Who reads your resume: Despite all these mistakes, a few years ago, your resume at least had the chance of reaching a HR manager who would consider it. Now, many companies use some type of screening software to weed out weak contenders and identify the people they think are most suited to the job.

Screening services provider HireRight discovered that up to 95 percent of large firms (including the Fortune 500 corporations) and half of all mid-size companies now use applicant tracking systems to analyze designations, dates, keywords and other significant information on a candidate’s resume. So make your resume both software and people friendly.

How do you optimize your resume for a machine: Ensure your resume will get through the initial screening process by making it machine readable. This means a clear format that emphasizes your skills. Put your contact information at the top (but not in a header), and start with an executive summary and bulleted list of achievements and proficiencies. The shorter the better, but you don’t have to feel forced to keep your resume to strictly the standard one page, make it longer if necessary.

Use keywords from the job description, and web-standard fonts such as Arial, Tahoma, Verdana or Calibri. Keep your resume text-only; don’t use fancy tables, charts, logos or graphics. And the most important tip of all: Make sure you submit your resume in the right file format (it will be mentioned on the upload page). For example, despite being a very common file format, PDF’s are unreadable by some software.

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