3 Things you Need to Know About Applicant Tracking Systems

Have you ever been in a situation when you applied for a job & didn’t get shortlisted for even a first round of interviews even though you had the exact experience needed for the job? I hear you! And you know you’re not the only one who’s been there. Its the applicant tracking system that didn’t understand what you were talking, because it was taught a different language. Consider speaking English in a country that’s French or Chinese or Spanish speaking only. Here’s what you need to know about applicant tracking system & how it works so you don’t speak German next time you’re in Bali 🙂

What’s an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

An Applicant tracking system commonly known as ATS is software that organizations use to collect & sort thousands of resumes among other recruiting & hiring functions. According to a Kelly OCG survey 66% of large companies and 35% of small organizations rely on recruitment software.

So when you’re filling an online job application, it’s the ATS that gathers all the information whether it’s the company website or job sites like Monster, Indeed & LinkedIn.

How does an Applicant Tracking System work?

Applicant Tracking Systems are designed to store resumes in a database for recruiters & hiring managers to access them. Resumes are stored for a longer period of time and recruiters and hiring managers can access them even after the job you applied for has been filled.

Not only do the applicant tracking system can store data, it can also match resumes to job description & rank resumes accordingly. The recruiter may decide to skim through each profile in about 6 seconds & decide whether they want to learn more or not. In this case your key skills & career summary should be at the very top of the resume & easily identifiable.

Some recruiters may decide to rely on the ATS ranking & review only profiles ranked by the ATS as the best match rather than reviewing each & every profile. This is helpful when there are hundreds of applicants. But the flip side is that if your resume is not optimized, it may not even be reviewed by the recruiter.

How to beat the Applicant Tracking System

Formatting matters, especially if the company is using the older ATS systems which convert the data from your resume into a standard format of easy comparison. In certain cases, the data may get distorted or even lost.

Keep the formatting simple & consistent.
Don’t use tables or columns as often cause major parsing errors.
Don’t use headers or footers, as the information might get lost.
Use a chronological resume format
Use standard resume section heading, like “Experience”, “Education”, “Certifications” etc than trying to be creative
Every time you apply for a new job, optimize your resume to match the job description.

Don’t try to cheat the ATS because even if you do the resume will be seen by a human eye. Keyword stuffing is never a good idea. Interestingly, a CXO level executive interviewing Directors for his organization validated that even at senior levels he sees more & more resumes today stuffed with keywords than focused on the experience. I am not quite sure that’s the impression you would want to create.

Get my ATS friendly resume template here and start applying for that dream job.

What are some of your challenges when you write your own resume? Shoot me an email at Preeti@purpleskybypreeti.com & I’d love to help! Till then Happy Job Hunting