What Is Jobscan?

Jobscan is a company based in Seattle, Washington (It works outside the USA as well). The founder created Jobscan after struggling with his own online job search. In fact, he created a similar tool for himself when he realized just how keyword-oriented employer software was.

The Jobscan software is an online keyword analysis tool that tells a job seeker how to optimize his or her resume for specific job postings and conquer the top Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) used by employers. It’s incredibly easy to use. Trust me, I used it and I got the job.

In days gone by, employers would have people in HR who would manually go through job applications from prospective employees and score them against specified criteria. Nowadays, employers use ATS software to scan job applications – no human being looks through you application form until shortly before your interview.

The ATS software scans the application form that you submit to see how many keywords you have used; the more keywords you use, the more likely your prospective employer is to shortlist you.

Jobscan replicates that process BEFORE you submit your application form, in the comfort of your own home (or in the library or wherever you are completing the form) and it can be used in one of two ways to help you get shortlisted for the job you are looking at.

Applying for a job using an application form

You can copy-and-paste the job description/person specification (JD/PS) into one field on the screen and copy-and-paste your answers into the other field, and click the big blue Scan button.

Job scan will then scan your responses and the JD/PS and give you a score based on how many of the keywords in the JD/PS you have used in your and give you recommendations on how to ‘optimise’ your answers. Ideally you will need to get a score of 80% or more, in order to be shortlisted.

Applying for a job using a resume/cv

Simply copy-and-paste the text from your resume/cv into one field (or upload your resume), copy-and-paste the text from the job posting into the other field, and click the big blue Scan button.

Jobscan goes through the same process of giving you a score and recommendations on how to get a higher score. Once again, you want to get 80% or more if you want to be shortlisted.

How much does Jobscan Cost?

Job seekers can get a few free scans before needing to create an account.

You can only get additional free scans by referring your friends to Jobscan.

You can also sign up for a monthly subscription, but if you’re shortlisted and get the job then you won’t need to do that (and you may even have a free scan or two left).

What else will Jobscan help me with?

When you scan your resume and job posting, Jobscan will give you a Scan Report with a Match Rate based on an analysis of:

• Your Hard Skills
• Your Education 
• Your Job Title
• Your Soft Skills
• Other Keywords

Your Scan Report will also identify your word count, measurable results, and words to avoid as well as evaluate your section headings, file type if uploading your resume, date formatting, and job level match. Don’t worry, though; these don’t affect your Match Rate.

Why do these details matter?

Mirroring the Hard Skills, Job Title, Soft Skills, and Other Keywords in your resume will greatly improve your ranking by ATS. 

The Keyword Comparison section not only identifies which keywords your resume is missing, but it also identifies the frequency of that keyword in both your resume and the job posting. While Jobscan notes that frequency matters most in the top third of your resume, ATS has evolved to identify where keywords are placed throughout your resume and correlate that frequency with the dates in your work history. If you use that keyword in each job description in your Experience section spanning 10+ years, ATS will recognize that you have over 10 years of experience in that particular skill.

While some Applicant Tracking Systems don’t recognize varying word tenses, modern ATS is using artificial intelligence to recognize key messages as well as keywords. This gives you more flexibility in using varying word tenses, plurals, and similar keywords.

Website address: jobscan.co