What is CV/Resume parsing?

September 11, 2020

 

iCIMS Staff

3 min read

CV parsing speeds up the application process for candidates and data processing for recruiters. How? By automating the tedious step of filling out forms. How does it work and what are the benefits? Here is a closer look at this essential feature.

Last year, we conducted a candidate experience study on the 120 largest European companies’ career websites. We found it takes on average 30 clicks to submit an application and in 2 out of 3 cases, candidates need to create an account. We wondered: why are organizations still asking so much of their future talent? We thought perhaps they need technology to help them gather CV data faster and more efficiently to harmonize the information in their ATS. And for this has CV parsing been developed.

#1. CV parsing: the automatic analysis of candidate data

CV or resume parsing is the technology that extracts data, usually from a Word or PDF document, and converts it in a structured way, often self-completing a form. It automatically identifies important, relevant terms in a CV such as a candidate’s contact details, language level, years of experience, etc. HR professionals use CV parsing tools to automate the storage, import, and analysis of CV data and text they receive.

#2. Benefits of CV parsing

The point of automation is to free professionals from low-value tasks to allow them to do more and better and value the human touch. Therefore, automation is particularly relevant to HR. Additionally, HR digitalization allows brands to offer more modern, innovative, and very often, faster candidate journey and experience. How does CV parsing fit in all of this?

CV parsing to gain operational efficiency

Candidate data is one of the keys to recruitment today, but it is not enough to simply collect it. It must also be sorted and organized for analysis. Extracting data is an extremely time-consuming task with very little added value. Perhaps this is why companies have asked the candidate to do it herself, aka fill in long forms to apply. However, a quick and efficient application process is directly correlated with a quality candidate experience. The advantages for recruiters are, therefore:

• Convert more qualified candidates: CV parsing promotes attractiveness, thus engaging more candidates in the process.
• Save precious time: according to Textkernal, 90% of CVs can be processed without any human intervention. HR professionals can spend more time meeting candidates instead of sorting CVs.
• Build a strong database of qualified candidates faster and more efficiently.

CV parsing for a better candidate experience

CV parsing extracts key information from a CV in a simple drag & drop. Candidates no longer need to fill in a form with all their data, as they do for each application on each website. Whether integrated into a career site or directly into a chatbot – which collects candidate data – parsing technology allows for a better candidate experience:

• It’s simpler: the candidate drag & drops or submits his or her CV and CV parsing does the rest of the job.
• It’s faster: the candidate saves time and applies in one click.
• More user-friendly and accessible: the CV content matters more than its design.

#3. Why integrate the CV parsing into a chatbot?

A recruiting chatbot is an essential tool of HR digitalization, especially for the pre-selection phase. The point of a chatbot in this case is to sort and filter the most relevant, qualified candidates. For interesting profiles that do not necessarily fit a position, the chatbot can automatically build talent pools. With CV parsing, candidates also save precious time submitting their CV with just a drag & drop. CV parsing thus improves your operational efficiency and boosts your candidate experience.

Discover all the benefits of CV parsing in your recruiting chatbot. Request your demo!