Your Résumé vs. Oblivion

[Chris_]

Your Résumé vs. Oblivion

Many job seekers have long suspected their online employment applications disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again. Their fears may not be far off the mark, as more companies rely on technology to winnow out less-qualified candidates.

Although they originally evolved to help employers scan paper résumés into a database, do basic screening and trace an applicant's path through the interview and hiring process, today's tracking systems are programmed to scan for keywords, former employers, years of experience and schools attended to identify candidates of likely interest. Then, they rank the applicants. Those with low scores generally don't make it to the next round

The screening systems are one way companies are seeking to cut the costs of hiring a new employee, which now averages $3,479, according to human-resources consulting firm Bersin & Associates.

Wall Street Journal

I thought this was an interesting article that some people might want to see.  I'd heard about scanning paper resumes years ago and was told to use an OCR-compatible font like Arial on my resume instead of Times New Roman or whatever else I was using at the time.

[NHSparky]

It goes way beyond that.  But seriously, what candidate who sends in an application or a resume DOESN'T follow up to someone in HR with a, "Hey, did you get my resume?" call.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but IMO, what it DOES show is that you're serious about the job and not just shotgunning resumes and hoping someone notices eventually.