The first time you might see artificial intelligence during a job search is with a resume parser, or screener. It sorts and chooses which ones get passed along to the next stage of the hiring process. But there’s a problem...
Conversation
That anonymous jobseeker, who we call Sally throughout the podcast series to protect her identity, wishes she understood how this worked before she started applying for jobs (she submitted nearly 150 applications), because it would have helped with her imposter syndrome.
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But don’t despair. We aren’t powerless against the machines. In fact, an increasing number of people and services are designed to help you play by—and in some cases bend—their rules to give you an edge.
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At the start of this podcast series, we spoke to Ian Siegel about how the vast majority of resumes are now screened by a machine first, before a human enters the process.
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In this latest episode, says he believes anyone using traditional advice to create a resume is at risk of not making it through to the next round of the hiring process, because the audience for resumes is now algorithms.
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. has a lot more advice on getting a resume through. Here’s a two-tweet executive summary (listen to the full podcast episode to hear all of Ian Siegel’s tips):
1. Be explicit, and then if you have a skill, declare it. Ideally declare how you learned it.
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(Ian Siegel’s advice continued):
2. Make sure that you list all your skills as concretely and with as much evidence to support your expertise as possible.
3. The employer should look at active job seekers in-market. Invite them to apply or directly recruit them.
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Our reporting partner, , also discovered a network of people sharing tricks to try and get an edge over the machines. trib.al/itAmbsH
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One bold trick for job candidates who don’t have all the skills the job description asks for: put the skills they lack in white on the resume. It’s invisible to a human, but a computer would recognize the skills. Job seekers hope to get on the yes pile by doing this.
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Another trick is using automation to fight back against this automation in hiring. We tested this idea ourselves—and the deepfake audio we created scored better than the real !
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Alright, alright, that might be too bold. You could also just test out your resume with an AI like : jobscan.co
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Or you could use a tool like to prepare for a hiring field where your resumes and video interviews have to appeal to AI first.
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It’s also important to remember that even before the automated hiring process became commonplace, hiring was far from perfect, says .
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If you’re searching for a new job, think you might in the future, or are on the other end of the hiring process, you need to listen to this podcast episode and series:
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Want to hear the four-part podcast series from the beginning? LISTEN here:
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That’s it for Season 2 of #InMachinesWeTrust. We’ll be back soon with new content. In the meantime, share this award-winning series with your friends!
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