Are you getting a 25% response rate to your resume? If you are, stop reading, this article isn't for you.

If you're getting less than a 25% response rate to your resume, then your resume is working against you and blocking you from interviews for top positions. Unfortunately, most of the population falls into the under 25% category.

Have you ever complained that your resume goes into a black hole, and that no one ever looks at it?

Guess what, you're probably right. If you'd like to do something to change that, read on.....

The database is used for word searches on the resume - not the cover letter. In most cases, the cover letter gets stripped from your resume. Most of us (Boomers, Gen X & Y) were taught to write a static resume, and customize with a cover letter. Sound familiar?

And it worked in the olden days of paper resumes. But in the internet age, where resumes are delivered electronically, loaded into a HRIS database, and searched, the cover letter is stripped and not included in the search. Throw out the teaching of old, and embrace a new more effective way of resume strategy - Resume Search Optimization.

If your resume is searched in a database, it's searched for by keywords. Have you ever done a keyword search yourself? You probably do one every day of your life...it's called Google. Companies pay big money to consultants to search optimize their web pages, to make them appear at the top of a Google search.

You can do the same thing with your resume. But it requires you to think a different way.

Start with a solid base resume that paints you as a subject matter expert in your field. Then take the job description, and load your resume with key words in the job description.

So how many resume templates will you have?

One for each job you apply to...because to search optimize your resume effectively, it turns your resume into a single use document. Each employer gets a heavily customized resume.

Yes, it takes a ton of time per resume. But it gives you an unfair advantage, of gaming the HRIS database, and forcing your resume to the top 2-3%. And gets your resume seen by humans....at least 25% of the time.

There's a lot more to it, and I'll continue with subsequent postings to describe the details.

Article by Phil Rosenberg, President, reCareered & Rainmakers Global and courtesy of reCareered blog.