Applicant Tracking Systems:
Friend or Foe

In a market where the unemployment rate is in double digits, one might suggest this is a “hiring manager’s” market. In other words there are more candidates than jobs. A savvy candidate can stand above the rest, assuming he or she can navigate effectively through what may seem like a cumbersome and time consuming online application process.

Most employers operating in the 21st century only accept electronic resumes. The days to the off-color paper, or the florescent pick-me-sticker on top of the resume, are long gone. The trick now is to follow meticulously the required steps in the company’s career page. Most career sites are powered on the back end by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) - a separate system integrated to a company’s website, usually disguised with corporate branding and flashy logos- which allow candidates to apply for open positions.

Fundamentally all ATS have built in configurable logic that allows pre-screening of candidates based a pre-defined criterion, which prevents the application from reaching the decision maker, unless the predetermined requirements are fully met.

For example, if the job requires 25% travel, and a candidate does not “click” that travel is acceptable, the candidate will never reach the point of negotiating travel requirements, because the system will not select the application, based on that particular preference. Relocation, education, years of experience, specific industry, technologies, etc., are all key components of a selection criterion that the ATS must identify, as a qualifier, before moving the candidate’s application through stages of the process.

It is important that candidates recognize that the ATS is not a human being interpreting or “reading between the lines” of a resume. It is a tool, which recognizes literal commands, specifically designed to expedite the work of the Recruiter or HR Manager. Too often candidates are discounted early in the process, not due to lack of talent, but lack of compliance with the electronic application process in the ATS.

Ideally a candidate should get to the point where the Recruiter or HR Manager get notification that the application meets the acceptable hiring criteria, and are interested in the candidate for an interview. At that point of course the candidate should have the “talent” the ATS determined, otherwise it will be a short interview.

Nonetheless, most ATS are quite effective in streamlining the application process, assuming a candidate follows directions well. Some are polite, and quick to automatically send a “Thank you for submitting your resume to the virtual black hole. A human being may or may not contact you in the event that the system’s customized logic determines that you properly followed all the steps in the application process- good luck.”