How to Make Sure Your CV Makes it Through an Applicant Tracking System
Many businesses across the globe have started integrating applicant tracking systems within
their wider recruitment strategies. The benefits that an ATS offers can be incredibly helpful in filtering through large amounts of CVs and simplifying many of the administrative tasks that come in tandem with the role of a recruiter. Long before your CV ever actually gets to a member of the recruitment team, it has likely already been parsed; if you’ve got a well written CV, great! Chances are you’ll get a better experience. An ATS can filter out candidates it thinks are a poor match for the job role – this can prevent your CV from ever actually being seen. Below are a series of tips for ensuring that your CV makes it through an applicant tracking system and a better candidate experience.
Job Description Keywords
The keywords that make up a job description are frequently the hard and soft skills that an employer is looking for when hiring for a role. If you haven’t used any of these keywords within your own CV, an ATS is far more likely to flag you as a candidate who doesn’t have the necessary skill set for the job. This is even more effective if you’re able to include multiple iterations of the keyword without it sounding unnatural. As an additional tip, you may also wish to use common abbreviations as well as full spellings where possible in case the ATS has not been set up to pick up both versions of the word. It is very important to keep in mind that your CV will still be read by a human being and they are just as likely to discount a CV if it either doesn’t make sense or shows signs of keyword stuffing.
Formatting
An applicant tracking system may struggle to identify relevant information if the CV is not properly formatted. Recent developments within the industry have meant that ATS tend to be very intelligent and are efficient at identifying the different aspects of the CV; regardless, you should look to make your formatting as simple as possible in order to ensure there isn’t any room for error.
Please remember to follow the business’ instructions on file type or formatting if they have provided you with any – there is likely a reason behind this. Avoid using tables, columns, headers and footers. There are also several ‘ATS friendly’ CV templates available online that may help to format your content.
Spelling and Grammar
A human will frequently be able to get the general idea of what you’re trying to say even if the
spelling or grammar is slightly off. ATS systems on the other hand, are designed to hone in on keywords and a spelling or grammar mistake may serve to confuse and result in it being more likely to categorise you as a lower-quality candidate. A spelling or grammar mistake isn’t a great look for a CV regardless of how the checks are done.
Contact Eploy for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
At Eploy, we offer highly adaptable Applicant Tracking Systems designed to help you find the best candidates for each and every job opening. Get in touch with our specialist team at Eploy to find out how we can help you meet your recruitment goals.