How To Make Your Job Application AI-Proof
While our collective goal is to find a job we can stay in for a stable period of time, the current job market is volatile. Traditional advice in times like these is to always have your resume ready, just in case.
Why AI has revolutionized everything, including job searching
AI has changed the face of job search as much as it has changed nearly everything else. In a more general sense, AI makes all departments more productive. Prodoscore data proves this with a sampling from May 2024, where we tracked the AI use of 1,320 employees.
As a productivity monitoring solution, we can tie that AI use back to employee productivity. We split the employee data into three groups: high productivity, average productivity, and low productivity. None of the AI users were in the low productivity group, and the largest percentage of AI users by far were in the high productivity group. Essentially, the highest contributors use AI judiciously to get their work done.
This definitely holds true for HR professionals; there is simply no way to do the job effectively without the help of AI tools. Shopping for a job today looks very different than it did five years ago. Your resume has to pass AI guardrails that human resources departments have put in place to reduce tidal waves of applications. Getting past the gate requires a complete retooling of your resume.
AI technology that is used to vet resumes is referred to as AI-Powered Application Tracking Systems (ATS). This requires you to write your resume with two layers: one layer for human readers and one layer for machine readability. Since over 98% of Fortune 500 companies and 66% of large companies use ATS, it is an absolute requirement to optimize your resume for them.
Ditch the Formatting and Graphics
In the 2010s and early 2020s, resumes with an attractive design layout were popular. Now, you have to ditch the Canva and Adobe layouts for a more plain-text version. Resumes with design elements and graphics are too tough to parse and may be automatically rejected by ATS. The plainer it looks, the easier it is for a machine to parse. However, you still want to save it as a PDF as the ATS solutions prefer this format. Use sans-serif fonts and clear section headers.
Keep Writing Error-Free and Concise
Use tools like Grammarly or Gemini for Google Workspace to reduce industry jargon, avoid overuse of acronyms, and keep the tone professional. You will also want to look at keywords from the job posting and ensure they are used in both your cover letter and resume.
Where you have to use an acronym, spell it out, even if it is a commonly used one in your industry. You essentially want to remove any stumbling blocks for AI, including overuse of punctuation. Avoid more arcane punctuation altogether, such as em dashes (—).
Try rewriting your resume and cover letter from scratch, and then run it through one of the above-mentioned tools to catch any issues. You’ll also want to avoid writing in the passive voice, which any grammar tool or AI solution for writing will catch.
Prominently Feature Your Skills and Experience
Paying attention to formatting and grammar is important, but the VIP things that ATS tools rank for are skills and experience. Make sure these each have their own section and are clearly denoted with goals that were met and actual results.
Make Your Educational Qualifications Clear
Make sure that your educational qualifications are listed in detail in a section marked “Education.” One of the first things that AI is looking for is an advanced degree. To make it easier to check your qualifications, include a phone number or email from your alma mater, which leads directly to the department an HR professional will want to contact to verify your degree(s).
Test Your Resume With an AI Tool
Fighting fire with fire is an acceptable strategy for the rise of the machines. Upload your resume to an AI tool such as Jobscan, which will check it for AI compatibility. This final check will give you the confidence you need that your resume will eventually be seen by a human. These tools also offer templates for AI-optimized resumes and cover letters that you can follow.
Do Not Skip Optional Assessments
If an assessment on a job site is listed as optional, view it as mandatory. Optional assessments may be just that, or they may be a more elaborate CAPTCHA method to ensure that applicants using bots to submit resumes are knocked out of the race.
The job application process isn’t easy, but AI tools make it easier for both applicants and employers. If you’re a high performer, chances are good that you’re using AI already to optimize your work and are well-positioned to AI-proof your application.
Don’t forget the human element, though. AI is usually used just for initial resume screening. Make sure your resume makes you sound like the creative, results-driven professional you are. There is a danger that too much optimization with AI tools will make it sound stilted and boring. You can walk it back from that pretty easily with some light editing.
When you land your next management role, look like a rock star from the start by implementing Prodoscore, our employee productivity monitoring solution that will help you manage the productivity of your team. Contact us for a demonstration.
