After putting my resume through an online scan, I realized the problem with using the same one for every job
When Jobscan CEO and founder James Hu was applying for tech jobs a few years ago, he realized there was a wall between his résumé and actual human beings: applicant tracking systems (ATS). This recruitment software often weeds out candidates based on keywords in their applications.
"So I started optimizing my résumé for what recruiters might search for," he told Business Insider in an email. "But it would take me an hour to identify the top keywords and tailor each résumé."
To save other job hunters the drudgery, in 2013, he created Jobscan. The online service scans résumés and compares them with the keywords in specific job description.
Today, Jobscan has a team of ten employees and has scanned 2 million résumés to date. Users get five free scans - or 25, if you're long-term unemployed or in a financially dire situation. The site is also familiar with the top six ATS on the market, which cover 80% of all Fortune 500 companies, including Amazon, Deloitte, Snapchat, and Credit Suisse.
Sounds interesting, but what guidance can it really give? I plugged my résumé into the scanner against my current job here at Business Insider. Recruiters and hiring managers say that job-hunters should customize their résumés to every job they apply for, and after scanning my résumé, I can see why.