A friend in the telecommunications field showed me a fascinating article in Network World about how, to economize on using real people to screen job applicants' resumes, some companies are turning to recruitment software, also known as screening apps, to sift through the pile.

The upshot of this? Not only do writers for websites have to worry about keywords, but so do increasing numbers of job applicants, in a growing number of fields. Moreover, some resume screening algorithms even score applicants based on formatting. Then there is the matter of "pseudo-requirements." That is, lengthy "must have" lists of ultimately unnecessary requirements that serve no other purpose than to eliminate virtually all resumes from consideration, whittling down the pile to a handful, if that. This is an approach akin to demanding an MBA as a screening device for jobs that really don't require one.