Applicant Tracking Systems aka how companies pick candidates Forum

[misterjames]

I'm currently in-house and recently started looking at other in-house opportunities in my city. For those of you who have filled out online applications before, you've probably noticed the licensed vendor sites that most companies direct you to in order to apply, like Talio, Workday, etc.

Curiosity got the best of me and I started to do some research. Apparently most companies now utilize these vendors known as Applicant Tracking Systems. These platforms are meant to assist HR departments in handling applicants, from submission through hiring or rejection. What most people don't know (or at least, I didn't know), is that one of the primary functions of an ATS is to scan all applicant documents against the company's requirements for the job (so presumably the materials are checked against the job description). If the scan produces a match, the applicant materials are forwarded to an actual person for review. If they don't produce a match, the documents never get moved on and your submission goes into the abyss.

The upsides and downsides are obvious. On the upside, HR departments no longer need to sift through what is likely hundreds if not thousands of applications for one post. On the downside, an ATS system is not sophisticated enough to match similar terms or abilities. So if you're an attorney with cybersecurity experience, and you've used the term "cybersecurity" on your resume 5-10 times, your submission won't match if the job posting is asking for someone with "data security" experience, despite meaning the same thing.

So what results? The way I see it, when you notice a company is using an ATS, the job post now becomes your resume. Obviously you don't want to lie, but so long as you can confidently say you've had a least some experience with whatever qualities they're asking for, it goes on the resume and is detailed in near-identical terms as the job posting.

Anyway, I just figured I'd share this. Some of you might already be aware, but feel free to shares thoughts and experiences.