ATS, or Applicant Tracking Systems, are software that help hiring managers scan resumes for specific keywords and filter out any that don’t meet their criteria. But even the ATS isn’t perfect — in fact, most hiring managers admit that some qualified candidates are probably being filtered out.
Here's a simple diagram of how it works - the Applicant Tracking System is in the middle of the diagram.
Now that you know what an ATS is and how it works, let's talk about what you need to do to write an ATS-friendly resume that
actually gets past these screeners.
It might seem complicated, but beating the ATS is only about two things: readability and relevancy. What does that mean in practice? Let’s break it down, step by step.
An ATS scans your resume's past experience and skills to determine whether you're a good fit. If it can’t read your resume, it will assume you don’t have what the company is looking for and will automatically discard your application. Obviously, we don’t want that to happen, so here’s how to make your resume ATS friendly.
Before we move on to other optimizations you can make to write an effective resume that's ATS-friendly, let's share a few ATS resume templates you can use. Notice how they all follow the key readability rules we described above - simple fonts, standard templates, no images, and common section titles.
Now that you know an ATS can actually read your resume, it’s time to make sure it actually finds the right skills on it! Tailoring your resume to target the skills and experience the employer is looking for will give it a high enough 'relevancy score' to get it past the ATS and into the hands of a recruiter.
The best way to beat Applicant Tracking Systems is to use the right keywords. How do you know which keywords are the right ones? Look at the job ad! Employers will generally include a list of "must haves" — the skills and experience they're specifically looking for.
These are the important keywords you'll want to include. And remember to save the job description when you apply — the employer may take the opening down by the time you get to the interview stage, and you’ll want to have it handy as a reference.
The best place to put most of those keywords is in your skills section. This can be easily customized for each job you apply for and will only take a couple of minutes. The results are well worth the effort!
You can also include keywords in your projects section, if you have one. Including hard skills along with quantifiable metrics is a good way to optimize your resume for a real person at the same time.
"My free resume review was truly eye-opening. I found out why I wasn't getting interviews and exactly what to add to get past resume screeners. I've already had way more callbacks since I used it. I recommend it to all my friends who are job searching."
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
