised on the spot,\u201d Anderson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also worth reminding them of a specific example or achievement you\u2019re proud of, especially if it\u2019s directly relevant to the role.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not sure who to ask to be your referee, especially if it\u2019s been a long time since you worked with a previous manager, there are several other options you can consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cReferees don\u2019t have to be limited to previous managers,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcademic referees can speak to your ability to learn, take feedback and develop new skills, while character referees \u2013 such as a mentor, coach or community leader \u2013 can offer insight into how you show up outside of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mix of referees can give prospective employers a fuller, more well-rounded picture of who you are, while allowing each person to speak to a different aspect of your character and skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getting a job has never felt harder, with the rise of applicant tracking systems (ATS) resulting in resumes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,105],"class_list":["post-925827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}