How to ensure your CV is AI ready!

A recent government publication exploring the future of work, reported that 99% of Fortune 500 Companies currently use AI somewhere within their hiring process! This figure is expected to rapidly grow as mid-size companies join the trend and integrate more and more machine learning into their recruitment process.

What does AI mean for candidates?

The use of AI will revolutionise the way we find work and recruitment will no longer be a case of posting a job and waiting for the CVs to roll in.

 Algorithms will be programmed with keywords for bots to search every corner of the internet and find a short list of active and passive candidates. It will then be the job of the recruiter to get potential candidates on board and weed out anything the AI has missed.

The advantages for candidates will be significant, as the rise of remote working makes geography incidental and doors open to a world of opportunity that was simply inaccessible before. This new world of work is exciting,  but requires a mind shift from candidates as well as those serious about broadening and fast tracking their careers. Maintaining a professional digital profile needs to be an ongoing matter of good practice, and the way we write CVs and think about the job application process needs to evolve, to ensure data about both soft and hard skills can be found by the search algorithms.

How do I maintain a professional digital profile?

• It important to keep your LinkedIn profile and industry specific platforms/ relevant social media up to date to always highlight skills and achievements.
• On LinkedIn make sure you use the full summary word count to share your successes, skills and value.
• Integrate industry key words and soft skills into job descriptions and professional profiles on your industry specific platforms.
• Show what you are proud of and what you have achieved, as well as what projects or initiatives you have participated in.
• Keep portfolios up to date, sharing your work and projects on LinkedIn as well as industry related file sharing hubs such as Github to maximise your exposure and increase your professional and keyword visibility. Include as much detail as possible; what was your responsibility? What was the scope of the role? What was the success/ impact of the project? What would you like to expand or do next?
• Give the bots access to your thinking; write content, give opinions, inspire others.

How do I optimise my CV?

Dynamics of the world of work are changing rapidly.  Those with a mind-set of what they want and the ability to communicate it in a data driven format on their CV will be more likely to be recognised by algorithms and rewarded for it.

• A CV should ideally remain within 2 pages with the usual detail on academics, professional qualifications, achievements, roles, responsibilities and reason for leaving throughout your career. Bots can search any amount of data in any format, but bear in mind the CV will be on the desk of a human at the end of the day.
• Hobbies and interests are important to include, even if not necessarily relevant to the role. They show an element of your personality and give an idea of how shared interests will fit into a team even if you are a hybrid or remote worker.
• With the increase in remote/ hybrid work, soft skills are more important than ever. Bots will need to read data to spot soft skills and personality traits that would previously be picked up in conversation with a recruiter. Are you self-motivated, organised, adaptable, independent?   Integrate them into role descriptions, write them in bullets or include a few lines in summary at the top of the CV.
• Bots can’t read between the lines and need to understand the nuances of career progression. The CV will need data driven detail about the scope of your career that a human would intuitively pick up in conversation. A Java programmer after 15 years is different to a Java programmer on day 1.
• AI must be able to read the past as well as understand the future. Include a summary at the top of your CV that shows your ambition and where you see yourself working, what projects you would like to do next and how you can add value to the business (using keywords for the role).
• Finally, don’t forget to include your work style preference; permanent, contract, remote freelance hybrid.

Following these tips and changing your mindset to consider a CV not just a summary of life events to date but a projection of aspirations for the future, will ensure it is AI ready as we step into the brave new world of work.  Alongside this, making sure that your professional presence on industry specific platforms is regularly updated, whether you are actively looking for work or not,  will ensure you are maximising your visibility to the algorithms and potential to be headhunted for your next role.

Have you updated your CV or your recruitment practices with AI in mind? How have you found that has changed or improved the recruitment process from a candidate perspective?