If not, you should consider it, since it would add one more tool in your career search toolkit to help you focus on the right target companies and positions.
As you may already be aware, resumes and applications are now accepted almost strictly in digital form through online processes, and with that, almost all of those submissions are first scanned by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). In addition, your LinkedIn profile is being scanned by HR organizations and recruiters looking for specific types of talent.
One of the ways they capture the skills and experience they are looking for is by first establishing a set of criteria the candidate needs to have, such as M&A experience, P&L Management, Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, etc. These are called Keywords or Key Phrases and allow the hiring entities to match requirements to candidates on a broad scale when they are dealing with hundreds of resumes.
The ATS matches the employer’s selected keywords against what is found in your scanned resume, and you receive a percentage match result like 27% or 80%. Resumes that pass the threshold limit will then generally be passed on to a human in HR, while resumes that don’t meet the threshold may not be seen by a person at all.
What jobscan.co provides is a tool that allows you to ensure that you have the keywords you need for a specific type of role. An easy way to prepare is to find a job description of a role you would like to target. Then copy and paste the contents into Jobscan. Then do the same for the text in your resume, copy and paste that in as well. At that point you can click “scan” and it will do what the ATS systems do. It will give you a list of keywords, numerically ranked, in order of how many times they appear in both documents.
This is a great tactical tool to use for tuning up your resume with exactly the same words that the hiring company is looking for (assuming they all apply to you!). Keep in mind that this is to help make sure you have the same wording and spelling, not to invent new skills.
This can also be utilized as a strategic tool, because as you aggregate the results of multiple scans, it will help you to understand whether you are targeting the roles for which you are best qualified. It can help you research and evaluate a number of related job titles and to see where you match the best with your skills and experience.
Think this tool may support you? If so, you can try a couple scans for free, after which unlimited access can be purchased for a monthly fee. Most people should only need to subscribe for about one month, as that should be plenty of time to do sufficient scans to help direct your search efforts.