The Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is an electronic managing and screening software application used by many employers for their recruitment needs. An ATS may also help employers stay compliant with government hiring rules.
Employers use this application to automate and streamline the recruitment process by filtering through online resumes and applicant information based upon keywords and phrases associated with the job descriptions. These keywords may be skills, former employers, years of experience, schools attended or other criteria. Each keyword or phrase is assigned a scoring number and a resume must achieve a minimum total score in order to be reviewed by a human. Data can be collected from internal applications via the ATS or extracted from applicants on job and resume boards such as Monster.com, Hotjobs, CareerBuilder and Indeed.com. The use of Applicant Tracking Systems has caused many job applicants to adapt resume optimization techniques when creating and formatting their resume.
A problem common with Applicant Tracking Systems is that as many as 75% of qualified applicants are rejected by software application because the resume cannot be read properly. If a job seeker’s resume isn’t formatted the right way and doesn’t contain the right keywords and phrases, the applicant tracking system will misread it and rank it as a bad match with the job opening, regardless of the candidate’s qualifications. It is therefore critical that a job applicant understand how these systems work and how to optimize his or her resume with ATS screening programs in mind.
Tips on Navigating an ATS:
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- Don’t send your resume as a PDF: Applicant Tracking Systems lack a standard way to structure PDF documents so they are easily misread. Instead use a .doc, docx, or .txt file type.
- Don’t use tables, graphics or templates: Applicant Tracking Systems have a hard time reading tables, graphics and templates and the information can be missed completely.
- Feel free to submit a longer resume: An Applicant Tracking System doesn’t care if your resume is two pages or four. It is important for you to pack your resume with relevant experience, keywords and phrases that increase your chances of a higher total score.
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- Integrate relevant keywords and phrases: Review the job posting in detail then incorporate keywords and phrases into your resume that are appropriate and accurate with our qualifications. It is important to incorporate the right keywords and phrases that are unique to the job description. Most job-seekers include the “obvious” keywords and phrases into their resumes but many applicant tracking systems assign a higher value to related keywords and phrases. In order to find the right keywords or search terms that will be highly valued by the Applicant Tracking System:
- Review job postings for the type of position you’re seeking. Note specific keywords and phrases.
- Analyze your current job descriptions to determine which keywords and phrases are applicable to your qualifications.
- Review www.MyNextMove.org
- Use Google’s Keyword tool to find keywords that make your resume more effective with Applicant Tracking Systems.
- Review the Dictionary of Occupational Titles
- Review the Occupational Outlook Handbook
- Label your work experience, “Work Experience”: An Applicant Tracking System may completely skip over work experience because you labeled it “Professional Experience”, “Career Achievements”, or some other variation.
- Format your work experience correctly: An Applicant Tracking System may reject a resume because the information is in the wrong place. When listing your work experience, start with your employer’s name, followed by your title then the dates you held that title.
Upload your resume: An Applicant Tracking System may give priority to resumes that are uploaded versus those that are copied and pasted in.
