What happens to your resume when you click the "Submit" button on the portal with vacancies or directly on the website of the company where you liked the job? If this company is large enough, then it is highly likely that your file falls into the clutches of a robot.

This robot is called ATS (Applicanttracking System) — a system for tracking and filtering applications for vacancies. This system scans the resume for the presence of certain keywords embedded in the job profile.

Keywords can relate to certain technical and language skills, as well as the names of companies whose experience is preferred for a particular position, the names of prestigious universities that a candidate should ideally graduate from, and much more that the recruiter responsible for the vacancy will consider important. Thus, if your resume passes the necessary compatibility barrier with the ideal candidate profile, then there is a chance that a real person will look at it and invite you to an interview.

How to increase your chances and reach the recruiter in such a situation? A few life hacks to help.

Carefully analyze the text of the vacancy. Write down possible keywords in the following categories:

preferred education (names of the most suitable specializations);
location (country, city);
direct competencies (tasks that a potential employee faces);
required knowledge of languages (including programming);
required experience with certain software.

If the extraction of keywords has driven you to a dead end, use a tool such as the compilation of semantic clouds (word clouds). It helps not only to make beautiful presentations, but also to generate ideas! I personally like Worditout, but you can take any other one.

Now look at your resume. Include the missing words and sentences in it, but only if it has real relevance to you. For example, you really live in such a city, have received a diploma in the specified specialization, speak the necessary language or have the skills to work with the right program, and so on.

Finally, get rid of the "tinsel" in the resume.

The more accurately the resume reflects the ideal profile, the higher the probability of getting into the selected pool of candidates with whom the recruiter will work. Thus, "tinsel" will only harm you. What does this mean?

If you are in doubt about any part of your resume, ask yourself the question, how important this information is for a specific vacancy that I am interested in.
Down with the beautiful pictures and diagrams from your document. Leave only your photo. Why? ATS simply does not recognize the graphics, cannot decipher it.
Use fonts that are most suitable for web text (for example, Arial or Georgia). This is more reliable, there is a guarantee that the text will be read correctly by ATS.
Simplicity, simplicity again: no shadows, beautiful symbols, Wordart or anything that can come to mind. For the same reason as above.

At the end, carefully check the spelling. ATS reads only well-written words. :)

Good luck at the interview!