Not Getting Interview Calls? Those Pesky Workplace Acronyms Could Be The Culprit!

To get that first interview call, your resume should be pristine and natural for anyone to read - from the layperson to a technical/military expert.  

Using common workplace acronyms in your resume could be negatively impacting your job search because the automated tracking system (ATS) or the person reading your resume may not be familiar with them. Why spell the words out?  Employers choose specific keywords for ATS systems to filter and find the right candidates and may not use their related acronyms.
 

When preparing your resume, here are a few simple basic rules to help navigate your resume through to an interview.

The first rule: when choosing to insert common acronyms, be sure to spell out the complete wording once because abbreviations such as ATM for automated teller machine could have been spelled out as qualifications by the company as “automated,” “teller,” and “machine,” and the system would not recognize “ATM.”

The second rule: don’t capitalize all words that have acronyms (always capitalize acronyms and proper names).

The final rule: take the time to make sure your acronyms are correct.  Easy mistakes can be costly – i.e., the medical acronym "HIPAA" s often incorrectly written on resumes as "HPPAA".