The Résumé Rider: What is ATS?

Applicant Tracking Software or ATS is used by companies to streamline their hiring process. It removes all formatting from your résumé and “parses” it to extract readable data, such as your contact information, work history, skills and education. 90% of Fortune 500 companies screen job applicants through an ATS before your résumé is even seen by a live person. While human recruiters look for the basic errors to reject and pare down the number of résumés submitted (such as spelling errors and the lack of relevant job skills), ATS is a sophisticated match game. It stores your résumé in its database then searches for keywords in a particular job opening to see how strong a fit you are. The ‘best fit’ candidates show up at the top of the search results.

Your résumé should make clear why you are a good candidate. It’s your ‘job’ to research the posting, identify what the employer is looking for and then optimize your résumé along with a strong cover letter to make your own candidate case. It’s the best way to get the interview which is the goal of your résumé.