Applying for job online? Let 'robots' assess you first

New York

LIKE many recent college graduates, Ben Kim felt he was casting his resume into an abyss when he clicked "apply online" for the hundredth or so time. "The most common response was nothing," he said. That may be because, before capturing an emplo-yer's eye, job hunters in the digital age often have to get past a round of robots scanning their resume for keywords.

Although the business of hiring is still largely a manual process, employers are experimenting with increasingly sophisticated technology. Some companies are setting loose automated recruiters that crawl the Web for the perfect hire, based on an algorithm. Others are asking job candidates to answer their first round of interview questions via video - perhaps not a huge ask for members of the YouTube generation.