1. John Balchunas
Workforce Development Director
NORTH CAROLINA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER

2. What happens when you
submit your application?
SMALL ORGANIZATIONS

3. What happens when you
submit your application?
MEDIUM/LARGE/GLOBAL COMPANIES

4. What happens when you
submit your application?
WHAT IS AN APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM (ATS)?
An enterprise-level software system used to
efficiently automate and manage:
– Job Posting
– Applicant Screening
– Tracking & Reporting

5. What happens when you
submit your application?
WHAT IS A TYPICAL WORKFLOW?
1. A job opening 2. HR reviews the
requisition and
triggers a
posts the job to the
requisition request
web.
5. Someone
gets a job 3. You
offer. apply for
the job.
5. HR and Hiring 4. Applications are
Managers interview reviewed, rejected, or
candidates. forwarded to hiring
manager based on
qualifications.

6. The Résumé Black Hole
3. You
apply for
the job.
4. Applications are
reviewed, rejected, or
forwarded to hiring
manager based on
qualifications.

7. The Résumé Black Hole
WHAT GOES ON IN THE BLACK HOLE?
1. ATS categorizes chunks of information.
2. The system compares your résumé with others.
3. Résumés are filtered and/or ranked based on set
priorities, including:
– Screening Questions
– Geographic
– Referral source
– Contextual use of keywords
4. Recruiters review and identify
candidates.
5. Contact initiated or résumé “kept
on file.”

8. The Résumé Black Hole
A FEW COMMON ATS MISCONCEPTIONS
• Algorithms just search for “keywords.”
• Real people don’t even read the résumés
anymore.
• One wrong answer on an application
form will ruin your chances.
• Knowing someone at the
company doesn’t matter
anymore.

9. How can you better navigate the
résumé black hole?
BEFORE APPLYING FOR A JOB
• Create your foundational résumé.
• Save your résumé in several formats and
know when to use them:
– Microsoft Word/RTF
– PDF
– Plain Text

10. How can you better navigate the
résumé black hole?
CREATING A PLAIN TEXT RÉSUMÉ
1. Use the “Save As…” feature to save your
document as a .TXT file.
2. Open the document in Notepad.
3. Disable “Word Wrap.”
4. Use spacing, capitalization, and
plain text lines to restore
formatting.

11. How can you better navigate the
résumé black hole?
CREATING A PLAIN TEXT RÉSUMÉ(1)
In
Word/PDF, everything
looks
good

12. How can you better navigate the
résumé black hole?
CREATING A PLAIN TEXT RÉSUMÉ (2)
Everything gets garbled
when converting to
plain text by:
– You
– Cut/Paste
– ATS

13. How can you better navigate the
résumé black hole?
CREATING A PLAIN TEXT RÉSUMÉ (3/4)
Use Notepad to
reintroduce formatting
that is safe for
cutting and
pasting

14. How can you better navigate the
résumé black hole?
WHEN APPLYING FOR A JOB ONLINE
• Customize your résumé based on the job posting.
• Upload the .DOC or cut/paste information from
the .TXT version.
– PDFs can be problematic for ATS systems
• Fill out all fields, including salary information.
• Take your time with open-ended
screening questions.
• Use your professional network to let
people at the target company know
you applied

15. How can you better navigate the
résumé black hole?
WHEN APPLYING FOR A JOB ONLINE
• Prioritize your job targets at a potential
employer.
– DON’T apply to every job you feel qualified to fill.
– Applying to many unrelated positions can come across
as indecisiveness or desperation
• DO apply online, whether you sent your
résumé to a person or not.
• DO respond promptly to any
correspondence from the company.

16. Thoughts and Questions?
John Balchunas
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
John_balchunas@ncbiotech.org
www.ncbiotech.org
NORTH CAROLINA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER