CV Scanning for Digital online interviews and how you should optimise your CV

I often get asked questions here in the group on how we should organise and optimise CVs to ensure a higher chance of selection by the ATS (Applicant Tracking System). Many organisations like Emirates use ATS to filter high volumes of online candidates.

Keep your headings simple

The Emirates ATS works by scanning your CV for relevant keywords but did you also know they do not like the keywords close together. My top advice is to intersperse the keywords with your job experience. This does not mean you should use an acronym in every bullet point you have on your work experience but it does mean that you should think carefully about how you construct your bullet point.

The ATS also awards points to headings such as Work or Professional Experience, Personal statement, Key Skills, Position, Qualification and Education. If you decide to have extra headings, this also means the ATS may not be able to categorise your CV accurately.

Remember to also use frequently used phrases in addition to their keywords because their HR department would have programmed this into the job parameters too! This ensures your CV covers a wide selection of keywords in relation to customer services or aviation and not just the keywords that they have in their job description.

But if you trying hard to overdo this thinking you can beat the ATS, please don’t. Excessive keyword stuffing will lower your ranking. Be sensible, let it flow like how you would read a good article. Remember that your CV still needs to be read by a recruiter before the one-to-one digital interview.

Exclude tables, borders or templates. Sure, some of you may have been shortlisted with use of that but it can cause errors too! When errors are discovered, one of two things can happen to your application - you either never receive a response or change of status on your application, or you get the straight rejection - unsuccessful mail email, and no one wants that.

So, please exclude tables, borders or template designs. This is what recruiters call as over formatting a CV and it’s crap! In short, do not make your resume pretty in terms of design. I know this will put people off but unusual graphics, layouts may look nice to the human eye but it is a garbled mess when sorted by a program like the ATS. Avoid embedded images, social media symbols. All of these cause poor rankings. If you are lucky, you may still get shortlisted but often this will not be the case as your ranking is very low.

The ATS is also able to check for English grammatical errors, so be mindful of spelling errors, plurals, hyphens, acronyms and synonyms used.

Always try and use complimentary keywords too! Use google to provide you with alternatives to the keywords you see in the Emirates job description and a nice sprinkling of these on your CV will boost your ranking and also make it very interesting to read.

I repeat again - sprinkle and weave most keywords and their complimentary keywords throughout your CV and personal statement - and you get awarded top rank for your CV!

PDF or Word: PDF is ok if it does not contain coloured borders or nested tables.

I also want you to know that every keyword you mention - the ATS will also look for proof - and I mean work evidence. So by listing say 7 keywords in your key skills, and no mention of this experience in your jobs would cause your rank to be lowered. Remember that proof of your ability is key to success of getting shortlisted by both ATS and the human recruiter.

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