Job applicants are getting creative in trying to circumvent the tAI systems that support the first screening process for many companies, but “hacking” your resume can have just the opposite effect.
In recent years, companies have forced job seekers to do more to prove they fit the organization, including endless rounds of interviews, detailed work tests and increasingly AI vetting. An October survey by Resume Builder found that half of the companies surveyed are already using AI in the recruitment processand 70% planned to install it by the end of 2025.
In an attempt to fight back, some candidates are reviving a loophole designed to fool AI screening systems and increase the odds of your resume falling into human hands. The alleged “white font” hack involves stuffing your resume with related keywords from the job ad in small font and white letters so that screening software can tell you’re an attractive candidate, even if hiring managers can’t see the text themselves.
Although the trick has been around for years, it has resurfaced as applicants looked for any way to help defeat the AI-driven systems that have emerged to root out apps.
The white-font hack may work for some keyword-searching applicant tracking systems, but it’s still not as secure as job seekers might think, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, chief innovation officer at the recruiting firm ManpowerGroupsaid the The Washington Post.
“Does it work? Yes,” Chamorro-Premuzić told the newspaper. “But that could contribute to 10% or 15% of the variability between the resumes that end up being accepted and the ones that are rejected.”
HR experts at TikTok also pointed out that companies have picked up on this trick and using it (pun intended) could get you blacklisted by the company.
@farahsharghi #greenscreen @Dan.from.HR Hack for white font does not work #biography #tips for work #careeradvice #job hunting #remote jobs #job seeker #ats ♬ Rich Minion – Yeat
@maddie_macho Replying to @Najja #greenscreen what a good ATS resume looks like and why white font hacking is crazy, in a bad way lol #resumeoptimization #tips for employment #atsprijatelski resume #optimization of keywords #seo #resumehack ♬ original sound – Maddie Macho
However, with the unemployment rate in the US at 4.1%, compared to 3.8 percent in October last yearmany people are desperate to win a position by any means necessary. You will find this sentiment all over social media, especially on forums like subreddit “jobsearchhacks,” where users often talk about applying to dozens of companies over months with little success.
One user by the name of Hopeful_alchemist on Reddit he wrote in the post that they applied for 52 jobs and got to the interview stage 10 times, but even after six months they didn’t have a job.
AND poll from the consulting company PwC also claims that entry-level jobs are especially difficult to come by. The survey found that in 2023, only 61% of HR managers were looking for entry-level candidates, compared to 79% a year earlier.
