Feb 11, 2010

Diabolical way to get your resume to the top of the pile!

Posted by Wendy Weber

Have you ever heard of “white-fonting?” The practice of considering every possible keyword an employer’s parsing system might seek during it’s resume screening process, and putting them in the margins of your resume in small type, then setting the font color to white.

If you have encountered the frustration of forwarding your resume to a large company that posts job openings, and then utilizes a computer screening program to select the most qualified candidates by scanning for certain keywords that match the job’s required qualifications, read on…

After you “white-font”, no human looking at the document can see the words, but if all goes as planned, the computer will read them, and send your resume straight to the top of the pile!

In an enlightening article in the New York Post, this practice is revealed. Click here to read the entire article.

I am in the trenches, so to speak, reviewing resumes and speaking with employers every day. I had never heard of this practice. Although the article quotes career strategists and executive recruiters who claim to be familiar with white-fonting, it’s the first I’m hearing of it.

Have you heard of white-fonting? As an employer, have you felt deceived by it? As a job seeker, have you been successful by utilizing it?

This story captured my imagination, and I would love to hear from you about whether this practice actually exists, or whether it is “an urban myth.”

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