There is no BEATING THE APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM – ATS – IT IS NOT A BOT

WHAT IS AN ATS?

• A Human Resource Software used by companies to manage their recruiting and hiring process.
• It is a Data Base of profiles of Career professionals and in the case of recruiting firms, they store client information.
• Some ATS’s are proprietary – written specifically for the company using it but most are COTS - 'Customized Off the Shelf ' applications. They are customized by the sellers of the application and configured by the purchasing company to suit their needs. Each client uses them differently.

HOW DOES AN ATS HELP ORGANIZATIONS?

Applicant Tracking Systems help to manage large volumes of applicants and companies find that it is more efficient to use them.

• ATS helps companies to be organized and efficient because managing the volume of applications is challenging without a management software system.
• Large companies and recruiting firms hire multiple positions and they need a robust system to manage the process
• STREAMLINES hiring pipelines
• AUTOMATES MESSAGES with applicants and clients
• DISTRIBUTES job postings to many sites simultaneously including their own website and job searching sites such as Indeed and Monster.
• Provides proof of government compliance - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). US companies need to comply with the regulations of the EEOC a regulatory body that enforces federal EEO laws.

It is illegal to discriminate against people who have complains about discrimination in hiring practices.

In Ontario, Canada, the body governing hiring practices is the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Many online applicants are unqualified for some positions, but they believe it's worth a try to send the resume because they may get lucky - that increases the volume for these companies so how can the jobseeker win.

 There are many ATS in the market – custom built (proprietary) and Customized Off the Shelf (COTS).

All companies use them differently.

The ATS IS NOT AI POWERED

THERE IS NO BOT, but your resume may be auto- rejected because of the use of KNOCK OUT QUESTIONS created and implemented by the recruiter or hiring manager.

KNOCKOUT QUESTIONS are usually Mandatory (Canada) or Basic (US) also referred to as MUST HAVE requirements. It narrows down the pool and saves both you and the hiring company time.

Knockout questions can be in the form of closed ended – Yes/No, check boxes or short answer questions. If you answer the questions unsatisfactorily you will receive a rejection email right away, but if your answers are satisfactory your resume will proceed to the to the next stage in the process.

Applicant tracking systems parse and store your resume information.

PARSING divides your information into sentences and identify the fields into the computer to put them into. The ATS also attaches your resume in the form of a word document or a PDF file.

Not all Recruiters and Hiring managers use the system in the same way and they may not review all resumes in the system for various reasons, therefore, as a jobseeker, you must create your resume so that it is easy to find.

Keyword Searches: 

Most Recruiters and Hiring Managers will however use basic Keyword or Boolean searches strings to find matching applicants in the ATS.

These keywords are usually derived from the job posting/requirements – based on words representing core and transferable skills, location, etc.

Note that the ATS stores your resume (it does not fall through as usually described by some content creators on #LinkedIn. You may still be contacted for other positions with the same company at a future date, if you are qualified.

Automatic rankings: 

Most applicant tracking systems have a ranking feature that not all recruiters use. However, because you do not know who is at the other end of the process, it is important that you create your resume so that it is ranked highly to match the job that you are applying for.

It is not the system that ranks your resume, it is the recruiter/hiring manager who uses a key-word search that ranks your resume for the position. The recruiter then filters the top-ranking candidates to assess.

The ATS interface looks like this: It stores jobs, clients, companies, placements etc.

THIS IS WHAT A CANDIDATE'S RESUME LOOKS LIKE IN THE ATS

THERE IS A WORD EDITOR IN BULLHORN WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE RESUME IN THE SYSTEM EVEN WHILE SPEAKING WITH A CANDIDATE

WHAT ARE BOOLEAN SEARCH OPERATORS?

When candidates submit their resumes, the recruiter or hiring manager will create a search string to search the ATS. This search string is made up of Key words and Boolean search operators

RECRUITER'S ACTION

SEARCH RESULT

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO AS A JOB SEEKER?

If you have a resume created without a job description (JD) to match it against, chances are that you will not be called for an interview because the recruiter or hiring manager will be using words from your the requirement to search the ATS to find a good match.

If you have created a resume without a JD you need to customize or tweak the that resume before you apply. You target your resume for the function, e.g. Project Manager,

then customize it for the Job description or requirement

CAUTION: DO NOT PURCHASE ATS RESUMES, THERE IS NO SUCH PRODUCT!

RESUME FORMAT

Use a chronological or hybrid resume format - avoid the functional resume format)

Avoid tables or columns - they may cause major parsing errors

Use a traditional resume fonts : Font: 10 - 11 points; Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Garamond, Cambria or Georgia.

No columns: Even if you are sending your resume directly to a recruiter, they may have to manually upload your resume in their ATS, when they upload these resumes they appear jumbled when they load and finally gets printed

No tables, special characters, or lines, graphics or clipart

Bullets: Be consistent: Use regular bullet points, no fancy ones (sometimes bullet points get integrated into the paragraphs and appear as little funny icons).

Save your file as a .docx if possible (unless otherwise specified)

PARSING

• Your Resume should be clean and uncluttered
• The resume will be attached to the system (as an attachment word or PDF), and will also be parsed so it can be viewed like pages.
• PARSING divides sentences and identify the fields into the computer to put them into.
• The SYSTEM search for the information in your resume and parse them into certain fields in the ATS.
• The ATS Built to read like humans (left to right), with limitations. It will not recognize fancy formats and characters or may recognize then as something else.

KEYWORDS

Create Job description or Role Friendly Resume:

• Match the key words of your job description to the words you use in your resume

Maximize searchability:

• Use long-form and acronym version of keywords e.g. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Use the keywords throughout your resume at every chance to explain your offering, do not be a keyword stuffer, contextualize the sentences
• If you are in IT and writing a project based resume - make use of environment at the end of every project and list the key tools in your environment

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Hi,

I am Yvonne Robinson Jackson, a past university professor and teacher, technical recruiter and director of recruiting, now career advancement coach.

Are you Stuck in your career?

Having problems expressing your achievements on your resume?

Are you not getting any interviews with the resume that you are submitting for jobs?

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