How “Candidate Optimization” Might Increase Your Chances of Getting a Job Interview

Would you be surprised to know that at most companies:

• Computers, not humans, read your resume?
• At least 75 percent of resumes are discarded for using the wrong words?
• More than 20 percent of resumes don’t make the grade due to lapses in formatting?

The data comes from a company that helps job candidates to navigate employers’ resume screening methods and says it can improve candidates’ ability to match their skills to their hoped-for job descriptions by at least 30 percent.

After analyzing 13,000 job seeker resumes, Preptel, a Danville, Calif.-based firm said those who designed their own resumes averaged job-fit ratings that were significantly lower than those who used Preptel's proprietary software. The Preptel software averaged 40 percent job-fit ratings compared to 12 percent for those that didn't.

That’s not too shabby given that someone who achieves a 50 percent job fit rating should get an interview for one out of every three resumes he or she sends out.

As we recently reported, it’s becoming more and more critical to custom-fit one’s resume to the job description they’re going after, especially at a time when many employers are relying on software such as TagCrowd and other kinds of cloud technology to weed out resumes faster than you can post them.

What’s important is to be able to identify the keywords and phrases an employer is liable to use in its resume screening and incorporate some of those same phrases into resumes before submitting them.

To address these challenges, Preptel uses proprietary algorithms, advanced semantic search, computational linguistics and statistical inference to help match a job candidate to the respective job opening, Jonathan Ciampi, president and founder of Preptel, tells eFinancialCareers.

His firm works with new college grads, first level managers, as well as more seasoned professionals. Some 70 professional resume writers and career coaches across the U.S. also now employ Preptel software.

If you find a job opening through someone in your network or through an employer's Web site, you can upload the employer's name, the job title and job description to Preptel's Web site. ResumeterPro costs $24.95 a month and will analyze your resume and show you whether it’s missing any information an applicant tracking system may need to process it and will also show how well your resume matches the job description.

Preptel also provides job seekers with job interview advice and intelligence on other candidates competing for the same job as you are.

Other "candidate optimization services” to job seekers and recruiters include Resunate and Jobfox.