An increasing number of recruiters are now turning to ATS, or applicant tracking software, to filter the resumes they receive from job applicants. ATS is a distinctive category of recruitment tracking software that will automatically scan received resumes, comparing them to a set of requirements specified by the employer and determining whether to discard or keep them. To ensure that your resume isn’t overlooked or discarded, it is important to factor in how ATS works.
Compliance With Recruitment Tracking Software
– Look for role-specific keywords in the job requirements. Any resume should always be adapted for the role to which it applies, but to ensure compliance with an ATS is vitally important to include the keywords that the job advert lays out as required. ATS are likely to automatically discard resumes without the required keywords in them. These keywords might be personal attributes such as ‘good organisational skills’ or skills such as, ‘HTML’. The key here is to go through the advert, pick out important keywords and include them in your resume.
– Use a file type that is ATS friendly. Using a pdf filetype for resumes is a longstanding habit for many applicants, but in today’s job market, it is better to use the docx filetype as works with a wide range of ATS. In the absence of Microsoft Word, Google docs is a free online word processing tool that allows files to be downloaded and saved in a range of file types including docx.
– Take care that a suitable layout is used. The way a resume is laid out can result in a rather mixed-up interpretation by an ATS. For this reason, it is far better to look for an ATS friendly resume template as it will help to ensure that the relevant information appears on the ATS’s scanned version and in an order that makes sense to a potential employer.
– Keep it simple and functional. Avoid graphics such as logos, images, tables or decorative areas or, it may cause problems with the way some of the ATS interprets the resume and cause it to be discarded. Stick to textual elements and commonly used fonts to present information that the ATS will be able to understand.
– Never try to game the system. As tempting as it may seem to insert numerous keywords that the employer requires into your resume to get past the ATS, this is a bad idea. Putting in too many keywords is treated as negatively by the system as not putting in enough and will likely result in the resume being discarded
Recruitment Tracking Software Compliance Is Possible
Whilst it can be a complex endeavour, writing a good quality resume that is capable of making it past the scan of recruitment tracking software need not be impossible if the above tips are followed. It is well worth the effort as many more employers will get to see your resume once it has made it through the initial ATS screening stage.
