Job Seekers are Bypassing Filters and Bots: How White Fonting Can Harm a Job Application

By Moon Harper

Mar 29, 2024 01:00 AM EDT

Looking for a job often feels like a numbers game, which involves strategies to increase the chances of your resume reaching the right people.

However, a viral TikTok tip called white fonting might be less effective. Farah Sharghi, a recruiter with extensive experience at companies like Google, Lyft, and TikTok, dismisses it as bad advice.

White Fonting is a Bad Idea

The concept originates from common advice to customize your resume by incorporating keywords from the job description. In this method, applicants are advised to copy the job description, reduce its size to a small font, change the text color to white, and hide it on their resume. This makes it invisible to human readers but detectable by AI screening tools, potentially advancing them to the next stage of the selection process.

Sharghi finds the trick frustrating, noting its annual resurgence on TikTok, where people doing it after going viral, is not going to work.

Sharghi acknowledges the allure of using the white font trick on resumes, an approach that mirrors Google's algorithm, which ranks websites in search results based on keywords. However, Sharghi clarifies that the white font trick does not function similarly in applicant tracking systems, which primarily track applications and not a decision-making system.

How Applicant Tracking Systems Work

Employers utilize applicant tracking systems to streamline their hiring processes, which enable hiring managers and recruiters to identify and rank candidates according to their suitability. Some systems use AI to evaluate resumes based on experience and skills, while others offer digital filters for targeted searches based on keywords such as skills, job titles, or certifications. Additionally, some systems may give priority to referrals or internal candidates automatically.

Whether the white font method can effectively bypass filters and bots varies depending on the specific applicant tracking system employed by the employer and its configuration. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, acknowledges that particular systems used by recruiters do have an impact, contributing 10% to 15% of the variability in determining which resumes are accepted versus rejected.

Candidates should be aware that their white text may not remain hidden as some applicant tracking systems input resume sections into the application. If this happens, the text will not stay white anymore, so the recruiter may see whatever you pasted into your resume if it is not edited. According to Allyn Bailey, executive director of hiring success services at hiring software company SmartRecruiters, the system does not care what color font you write it in and puts it in whatever matches a field.

White Font Trick Only Shows Your Resume is Weak

Depending on the circumstances, using the white-font trick could indicate more significant problems with your application.

According to Sharghi, resorting to such shortcuts implies a lack of confidence in your resume's content, which raises questions about your ability to convey your value effectively. Instead of resorting to shortcuts, it is better to focus on aligning your skills and experience with the requirements of the job description, using keywords that accurately reflect your real work experience, and ensuring your descriptions are active and concise. Taking the time to reflect on this alignment is a more productive approach, advises Shargi.