What is resume parsing?

If you’re a human resources professional, you know that a resume is the core of many job applications—and manual resume parsing means they can also be a time-consuming document.

Resumes often arrive as word documents or PDFs, and hiring managers or other members of the HR team have to parse through them manually, pulling out the relevant information to enter into an ATS or other software. This process is labor-intensive and time-consuming. If that information doesn’t get entered, your team might be missing vital candidate information like work history, education, or skills, making it harder to sort through and eliminate applicants, or keep candidate information on file for future roles.

That’s where resume parsing software comes in. These tools take the manual labor out of the process. First, resumes are uploaded into the software (or they are already there, if your tool is integrated with your ATS). Then, the tool scans each resume and extracts all the necessary information—and your team can determine what that information should be. That information is organized in the system so you have a clear view of any candidate’s work experience, education, necessary skills, certifications, and contact information.

Resume parsing can be complicated because resume formats and language use vary between applications. The best tools have smart processing systems that can understand these complexities and improve over time.

Should we utilize resume parsing?

There are many benefits of embracing resume parsing, including:

• Time savings from eliminating manual parsing and reducing human error in viewing resumes.
• Reducing unintentional bias by viewing only candidate qualifications without information like name, gender, or age.
• ATS integrations mean you have easy access to candidate information all in one place.
• Finding better fit candidates by ensuring their resume matches with your qualification requirements.
• Still, there are some considerations your team should be aware of, namely that good candidates might slip through the cracks of your resume parser.
  • Titles for similar roles can vary widely, so a candidate might have the right work history experience even if the tool doesn’t recognize that job title as a match.
  • Date ranges can sometimes confuse resume parsers.
  • An applicant might get passed over if keywords in their resume don’t exactly match your job description.

Optimizing your system for resume parsing

• Make sure your parsing tool recognizes a wide variety of language.
• If possible, use a tool with machine learning capabilities so that your resume parser understands more terms and phrases over time.
• Make sure your tool can parse resumes in different popular formats, like PDFs and Word documents.
• Use a tool that integrates seamlessly with your ATS and other systems so candidate information is connected to their profiles.
• Test the accuracy of your resume parser—it will only save you time if it is accurate enough to send data straight to your ATS without review.

Does PeopleAdmin’s HigherEd platform have a resume parsing function?

Yes! PeopleAdmin utilizes Daxtra’s resume parsing software to enable automatic resume parsing for HigherEd institutions. With our seamless integration, resume parsing can happen directly in your ATS, meaning all your data is connected to applicants in your system from the start.