Some, like Oracle’s Taleo, can also rank applicants to give recruiters a short list of people to interview. Programs called applicant tracking systems can sift through online applications and score them based on how well a candidate appears to match the open role. Most large companies use software in their hiring process. A computer scientist at the University of Texas at Arlington, Nilizadeh specializes in security informatics, or the way adversaries can breach computer systems. Nilizadeth didn’t have job advice, but she did have an idea. “She was going around asking everyone, ‘What’s the trick?’” Nilizadeh remembers. Her friend had sent her résumé to infinite job portals, only for it to seemingly disappear into a black hole.
Last year, Shirin Nilizadeh got a call from a friend who had been worn down looking for a job.
