Applicant Tracking Systems

Employers utilize application tracking systems (ATSs) to manage application volumes and to filter applications to find qualified candidates. The following are tips to help you successfully manage an ATS when submitting an application.

Apply for the right roles 

  • Review the position and evaluate if you have the right skills, education and experiences. 
  • If you have at least 60% of the qualifications requested for the job, consider applying.
  • However, if you are missing required qualifications (versus preferred) and/or if you lack many of the skills desired, the ATS will likely not move your application forward.  

Don’t apply for all openings

  • This may send the wrong message and confuse the employer on your interests because they can see ALL the roles you applied to at their company. 
  • Exceptions might include applying to a number of entry level RN positions with one organization or applying to similar roles at a variety of locations.

Include keywords

  • ATSs and employers will be filtering by keywords. Look carefully at the job posting and try to match the language used here to be considered a qualified candidate.

ATS Tricks=cheating

  • For example, using white text to include all keywords or entire job description. Just don’t. Employers will question your ethics and your application will be flagged. 
  • A better option is to include keyword-rich bulleted descriptions.

File type matters

  • ATSs may prefer .pdf or .docx files; make sure your .pdf is a text file (not image file) to allow for the ATS to read it. Follow the application directions specifically for types of files. 

Make it easy to read

  • ATSs read resumes left to right, top to bottom and expect the most recent information first.

Quick Tips

Use

Bold and italics – To emphasize information
Underline – For headings and URLs only
1-2 Colors – All colors=same color text in an ATS
Bullets – Use circle or square-shaped
Common universal fonts – Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, Georgia, or Veranda
Common headings – Education, Experience, Technical Skills 

Don’t Use

Tables, text boxes or columns – ATSs read left to right across the page even with tables and columns

Graphics, graphs, logos, or images – ATSs are not able to pull info from these

Headers and footers – May get dropped completely

Uncommon headings – “Where I’ve Made an Impact” makes sorting hard

Hyperlinks – ATSs may only display the URL and not the linked word

Fonts you downloaded – ATSs may have trouble reading uncommon font

Adapted from themuse.com’s “Beat the Robots: How to Get Your Resume Past the System and Into Human Hands”