What do you know about HR Applicant Tracking Systems?

If you think the first obstacle to getting a job interview is a recruiter’s judgment, you’re not seeing the whole picture. A growing number of small and mid-sized businesses filter resumes through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) before someone even sees your resume if they ever do. Below are a few tips in getting your resume to rank high within ATS so that it will be seen by HR in scheduling job interviews.

What is applicant tracking system software?

An Applicant Tracking System software provides recruiting and hiring tools for all types of businesses. These systems collect and sort thousands of resumes and include many additional supportive features. When applying for a job online, your resume does not typically fall into the hands of a recruiter or hiring manager. Your resume is first processed through an ATS. Depending on how well your resume is optimized for the ATS algorithms in place, will decide whether it is seen or received by the human resource recruiter.

Why employers use applicant tracking systems.

Many employers hire for several positions at a time and receive hundreds of resumes for any given opening. The old days of applying for a job directly at the business location, technology has now streamlined this process by requesting applicants to submit their resumes online. Applicant Tracking Systems keep all resumes in one place, helping recruiters and hiring managers to stay organized as well as EEOC compliant. These systems also save time by automatically surfacing and highlighting top candidates.  In all reality, ATS helps to hire professionals to narrow their applicant pool, however, many top candidates can slip through the cracks.

Applicant tracking systems are everywhere.

An estimated sixty-six percent of large companies utilize an ATS software and thirty-five percent of small organizations rely on recruitment software. There are many different ATS on the market today, each with their own features, strengths, weaknesses, and quirks. When applying for a position at a large organization, chances are you’ll face an ATS. When you are applying through an online form, you are essentially applying through an ATS. Even job sites like Indeed and LinkedIn have their own built-in ATS.
How applicant tracking systems work.
Applicant Tracking Systems collect and store hundreds to thousands of resumes in a database for hiring professionals to access. It will also store resumes long after the original job you applied for has been filled. Corporate recruiters or hiring managers have the ability then search and sort through resumes in several different ways, depending on the system they operate. 
The ranking of candidate resumes. 
Some applicant tracking systems will automatically compare your resume to the job description and will rank each applicant on how well their resume scores based on the job description. By having this ability, instead of reviewing each application, the recruiter can direct their focus solely on candidates that its’ ATS has identified as a great match.

Searching Candidates with keywords.

ATS can assist recruiters in filtering resumes in an applicant tracking system by searching for keywords in the areas of skills and titles. Here is a good example of hiring for an Administrative Assistant position. If a recruiter is hiring for an Administrative Assistant position and receives 400 applicant resumes, their first keyword step will most likely to be to search “Administrative Assistant.” By doing so, this will isolate or group candidates that have done the exact job before. Any resume submitted for that position that does not have that exact term in their resume is out of luck.  It will never be seen and can lead to many lost opportunities.  

When conducting a search, you can search multiple terms. To give you an example, a recruiter might perform a complex search that contains a combination of titles and skills important for the job they are looking to fill. Candidates who can predict the correct keywords will have the maximum chance of being included in a recruiter’s search results.

Simplelogix automates this process by analyzing your resume against the job description to show top skills and keywords missing from any candidates resume. Outdated ATS parsing algorithms can cause resume information to get distorted or lost. Vital keywords or details might not be imported or updated setting your business up in lost opportunities in finding the best hire for that position.  With Simplelogix’s HR tracking module you will be reassured that you and your business will not miss the opportunity in finding the ideal candidate for any given position.  

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