When you’re applying for jobs, it’s easy to think that all decision-makers view your resume the same way. But in reality, the way your resume is assessed depends on who—or what—is reviewing it. From the recruiter to the hiring manager, and even the ATS (Applicant Tracking System), each has its own priorities and methods for evaluating your qualifications.

In this blog, we’ll explore the mindset of each one and offer practical tips for tailoring your resume to catch their attention. Because let’s face it: knowing what each party is looking for can make the difference between landing an interview and getting passed over.

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1. The ATS Bot: The Gatekeeper

Before your resume even lands in front of a recruiter or hiring manager, it’s most likely going through an ATS (Applicant Tracking System). An ATS is a bot that scans resumes for relevant keywords and phrases before passing them on to human eyes. Its job is to filter out resumes that don’t match the job description based on these keywords.

What the ATS Looks For

• Keywords: ATS bots scan resumes for specific keywords related to the job description, including hard skills, soft skills, job titles, and industry terminology. If your resume doesn’t have the right keywords, it may never make it past the bot.
• Formatting: ATS systems don’t always handle complex formatting well. Fancy fonts, graphics, and non-standard layouts can confuse the system and result in your resume being discarded or misinterpreted.
• Consistency: ATS bots often look for consistency in terms of job titles, skills, and qualifications. For example, if a job description calls for “Project Management” experience and your resume lists “Project Lead,” the bot may not pick it up as a match.

How to Appeal to the ATS Bot

• Use keywords directly from the job description. If the job calls for “data analysis” or “project management,” make sure those terms appear somewhere on your resume (provided they are relevant to your experience).
• Avoid using creative formatting (like tables or text boxes) that might confuse the ATS. Stick to standard resume templates.
• If you’ve held roles with similar responsibilities but different titles, use both the official job title (e.g., “Project Manager”) and a variation that might be used in the job description (e.g., “Project Lead”).

2. The Recruiter: The Talent Scout

Recruiters are often the first line of defense when it comes to your job application. They act as the scout looking for clarity and organization, responsible for narrowing down the pool of candidates before passing it along to the hiring manager. Their job is to quickly scan resumes to see if a candidate meets the general qualifications for the role.

What a Recruiter Looks For
Recruiters don’t have time to dig deep into every resume. Instead, they focus on high-level formatting and general best practices. Here’s what a recruiter is primarily concerned with:

• Overall Organization and Readability: Recruiters look for resumes that are easy to read and follow. They don’t want to spend time deciphering complex layouts or fishing through dense blocks of text.
• Key Information Accessibility: The recruiter wants to be able to spot key information quickly: your contact info, professional summary, skills, and work experience. If it’s buried under a confusing design or non-standard formatting, your resume is more likely to be skipped.
• General Best Practices: Recruiters look for resumes that follow industry-standard practices: clear headings, bullet points for readability, and concise descriptions of roles and responsibilities.

How to Appeal to the Recruiter

• Keep the format clean and professional. Stick to standard fonts (like Arial or Calibri), and use bold or italics sparingly to highlight important information.
• Use clear section headings like "Experience," "Skills," and "Education."
• Make sure the resume is free from typos or grammatical errors—recruiters notice these quickly.
• Focus on a broad overview of your experience without going too deep into specifics (that’s for the hiring manager to explore).

2. The Hiring Manager: The Decision Maker

Once a recruiter passes your resume to the hiring manager, the real deep dive begins. Hiring managers are responsible for making the final decision on who gets an interview, and they care less about formatting and more about substance. While metrics may get you past the recruiter in the last round, managers are looking for specificity and results relevant to the role. You can’t fudge your impact story and managers can detect BS when they see it.

What a Hiring Manager Looks For

• Specific Achievements: Hiring managers are looking for results. They want to see measurable achievements and examples of how you’ve added value in your previous roles.
• Relevant Skills: Hiring managers will zoom in on the skills that directly relate to the role they’re hiring for. They want to know that you have the technical and soft skills needed to succeed.
• Experience Alignment: While a recruiter might care about general experience, a hiring manager wants to see detailed examples of how your previous work mirrors the specific responsibilities and requirements of the role they’re hiring for.

How to Appeal to the Hiring Manager

• Be specific. Don’t just list responsibilities—show the hiring manager what you’ve accomplished in each role. Use numbers, percentages, and tangible results to demonstrate success (e.g., “Increased sales by 25% over six months” or “Reduced customer churn by 15%”). 
  
  • Pro tip: But be strategic about the metrics you share and make sure they matter to the hiring manager. For example, working on 10 iterations of a customer portal in your current role may be impressive at your company but not necessarily at a startup.
• Tailor your resume to the job description. If the job requires project management experience, highlight your specific project management experience and achievements.
• Focus on the skills that are most relevant to the role, but don’t overdo it. They want quality, not quantity, so focus on your strongest, most applicable skills.

Tailoring Your Resume for Success

Understanding the mindset of an ATS, recruiter, and hiring manager is crucial for tailoring your resume to fit all three. Here’s how you can optimize your resume to appeal to each party:

• For the ATS Bot: Focus on using relevant keywords, avoid fancy formatting, and include standard headings like “Experience,” “Skills,” and “Education.”
• For the Recruiter: Keep your resume clean, easy to read, and well-organized. Use bullet points and concise descriptions to highlight key details.
• For the Hiring Manager: Be specific. Quantify your accomplishments and focus on the skills and experiences that directly align with the role you’re applying for.

By keeping the needs and priorities of the recruiter, hiring manager, and ATS in mind, you can craft a resume that maximizes your chances of making it through each stage of the hiring process—and ultimately landing that interview.

How Odyseek Takes the Guesswork Out and Optimizes for All Three

At Odyseek, we understand that tailoring your resume for a recruiter, hiring manager, and ATS bot can be overwhelming. That’s why our platform optimizes your resume for all three simultaneously. Odyseek’s AI-powered tools analyze job descriptions, identify the relevant keywords, and ensure your resume is formatted in a way that’s easy for both bots and human eyes to read. Whether you're trying to impress a recruiter with clarity, show a hiring manager your specific accomplishments, or pass through an ATS system with the right keywords, Odyseek takes the guesswork out of the equation. By streamlining the process and offering actionable suggestions, we help you create a resume that appeals to every step of the hiring process—maximizing your chances of landing the job.

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