Scam: “Your resume needs to be ATS friendly!” – but it already is!

A client of mine from earlier this year, Gene, a Director of Sales, recently wrote me concerned that he’s being told “your resume is not ATS-friendly”. (Gene is really a composite of three people who contacted me in the same week about this topic. I make them one person here for ease of reading.)

Since I just redid his resume with him, naturally, this caught my attention. All my resumes ARE ATS-friendly. AND they look great to the human reader. I reassured him of this. And I shared this:

It used to be – years ago – that I’d do an ATS version AND a “pretty” Word version, but the technology has changed so much that today an ATS version looks very readable to a human, and a Word version can readily pass the ATS-friendly test. Mine do. And those done by other properly trained careers professionals do. It’s rare for anyone to do the separate versions any more.

So where did this “you need it to be more ATS” come from?

“A recruiter told me that”, Gene answered. I was immediately suspicious because recruiters I know would tell me if my resumes were not compliant, but they have not (I show them regularly to recruiters). And legitimate recruiters are more concerned with how the candidate matches, than with an exact recitation of keywords. 

I asked Gene, “Do you know this recruiter, meaning have you worked with this person before?”

“No, it’s someone handling a job posting I replied to a few days ago. They said this to me via email.” 

Aha! Now this was getting clearer.

My fellow coaches and I talk about this new ploy. This is how it goes: Fake Resume Writer/Career Coach Who Cannot Get Clients Any Other Way puts a (likely) fake job posting out there. People assume it’s legit so they apply. They get a response that says “You look like you’re an amazing fit for this role, but we can’t submit your resume until it’s ATS compliant! [a word that sounds more official than “friendly”]. Now fortunately, WE can take care of that for you. For only $499, we can make it sail through the ATS system so that a hiring manager can be looking at it THIS AFTERNOON!!!” Then, “All credit cards accepted…go here to learn more…”.

Over a very short time, the story shifts from one of “applying for this job” to one of “fixing your resume” and “paying us to help you land your next great job!”. Along the way, the candidate gets offered additional services (that I provide a resume client for free), such as $129 for a cover letter or $159 “for an AI-driven search for job openings that YOU want to find!” (But wait, there’s more!)

The candidate is now consumed with fixing a problem that doesn’t exist, and these nameless people have promised them the world once you do the “fix”. To many job candidates, especially those who’ve been between jobs for a while, this sounds like a gift! They now think, “No one else has told me about this, no wonder I haven’t been getting responses to my resume!” Except after a few weeks, they’ll see other fake job posters offering similar services – whether or not it’s needed. One hopes that karma exists for these charlatans. And that candidates get wiser earlier in their searches.

Now here is where I say “no matter how wonderful your resume is, your strategy should instead be to focus on networking, not resume-sending, because done right, that’s the approach that works.” I reminded Gene of that, urging him to refresh his contacts if needed, by talking with them again or by going to Sales Executive association meetings and making vital connections there. 

So if you’ve run into these fake ads and come-ons for ATS resume rewrite services, ignore them. If you need to, like Gene did with me, be in touch with your (real) career coach to confirm that your resume is already ATS-compliant. Chances are 99% that it likely already is.