Nearly all Fortune 500 companies utilize artificial intelligence screening tools in hiring and 40% of all companies are expected to conduct AI interviews in choosing candidates.

Which means the wonders of tech-based hiring are here to stay.

While employers have turned to these tools as a way to enhance efficiency in filling openings, Hilke Schellmann, author of “The Algorithm,” her current book in AI hiring, says applicants are finding it “more complicated than ever to stand out and even make it past the first few rounds.”

No kidding.

The book’s subtitle says it all: “How AI Decides Who Gets Hired, Monitored, Promoted, and Fired and Why We Need to Fight Back.”

Much like job applicants’ attempt to outsmart a robot interviewer on Applicant Tracking System software, the same approach now applies to outsmarting the smarter robots on AI systems — only more so.

With ATS, when a recruiter sorts through résumés in their database, they seek out the key words they’d like to see, based on the posted job description.

Those résumés that include at least four key words (five is better) get a serious look; those that don’t are ignored. So, as before, you need to massage your résumé for every position you apply to, including key words.

Aim for a 75% match because AI might filter out résumés that match the job description 100%, assuming they’ve been copied word for word.

How do you make AI your friend and increase your chances of making it past AI screeners and into an interview with a real, live human? Assuming they still exist.

Based on Schellmann’s insightful book, here are some suggestions:

Make your résumé machine friendly

While creating a great-looking résumé has become easier with online tools, simpler is better in the world of AI screeners.

Rather than relying on a unique design, images or color scheme, a goal for the résumé you submit should be to make it easy for a machine to read.

Use a simple template without images, columns or special characters such as ampersands or exclamation points.

Be aware that there are tech tools to help you “see” your résumé the way an AI screener might. Sites like Jobscan and others allow you to input a job description and compare your résumé to that description to see if your résumé “fits” the role.

Promote your skills, not your schools

Companies are increasingly hiring based on skills and experience rather than strictly relying on potentially biased markers like whether and where a candidate went to college.

To give yourself the best advantage, consider including a skills section in your résumé to make it easier for an AI screener to match your skills to the position.

Adding a skills section to your LinkedIn profile might also be helpful since recruiters often search for a specific skill and the location of a job when looking for talent.

And know that if you do use LinkedIn, how you profile yourself will most likely be tracked.

LinkedIn and other job platforms use those signals to recommend people to recruiters who are qualified and are likely to apply — and may have interacted with the target company before.

Consider using generative AI as part of your job search

While predictive AI screening may work against you, it is possible to use AI to your benefit.

ChatGPT and other large language models can help polish résumés and write compelling cover letters tailored to the job description.

Of course, if you go this route, edit the ChatGPT draft to make it sound more like your own words and phrasing. Don’t be afraid to add hints of personality.

Another way ChatGPT can help you prepare is by suggesting commonly asked interview questions – as well as your best responses.

Before you nervously face a human recruiter, you’ll have polished responses to such job interview chestnuts as, “Tell me about a time you failed and how you bounced back” and “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Just like the “old” days.

Blair is co-founder of Manpower Staffing and can be reached at pblair@manpowersd.com.