Would you like to zoom past the competition when you apply for desirable jobs? Jobscan is a service that helps you optimise your resumé and LinkedIn profile, with the aim of doing just that.

This Jobscan review looks at whether it’s worth trying it out, or whether it’s all a load of meaningless hype.

Before I start, I should point out that I’ve personally worked in the cut-throat world of recruitment in the past. As such, I’m no stranger to sifting CVs and searching Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) for perfect candidates.

I can therefore start this Jobscan review by saying that optimising your resumé can definitely help you to move it closer to the top of the pile.

What is Jobscan?

Jobscan is an online service that helps you assess and improve your resumé when applying for jobs. In theory, this should mean you win more interviews and have a better chance of getting your dream role.

If you visualise a human being sifting through all the CVs they receive in response to a job advert, there’s a good chance you’re wrong.

Many recruiters, including 99% of Fortune 500 companies (according to Jobscan) use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to find suitable candidates. These systems scan for keywords, or other specific details, in order to shortlist candidates.

As such, if you don’t include those keywords and details, you run the risk of your resume not making the cut, and NEVER being looked at by the recruiter or hiring manager. Jobscan provides detailed feedback to help you improve everything from the look and feel of your CV, to the balance of keywords that automated systems will look for.

Is Jobscan Legit?

Jobscan is a legit service, and it’s easy to find positive online feedback from users. Jobscan reviews on Sitejabber are largely good, with one user saying that starting to use the tool resulted in twice as many callbacks from job applications. 

As with anything online, there will always be people who find something to criticise, but we found no evidence to indicate that Jobscan is a scam or anything other than legitimate.

The Importance of Tailored CVs

Whether you’re applying for your first job, making the switch to home working, shooting for an executive-level position, or even pitching for freelance gigs, tailoring resumés and applications is crucial.

Something I’ve seen time and time again (going back two decades!) is lazy job-hunters firing off the same “boilerplate” CV for dozens of different jobs. This “throw lots of s&*t at the wall and hope some sticks” approach doesn’t work, and those CVs rarely survive the recruiter’s first “sift” – let alone a sift done by a machine.

As I said earlier, I have personal experience of this. When I worked in IT recruitment (they were some dark times!), there wasn’t a single consultant in my office (me aside) who had any real IT knowledge. They didn’t know their CRM from ERP, or their Linux from their Windows Server!

As such, much of the job relied on using “the database” to search for the right keywords within the resumés of thousands of candidates who had applied.

Obviously time and technology have moved on. But speaking realistically, things have actually become far MORE automated. It’s not necessarily going to be a person who pulls you out as a suitable match for your dream job – it could well be an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) doing most of the heavy lifting.

It makes sense to use Jobscan for your ATS optimization as it is likely to be faster and more precise than doing so manually.

Another advantage is that Jobscan makes it their business to find out what applicant tracking software different companies use so that it can help you make smarter decisions.

Simply repeating back the keywords in a job posting could get you through the ATS but lead to a resumé that does not appeal at all to the humans who will then set eyes on it. Jobscan can often let you know if a company’s applicant tracking system uses AI and will therefore recognize different tenses, acronyms or even abbreviations of skills and keywords.

What is a good Jobscan Match Rate Score?

Jobscan places a lot of emphasis on having a score of 80% or more but this is not always ideal. Over-optimizing your resumé could make it unattractive to the people who will look at it once you have got through the ATS screening.

It is worth remembering that some job postings include wish lists alongside job requirements and in those cases, even the company in question does not expect to find an applicant that checks all the boxes.

You should use the Resume Optimization Tool to help you improve your resume. It should not dictate exactly what it looks like. Always remember to be honest and ensure the resumé reflects who you are as an individual.

Jobscan Free Trial

As mentioned above, in addition to the limited “free forever” plan, there’s also a Jobscan free trial that allows you to try almost all of the premium functionality for a period of 14 days.

There are a couple of caveats to keep in mind if you decide to go for this trial. Full LinkedIn optimisation is only included after the trial period. This is understandable because otherwise people could simply use the free trial to give their LinkedIn a make-over and then cancel!

The second thing to note is that the free trial is only on offer as part of the three-monthly billing option.

Part of me feels inclined to highlight these intricacies as a negative in my Jobscan review. I certainly know that people often rail against such policies.

However, there are two sides to this:

MANY people sign up to free trials for all kinds of things to grab what they can get with no intention of ever becoming a paying customer. Companies have a right to mitigate against this kind of thing. As long as you pay attention and remember to cancel before the trial ends, should you decide to, you should have no issues.

Optimising Your Resumé

The core feature of Jobscan is the ability to copy and paste your resumé alongside the job description for a role you’re interested in.

The system’s algorithm then gives you a hugely detailed analysis of how good a match your CV is, along with some very detailed suggestions for improving it.

The kind of things the system covers include:

• Whether your mentioned skills match the job requirements.
• How well your education level matches what the company is looking for.
• Small tweaks to help your CV comply with the kind of things that Automated Tracking Systems look for.
• The formatting of your resumé, the overall length, and whether it includes the right kind of subject headings.
• Whether you’ve included clichés or negative phrases that should be eliminated.
• Specific matching skills – particularly relevant for technical and specialist positions.
• “Industry breadth” – an analysis of other skills closely related to the job in question.

Optimising for LinkedIn

A lot of recruitment takes place on LinkedIn these days. Even if you send in a CV for a specific job, the chances are the recruiter will check out your LinkedIn profile too. Companies also often use LinkedIn to headhunt for exactly the right new hires.

As such, you need your LinkedIn account to sparkle and match the kind of jobs you are trying to find. That’s where Jobscan’s LinkedIn functionality comes in. As stated above, you only get this with paid versions of the software.

In essence, the LinkedIn scan is quite similar to the job scan, but layers on other important areas of advice, such as how to produce a “high impact” summary for the top of your LinkedIn profile. If you’re actively looking for work, this is very much worthwhile.

Additional Jobscan Features

• Writing guide, examples, and templates.The site offers jobseekers help with their resumés, LinkedIn profile and also cover letters. It is clear that Jobscan has used recruiting experts to create their materials and ensure that they reflect industry best practices.
• Resume Manager and Scan History.These are are particularly useful tools if you are applying for lots of different positions, as they allow you to organize and quickly access the different versions of your resumé.

Conclusion

Jobscan is a very complete package for serious job hunters. The information it provides is useful and actionable. I do believe it will help many people get beyond that “first sift” and through to interview stage.

But is it a good fit for everyone? Well, that’s where the conclusion of my Jobscan review gets a little more complicated, so let’s look at some specifics.