What is an ATS and How Do We Deal with Them?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software used by recruitment professionals. It allows the automated tracking of applications and recruitment processes. It is a tool that allows you to store and manage all the essential information about the candidate and the position in question. It allows you to have an overview of the different processes, you can schedule interviews, follow up, make an offer etc... There's the possibility to set up a career site (independent site where the company publishes its offers and manages its recruitment), manage job offers on different channels (social networks or job boards).

It's a good way for companies to have a large pool of candidates and be able to keep them in case of future needs. It is especially a very good tool that saves recruiters a lot of time. Sometimes ATS can take the place of recruiters by performing the first phase of screening applications, they are customizable according to the desired keywords and the type of position to be filled.

ATS operating procedure

We will see how to optimize your resume in order to bypass the barriers that ATSs may include.

ATSs work like most software based on keywords. You have to define the most important keywords to consider and then the software makes the selection. So you understand that there is no human behind this process and that you have to think like a machine and go to the essence. To maximize those chances of getting past these initial selection criteria, it is imperative to have the right keywords on your resume.

Examples of keywords for a developer position: coding, scripting, Java algorithm, Python, back-end, database, server, domain ...

To have the best chance, we advise you to read the ad well beforehand and extract the most relevant keywords related to the position. Have an overview and identify the ones that come up most often, they can be important.

Finding the right keywords to use is good, but you still need to place them well to improve its relevance to the software. What is important is to place them as soon as possible in order to be quickly identified as an interesting CV. Giving a title or an introduction text to your CV that includes keywords is a good opportunity.

You have to take the time to write your CV well, the lexical field you are going to use plays a crucial importance in the selection of your application. It is important to know some synonyms of the keywords you will choose because it should not be a repetition. Above all, you will have to integrate them in a natural way in your text so that it is well readable.

If you have very technical skills or rare skills, it would be interesting to mention them even if it is not mentioned by the offer because it can always appeal to the company. Indeed, the list of keywords on which the ATS filters can extend beyond those present in the job description!

Based on your background and experiences, focus on those that are related to the position you are applying for. This will help you get a better score on the ATS. Some ATSs work on a percentage of matching the resume to the job and it is the experiences you mention that are taken into account.

Good formatting makes your resume read well, but there is also the file type that can impact the reading of your document. We advise you to use classic PDF formats. It is often necessary to import your CV into the ATS, the file par excellence is the PDF format because they are structured documents and easy to interpret for the latter. But beware: not all PDF files are equal. Indeed, a CV created for example in Photoshop and then exported in PDF will have virtually no chance of being understood by the ATS. Resumes generated using the UpMyCV tool, on the other hand, are well-structured with a readable font that many ATSs can therefore understand.

Despite the advent of AI-oriented tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E and the like, computer software is still (thankfully!) not as good as the human. Thus, some fonts are more appropriate for ATSs.

An example, here we have a text in Calibri Light, italic, font 12:

You'll notice that although this is the same set of letters "ti", the one present in "improvement" at the bar of the t and the dot of the i linked. If we run this resume through SmartRecruiters' ATS, the result is unequivocal:

The same exercise with another font, namely Arial, still in italics, still the same size, gives us the following result:

And thus a perfect recognition in the same tool

With the first resume, unfortunately, you had no chance to pass!

You can see here all the resumes we offer as well as their validation by different ATS.

In a word, the answer is "yes and no."

When applying for a large organization such as Nestlé, BNP Paribas, or the Volkswagen Group, the answer is unequivocal: yes.

On the other hand, when you're applying for a local small business, such as a tinsmith or printer, the only way you can be sure they're not using an ATSs is when you hand-deliver your resume.

In fact, if the recruiting process is done online through a platform such as SmartRecruiters or SAP Success Factor, then it's very likely that these ATSs are being used for recognition of your resume and the candidate filter. Where it becomes less certain is if the online portal used is less known: if you send your CV to a platform like Monster, JobUp, or Indeed, you don't know what systems it will go through before arriving in the SME. Many SMEs outsource their recruitment processes to specialized recruitment companies. These companies, although they are often SMEs with a dozen employees, have themselves several tens or hundreds of customers.

If we assume that 100 customers ask them to recruit for 7 different positions each and that for each position they receive 150 applications, that represents more than 100,000 files received per year, or more than 45 files received per day per employee. You can imagine that the probability that they will use an ATS is non-negligible!

The ATS are certainly managed automatically to make the first sorting of the CVs and to discard those that do not correspond to the pre-selection criteria of the recruiter. But then it's a recruiter who will read your resume and make the selection of the best candidates.

That's why you need to make sure your resume is readable and aesthetically pleasing. Don't be repetitive about keywords and avoid unnecessary stuffing. Be natural in your writing and don't force yourself to paraphrase the job offer as this will turn off the recruiters.

Keep in mind that this is only one step in the process and when you are selected you will have to make the difference in the interview. The more talking points your resume offers, the better. This can be based on your skills or your various experiences.

MISTAKES to Avoid

We are all tempted to want to find a way around the ATS because we feel smarter than a robot. Be careful because ATS are very finely tuned and they can blacklist you if you make mistakes.

For example, a font the same color as the page in order to insert keywords so the recruiter can see your resume → considered cheating

Copying and pasting the ad to get past the first step → cheating

What other mistakes do you think you need to avoid?

How to make sure the resume is well optimized

Following these tips you decided to change your resume? UpMyCV will allow you to build a custom resume. The structure is organized to be accepted by the largest number of ATS. All you have to do is use the text structure you want according to the offer.