Don’t be disheartened! Beat AI in your job application

I can't tell you how many corporate communications professionals I speak to who say they have had a disheartening experience when applying for jobs online. I'm sure you know it yourself; you can spend a whole day fine-tuning the perfect application and then not get any sort of response. Nothing, not even an acknowledgement. All that work for what? However, you are left wondering why, especially for those roles when you know you are 'bang on' for it. It's soul-destroying and leaves you wondering what's the point!

How do you cut through? Surely there must be a better way?

Look, I can't say I'm an expert when it comes to cutting through on the application process; however, from using an AI-driven recruitment database which is incredibly sophisticated, I suspect that many in-house recruiters are using similar software to scan CVs and decide on who they're going to speak to.

Let me explain with an example.

I’ll quickly explain how our database works because then you will understand what you're up against. Let's say we are looking to fill a Head of Corporate Communications role for a supermarket and they want a former journalist who has at least 10 years of communications experience and has ideally worked for a FTSE-listed business or has some financial communications experience.

In our key word search we can specify a search of all CVs (our database also scans every conversation we have noted down too) and find 'heads of comms', 'supermarkets', we could include some company competitors and include 'FTSE', 'listed' business, 'financial results', 'business journalist' etc. We also can fill out many other fields to narrow our search down; however, my point is about key words.

Within seconds it will pull up hundreds of candidates and it orders them in terms of relevance and colour codes the ones which have all the key words. This quickly gives us a good idea of the most relevant candidates according to what we have asked for.

OK, so I'm sure you're getting a sense of where I'm going with this. We start looking at each candidate from the top and by the time we are at the 50th CV, they are not looking very relevant.

LinkedIn jobs

When we look at LinkedIn and the 250+ applications a role will receive, are those recruiters looking at all of the CVs? My guess is no. Not a chance. They will probably be managing a dozen roles and they won't have the time. Which is also why you rarely get a reply, not even with a thanks but no thanks, they just don't have the capacity.

So how do you cut through?

If you were applying for this Head of Comms supermarket role and you have relevant experience I would suggest that you need to let AI be your friend. Add in ‘Head of Comms’ at least 10 times on your CV, shoehorn 'supermarket' into your profile at least five times, make sure you have said 'FTSE' and 'journalist' half a dozen times. In other words, repetition, repetition, repetition for the key words. Sure, your CV may end up being longer as you are padding out your roles and profile in order to repeat, but so be it.

This made me smile

I volunteer at a charity called Smart Works each month, giving career coaching advice and interview training. One of my clients came in with a six-page CV and a beautifully crafted two-pager. She pushed the six-pager towards me and said that this CV gets her an interview every time on the job-seeker’s website, Indeed. She was going for a fulfilment job and the word ‘fulfilment’ was ALL over it. Repeated in the profile and even in interests. It made me smile but this is the world we are now living in. AI is determining an interview and you need to play with the new rules.

I asked her how she did it; she had asked AI to rewrite her CV for a particular application and upload the application too. If you do this, please remove your name and contact details as we really don't know where this data will end up. But perhaps it's worth a try? When the six-pager gets you the interview, there is something in it.

Time to play the AI game

I speak to loads of amazing comms professionals and some I would add to a shortlist for a role in a heartbeat as they are brilliant. However, the very same people will tell me that they didn't even get a reply on an online application. Perhaps you too are missing out on interviews because you're not playing the AI game.

I can tell you what AI can't do, unlike a search consultant. It doesn't hold trusted relationships, it can't judge performance, personality and it doesn't understand values. It can't look past a 'non perfect' CV so see the brilliant soft skills which are perfect for what the client needs.

My final words

There is so much more to an application than a CV and right now, AI is missing out on AMAZING people when sifting through applications. Yes, it can quickly find a Head of Comms who has worked at a supermarket but there is much more to thoughtful matching than key words.

AI – I'm a big fan – but you're an amateur when it comes to matching well.

Sarah Leembruggen
MD, The Works Search

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