What is an Applicant Tracking System and how it works ?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software used by companies to help with human resources, recruitment, and hiring needs. Each system offers a different package of features which are pre-set in the software, or are added as per the user’s choice. Applicant Tracking System are majorly used to help hiring companies organize and navigate large numbers of applicants and track the resumes for different roles being posted by the company on different job portals and sites.

Why is it used by companies ?

Any employer hires for several jobs or roles at the same time and receive a he number of resumes for any given opening. Because applying for a job online is easier than ever, many of these applicants who are unqualified and generally figured as “it was worth a try.

Applicant Tracking Systems keep all these resumes in one place, helping recruiters and hiring managers stay organized with each opening posted and number of resumes received for the same. These systems also save time by automatically surfacing and highlighting top candidates. In reality, ATS do help hiring professionals narrow their applicant pool, but top candidates slip through the cracks.

How Applicant Tracking System work ?

Applicant Tracking Systems collects and stores resumes in a database for hiring professionals to access. Corporate recruiters or hiring managers can then search and sort through the resumes in a number of ways, depending on the system they’re using.

Applicant Tracking System act as an electronic gatekeeper for an employer. The ATS parses a resume’s content into categories and then scans it for specific keywords to determine if the job application should be passed along to the recruiter.

Some ways to ensure your resume is ATS-friendly:

1. Keep graphics to a minimum.
2. Incorporate keywords and phrases used in the job description. Don’t overdo this, as resumes with a high match can be flagged for gaming the system.
3. Save your resume as a PDF (you can easily export as PDF once you’ve edited your Word resume template)
4. Some ATS software can’t read data in the header or footer. Ensure all your important information is in the body of your resume
5. Avoid using too much formatting
6. Make your resume is easy to read, for robots and humans. This means avoiding overly wordy sentences and abbreviations where appropriate