Job titles and descriptions and other realities of the 2021 job-search world
When you’re looking for a job, what’s the first thing you look at? Unless you’re looking for a spot at a particular organization, the first thing that grabs your attention typically is the job title. Right?
Unfortunately, the job title may not be all that it appears. Discounting the obvious preposterous job titles that have cropped up in the past decade or so (i.e. Beverage Dissemination Officer – Bartender; Digital Overlord – Website Manager; Retail Jedi – Shop Assistant,) you may need to look beyond the job title to determine your interest or “fit” for a particular job.
One way to do just that is to drill down to the job description. That should provide more focused information on what the duties and responsibilities – and requirements are for the position in question.
Speaking of the job description, if you are applying through an Automated Tracking System (ATS), the job description will most likely contain many, most, or even all of the keywords for that job. Those keywords will help your resume bypass the tracking troll and actually land on a human’s desk.
Those keywords also will trump any design elements that you may in your resume. The ATS will only see the text, your design doesn’t matter. This is also why it’s wise to submit a text version of your resume as opposed to a pdf.
If you aren’t sure if your resume will pass the ATS test, try running your resume and the job description of interest through one of the scanning services. “Jobscan” and “Workcloud” are just two online services that will compare your resume to a job description and rate how well you “match.”