For the College of Engineering at The University of Texas at Tyler, Jobscan has become a core resource. ”It’s the greatest tool that I have seen when it comes to searching for jobs,” said Mark Stark, Career Success Coach.
Mark coaches more than 1,000 students in the College of Engineering between the UT Tyler main campus and the Houston Engineering Center. Since learning of Jobscan in 2019, he has started using the scan tool for every single resume review.
The vast majority of employers use applicant tracking systems to sort and rank candidates. Without the right keywords, a student’s resume will never get noticed. Jobscan helps identify those crucial keywords.
Keyword Matching Gets Students Hired
Mark compares a resume going through ATS to a key starting a car’s ignition.
Here’s his analogy: An employer holds the ignition for a specific automobile. Each applicant holds a different key–their resume. The applicant whose key fits into the car’s ignition perfectly and makes the key turn, gets the job.
“Jobscan puts in the ignition on one side and you put in the key on the other side and it says ‘hey, your key isn’t going to fit into the ignition, but if you make these changes to your key, it is going to get you the job.’”
The devil is in the details when it comes to ATS. Sometimes, a resume will be an almost perfect fit (like trying to fit a Ford Focus key into the ignition of a Ford Escape). Jobscan addresses those details and helps students mold their resume, or key, until it’s just the right fit.
A Simple Problem With A Simple Solution
John Graham*, an engineering student and veteran nearing graduation at the Houston Engineering Center, was feeling frustrated after applying to hundreds of jobs with no responses. Finally, he reached out to Mark for guidance.
Mark is a veteran himself and the two connected immediately. But there was something more that showed Mark what a great job candidate John was–his drive. “Here’s a person that’s motivated. That’s the kind of person I want to work for,” he said.
But as a veteran with years of applicable experience, plus a new impressive degree, John wasn’t convinced his resume needed much fixing. Furthermore, he assumed that meeting with a career coach would result in nit-picking and a complete resume overhaul. “I’ll be honest, I had my own idea of what should be on my resume when I started,” he said.
Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised when during their first meeting together, Mark told him that there was one simple problem with his resume: it lacked the right keywords to get past ATS.
Mark had seen the same scenario play out before. A student walks in with a great personality, soft skills, communication skills, and hard skills but they still aren’t landing interviews. Keyword matching is always the missing link. He offered John one month of Jobscan Premium under his Coach account. Two weeks later, John got hired.
“I had a hiring manager call me and basically ask me if I wanted my dream job,” he said.
That dream job, by the way, is a highly competitive engineering role at NASA, helping to construct the structure that will house the new microgravity simulator used by astronauts to prepare for space travel. Needless to say, John took ‘one giant leap’ toward the opportunity.
“Our Students Deserve This”
Mark believes strongly that the success of his students leads to the continued success of the university. If The University of Texas at Tyler College of Engineering is known for high employment rates immediately following graduation, smart students will flock.
The best job search tools help coaches guide their students both effectively and efficiently, whether there are five students in need of guidance or 500.
When asked what he would say to other university career centers considering Jobscan, he replied, “Our students deserve this. We prepare them for their major, but we are not preparing them appropriately for the transition.”
*Name changed for privacy
