Yes, they do. Resumes provide a consolidated view of your qualifications, job experience, and accomplishments in a clearly digestible format. This document allows recruiters to efficiently review what you have done in the past and assess how well your skills match job requirements.
With job competition so high, updated resumes allow you to stand out. Not only can you communicate your relevant job experience, but also your personality and professionalism that speaks beyond job titles and roles. Because of this, resumes, when done correctly, can give you a critical advantage in the candidate pool, but only if they’re constructed well.
To begin, you’ll want to reflect back on your job experience and really focus on your biggest accomplishments. Some things to focus on when you update your resume include:
Structure in itself is very important for synthesizing your experience and outlining your strengths as a candidate. Now, the structure will also depend on the type of job you’re looking for, whether it’s federal or corporate employment. For help on this, check out our free guide on federal resume writing vs regular resume writing.
One thing you have to remember when submitting an updated resume, though, is that it’s not just looked at by people, but also by software. Getting your resume in front of human eyes is only the second hurdle in the application process.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are software used by HR and recruiting professionals to collect and vet resumes and candidate information in the hiring process. About 98% of big companies use some form of ATS.
Odds are, when you upload and submit your updated resume, the file is then sent to, uploaded by, and reviewed by an ATS before a person even looks at it. In many cases, the ATS plays a major role in recommending or eliminating a candidate based on their resume.
Think of an ATS as a digital database that stores and reviews your resume. Leveraging resume parsing algorithms, keyword matching, and business-calibrated ranking logic, the system will prioritize flagging and scoring resumes with a strong job match for human users to review. In other words, for your resume to have a chance to be given deep consideration by recruiters today, you need to incorporate proven ATS resume optimization techniques.
This isn’t as difficult as you might think, and it actually works to your benefit. By updating your resume to the specific job, you’ll more clearly outline how your experience meets the role requirements.
The key to ATS optimization is resume personalization. You’ll want to apply all the best practices mentioned above and update your resume with your latest, most relevant work, but you’ll want to do it in a way that uses language and keywords presented in the job description.
Just as you would personalize a letter to a friend, your resume should touch on specific points and skills that are shared in the job description. This is one of the best practices for job search optimization for 2025.
For example, a job description states that the candidate would be expected to lead analysis of email marketing performance and possess knowledge of Scrum.
If you have these skills and relevant examples in your work experience, focus on them and use similar phrasing from the description to do so. This greatly increases your chances of getting the attention of recruiters for the job you’re interested in.
Surveys have found that 83% of company recruiters preferred highly personalized resumes that were tailored to match the job description. This is because it demonstrates:With that said, here are a few ways you can update your resume to be ATS optimized:
If this seems like a challenge, you have options for professional resume help, especially if you partner with a staffing agency that also provides resume writing services or guidance.
