Human Story in the Age of AI

The evolution of AI has made our lives easier, but it has also posed many challenges for job seekers during their recruitment process.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

In 2023, more than 97% of Fortune 500 companies used ATS to screen applicants, while overall, 35% of small businesses and 89% of large companies rely on it. (Source)

ATS was designed to help streamline the recruitment process, helping recruiters and hiring managers handle a high volume of applicants and focus on evaluating top candidates. It was also used to ensure inclusion so that all candidates receive equal treatment. 

From the candidates’ perspective, however, I hear a lot of frustrations when they receive automatic rejections and they feel they are a perfect fit for the position. 

What can one do? 

Use tools, such as jobscan.co and other generative AI, to compare job descriptions and your resume. The higher the percentage of a resume containing the keywords in a job description, the higher the chance it has to pass the ATS and go to human hands. 

• Create a result-focused resume. It may be counterintuitive, but if your resume reads like a job description, the hiring team has no way of distinguishing you from a thousand other applicants. Instead of listing the tasks you performed, highlight the impact you made through your specific actions.

• Eliminate all irrelevant information. Many candidates pile on their entire professional and academic history, hoping the bot will pick out some useful nuggets and get moved to humans. Unfortunately, if there is too much irrelevant information on a resume, the relevant information percentage becomes smaller and gets drowned out. 

• Target companies using humans in the initial phase of recruitment. Companies that are aware of the limitations and biases ATS may have, use ATS as a tool to assist humans. Recruiters manually look at every resume, even if it’s only for six seconds. Identify those companies if most of your applications are rejected by an email that looks like from AI. 

Human touch

Many candidates now use generative AI to craft their resumes. For AI to generate a resume, it relies on the information you provide. One key concept of computer science is Garbage in, garbage out (GIGO). So unless you provide information on why you are a good candidate for the job, the resume it creates will miss the mark. 

Generative AI is trained by humans. Your resume needs to be trained by you. It needs to tell your story with your voice. If it doesn’t sound like you, then even if it passes the ATS, it won’t go far. Check the numbers AI put in your resume - if those are not real, it’s as bad as knockoff watches. Starting your recruitment based on a lie will not end well. 

When your resume makes it to human recruiters and hiring managers, having matching keywords is not sufficient. It needs to tell a human story. It needs to connect the dots for the reader that not only are you good at what you do, but you are also good to work with. On top of that, you are excited about doing the work. 

To make it to the last round of interviews and get the offer, you need to go above and beyond:

• Research the company and the team. What have been their successes? Challenges? Competitors? Recent changes? What is their vision for the future?

• Yes you can do the above research on the web, but it takes YOU to digest the information and connect it to your role in this picture. 

• Connect with a human. As I shared in my earlier post, networking can make all the difference in learning more about humans and their needs beyond what’s in the job description.

• Show your unique humanity. What motivates you and excites you? What has made you who you are today?

AI can perform a lot of tasks, eliminate boring repetition, and process a huge amount of information. But it takes a human to read between the lines, catch humor, and sense emotions. In this world in need of connections, it takes humans to empathize, encourage, and think beyond AI.

What’s your story?

To explore how you can develop your compelling story, schedule a complementary call to evaluate if coaching can accelerate your results.