Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are software tools that employers use to sort and filter job applications. If you have ever submitted your CV online or filled out an online form for a job, you have encountered an ATS.

These systems help employers manage the hiring process more efficiently, but they also create new challenges for job seekers. Many job seekers experience the frustration of sending their CV and never getting a response. This is because the ATS may have rejected or overlooked their CV based on certain keywords. Keywords are specific skills, words, and phrases that the ATS look for in your CV to rank or screen candidates. Different ATS have different ways of handling keywords, so it is important to know how they work and how to optimize your CV for them.

Here are three examples of how some of the top ATS use keywords:

Taleo

Taleo is the most popular ATS in the market, used by companies like Starbucks and Nintendo. It has a 25% market share according to a 2017 report by Ongig.
Taleo lets recruiters and employers customize their hiring strategy and filter applicants based on various criteria.
One of the common features of Taleo is the “knockout” questions. These are questions that appear at the beginning of the application process and are meant to eliminate applicants who do not meet the basic requirements.
Some examples of knockout questions are:

• Legal and logistics (“Are you legally able to work in the United Kingdom?”).
• Basic qualifications (“Do you have a valid Heavy Goods Vehicle Driver’s License?”).
• Culture fit (“Do you prefer to work alone or as part of a team?”).

If you answer any of these questions incorrectly, you will be rejected automatically and the recruiter will never see your application. Taleo is not the only ATS that uses knockout questions, but it has a feature that lets recruiters reject or highlight candidates based on keywords.
For example, if a recruiter is hiring for a Sales Development Representative role and they want someone who knows how to use Salesforce, they can set a rule to reject anyone who doesn’t have “Salesforce” on their CV at least once.
They can also set a rule to highlight anyone who has “inside sales” on their CV at least five times. Not every recruiter or company uses this feature, but it’s one of the many options that Taleo offers.

 

iCIMS

iCIMS is one of the oldest and most famous ATS, founded in the 1990s. It has about 7% of the market share and clients like Amazon, Uber, and Southwest Airlines. When a recruiter uses iCIMS to search for candidates with specific skills and keywords, the results are sorted by a match percentage. For instance, if a recruiter searches for “Content Marketing”, they might see John Brown as a 90% match because he has “Content Marketing” on his CV five times, while Alan Smith is only a 27% match because he has it once.

SilkRoad

SilkRoad is the 11th most popular ATS according to Ongig’s research. It has a feature called “Hot Match” that automatically compares and rates candidates’ CVs against the job descriptions. SilkRoad then puts candidates into different tiers based on match rates of 50%, 75%, or 90%. If your CV is in a low tier, the recruiter may never see it.

 

Beating ATS

To beat the ATS, you need to customize your CV for each job description. Read the job description carefully and find the keywords and skills that are most frequent or important for the job. You can use online tools to help you with this task.

• Include the top keywords in the job description your CV.
• Use the most important ones more than once in a natural way – don’t overdo it with CV keyword stuffing as recruiters will notice it.
• Use the exact keywords as they are in the job description, matching plurals, tense, or verb form to get the best match rate.
• Pay attention to the exact form used (for example, strategy, strategize, strategized, strategist) and make sure you have at least one matching term in your CV or application. If you have space, use some variations of these terms to account for manual recruiter searches.

Large employers and increasing Small to Medium Employers (SME) use ATS to screen candidates. You need to be aware of them and know their limitations to improve your job search.

Only apply for jobs that match your qualifications. When you find one, take the time to tailor your CV to highlight the same skills and experience as the job description.

Dealing with ATS can be challenging, but the only way to get past them is to be careful and smart with your CV.