The #1 problem with resumes

🛑 Resume’s biggest red flag

📩 Looking for an internal communications job?

🥊 Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson | Canada is trending #1 | and more news

A few days ago on a windy afternoon, I had a coffee chat with Jordan - the recruiter who got me my 1st internship.

We did a quick catch-up, and while I didn’t mean for it to, the conversation naturally shifted towards job searching.

But hey, I’m not complaining, because Jordan dropped some gems of her wisdom as a past recruiter.

The information was so good, that I couldn’t keep it all to myself, so today, I’ll tell you what I learned.

I learned what really happens to your resume after you hit “submit” on a job application.

Here’s how a resume pops up for a recruiter and why it doesn’t work in your favor…

What happens after you submit your resume? How does it get to the recruiter’s eyes? Does the recruiter get a notification?

Well, according to Jordan, no.

Turns out, your resume gets sorted in alphabetical order.

That’s it.

No fancy filter that highlights top resumes, or any other sort of grading category. Just a long list of names from A - Z in the form of clickable hyperlinks.

Let’s paint the picture

If a job is only hiring 1 person but 500 people apply, how does a recruiter like Jordan find time to go through each one’s resume?

The answer is that she can’t.

According to Jordan, she’ll probably go through less than 200 of those resumes at most!

So off the bat, this gives people whose names start with the letter A an unfair advantage.

But let’s say Jordan wants to make it more fair and instead of starting at A, she scrolls to somewhere random in the list.

Well, now the chances of your resume being seen are entirely up to luck, not much better.

As you can see, there’s virtually no way you can stand out from your resume alone because of how ATS formats everything.

50 years ago, resumes guaranteed you a job, today, they’re just the bare minimum.

So how do we differentiate ourselves if resumes are no longer the answer? According to Jordan, the answer is networking. Having face-to-face discussions with recruiters is the key.

Take me and Jordan for example. I met her by sending a cold email and then having 2 coffee chats.

And because I took the time to network with her, by the end of the 2nd chat, she told me this:

Remember how Jordan said ATS displays resumes as names?

When recruiters look at resumes, they can go directly to the names they recognize.

These names will belong to the young professionals who networked with them.

Names like mine, and like yours if you do the same thing.

All it takes is 1 or 2 emails, a couple of coffee chats, and you’ll beat even the perfect resume.

Your next steps:

This week, I challenge you to send 3 cold emails to professionals working in your ideal field or company.

They don’t have to be recruiters. Reach out to interns, managers, and even VPs!

See you next Tuesday 🤝

-Michael Ly

P.S. miss last week’s email? Read Do certifications help you get jobs?

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Sign up now for free and work smarter, not harder.

Read Strictly Internal. Join 2,400+ subscribers for new internal communications jobs and practical insights from industry leaders – delivered free to your inbox, every week.

🥊 Was it rigged? Jake Paul beats Mike Tyson in their long-awaited boxing match

🌆 Trump shows up at Madison Square Garden with Elon Musk, Kid Rock, and other famous figures

🧳 Canada is canceling immigration and it’s trending #1 on YouTube

Brain food, delivered daily.

Every day we analyze thousands of articles and send you only the best, tailored to your interests. Loved by 508,042 curious minds.

Subscribe below.

{{rp_personalized_text}}

Or copy and paste this link: {{rp_refer_url}}