Q: Why do employers use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?
A: To manage applicant volume and filter applications to find qualified candidates
7 Tips for ATS Success
- Apply for the right role. Do you have the core skills? Education? Experience? If yes, apply! If not, the ATS knows and will not move your application forward. Unsure? Ask the Career Center for advice.
- Don't apply for all openings. This sends the wrong message and confuses employers on your interests and abilities, because they can see ALL the roles you applied to at their company.
- Include keywords. ATS and employers will be filtering by them. Look at and exactly match the language in the job posting to be considered a qualified candidate.
- Give context and specific examples. Show how you utilized your skills, your accomplishments, your strengths, and the results.
- ATS tricks = cheating. Just don't. Employers will question your ethics and your application will be flagged. A better option is to include a keyword-rich summary at the top of your resume.
- File type matters. ATS prefers the .docx file type. But if the ad says to upload a PDF, follow the directions.
- Make it easy to read. ATS reads resumes left to right, top to bottom, and expects most recent information first.