If you’re feeling frustrated and infuriated over recent job searches that don’t seem to get you anywhere, you should know that you aren’t alone. Plenty of jobseekers are growing sick and tired of fighting algorithms and automated resume screenings that have become the norm in modern HR departments. But thankfully, one expert is here to help.
A TikToker is sharing advice that can increase your chances of getting a foot in the door for a sit-down interview, and it just may make you want to revise whatever resumes you’ve put out there so far.
TikToker Mackenzie McNelis (@thatmessismack) tells her viewers to “take specific dates off [their] resumes” in order to fight their way through “algorithms & [antiquated] HR thinking.” The creator’s video has picked up 753,100 views and counting since being uploaded in November 2023.
McNelis says her advice derives from a conversation she had with an HR manager prior to recording her video. She tells her viewers that people in their 20s who are looking for jobs, “are fighting against algorithms that are scanning resumes and throwing out what the company hasn’t programmed into them.”
She adds that “people that are not progressive … and quite possibly [are] a little ageist.”
McNelis says the HR manager she spoke to complimented her for removing the specific months from her work history, leaving only the years that she worked at any given company. “If you have experience doing this job for any length of time and you can talk [about] it, then why do they need to know the dates?” she argues.
McNelis states that she was also warned against filling out dates of academic degrees to fight any inherent ageism in the hiring process.
“There are some very antiquated belief systems within HR,” McNelis says she was told. Again, she contends, “If you have the experience and can speak to the subject matter it shouldn’t matter what age you are.”
Although McNelis directed her warning to younger jobseekers, older workers can often be discriminated against for their age as well. According to an August 2023 survey from iHire, “1 in 3 workers over 50 (33.6%) believe they’ve experienced ageism in their job search.”
@thatmessismack algorithms & anyiquated HR thinking…take specific dates off your resumes! #jobtips #resumetips #fyp ♬ original sound – I’m Mack.
Plenty of commenters, many of them frustrated job seekers, resonated with McNelis’ post.
“This is so infuriating. I’m so tired of having to change my resume so much for a job. This is like a game. take my resume as it is. I’m so over this,” one user wrote in the comments, echoing many other viewers’ feelings.
“I would love to hear more about your cold messaging. I feel like I’m yeeting resumes into the void,” another exasperated viewer wrote.
Another added, “I’m so frustrated. I did everything the way I learned I was supposed to in college and got maybe 20 responses on 500 applications. Never again.”
McNelis has posted a series of videos responding to some of these comments on her account page. In one follow-up video she expresses her hope that the current generation of job hunters is “the generation that breaks all this up.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to McNelis via email for further comment.
