ATS, or applicant tracking system, is a software used by HR department to ingest and filter resumes from you, the jobseekers, for the hiring managers or decision makers. Often used by larger companies, ATS is a hurdle you must pass before your resume was viewed by a human eye... if you go through the normal application process.
There are many different ATS's out there, and most of them are branded. You may recognize the name "ICIMS". This is one of the largest ATS out there. Next time you apply at an employer portal, you may see this mentioned at the bottom. However, this is only one of many systems out there.
ATS is just software, written by humans, so they are stuck in interpreting certain patterns, and they present information in certain patterns to the users. Over time, details about ATS have leaked, and some commonalities have emerged, which resulted in the following tips. While the following tips do NOT apply to all ATSs, every bit of advantage you can get to get past the ATS, the better.
Bypass the ATS
The best way to get past the ATS is with an internal referral. So check your friends and family for a connection at the prospective employer. Don't hound LinkedIn and spam new employees. They can't refer you since they're still on probationary period.
Keep in mind that this does not always bypass the ATS. The resume you pass off to your referral may still end up in the ATS, but the fact that you were referred internally usually makes your resume appear earlier.
Name Your Resume with Full Name and Job Title
When you upload your resume, what was its filename? Resume.docx? You're missing an opportunity to stand out. Name it instead Resume_YourName_JobTitle_EmployerName.pdf where you substitute the fields with your name, the job you're applying to, and the employer's name. Not only it keeps YOUR OWN resume variations easy to find, it looks much better on the ATSs that display the full filename, not just the contents.
Export Your Resume in PDF format
Some ATSs prefer certain document types, but most of them will process PDF correctly. If you can (and why can't you?) export your resume as PDF.
Single Column Layout Only
Your resume will be parsed by the ATS to extract skills, experience, and so on. The fancier your layout, the less likely the ATS will parse it correctly, and a multi-column layout is one of the messiest to parse. While ATS have advanced, you have no idea what sort of ATS was being used by your prospective employer. Therefore, stick with single column layout. It is the safest choice to ensure your resume is parsed properly.
Do NOT Stuff Keywords
You may have heard somewhere that if you include extra copies of keywords in your resume, your resume will score higher in the search results, and thus get seen by a human eye. This cuts both ways. While it may get you past the ATS, you'll get rejected at the human review phase. It's quite obvious you've been keyword stuffing just by reading it. Some ATS will highlight every instance the keyword(s), and your resume will show a plethora of yellow highlights.
Research Which ATS is being used
The aforementioned tips are meant to be generic tips that applies to most ATS. If you can find out which ATS is used by your prospective employer, you may be able to research the optimal way to present your resume to the ATS to make sure you don't get rejected immediately.
In Conclusion
If you have managed to optimize your resume for the ATS, then any rejection you suffer would be from criteria that may not be as obvious or just plainly not written in the job description. ATS for each job usually has a set of "knockout questions" specified by HR or Hiring Manager that will immediately disqualify you. Why they don't put those criteria in the job description and not waste your time, I have no idea. But then, when some companies put up fake job listings, I guess anything goes. Still, job hunting is about doing all you can, and if that happens to be not enough due to what's beyond your control, there's always another job listing to apply to.
Good luck in your job hunting.
