What is ATS and how US companies use it

Nowadays, the ATS software helps to achieve a position in a company which implies facing some challenges for the candidates to get that job.

Times have changed, and now it could be more difficult to receive a call for a job interview because the resume needs some features that weren’t required before.

So, what are the benefits ATS offers to companies and applicants?

For its acronym in English, the Applicant Tracking System is a software used by companies of all sizes to automatically read and organize the resumes of candidates who applied for a position in a specific company.

Using it makes the life of the recruiters, hiring managers, and Human Resources tasks easier.  

Every day, companies receive thousands of resumes for different kinds of roles, and the person in charge of contracting the candidates does not have the time to carefully read each resume to find those who match the best with the responsibilities of the role.

Here is where the computer program helps with the resume selection by performing filters such as location, education level, specific skills, job experience, among others.

How does a resume have more chances to be selected?

Your resume has to be optimized for the Applicant Tracking system, and you need to adjust it every time you apply for a job. The key is to use keywords or words used in the job posting.

Check some tips which can help you to adjust your curriculum:

1. Use the job title field to write the specific position name that the company is using. If they are looking for a Project Manager, don’t use Project Leader.
   
   
2. Add in your experience the skills that the job description says literally. Write this part fluently and spontaneously.
   
   
3. Use a chronological resume format. This means mentioning your experiences writing the most recent one at the beginning of the resume.
   
   
4.  Use common fonts like Helvetica or Georgia.
   
   
5. Don’t use headers or footers because the information can not be read.
   
   
6. Use the same ability more than once but not too much. By doing this, your resume has more probabilities to be selected for the platform. 
   
   
7. Create a section where you mention your skills. It is a good way to add your talents to help the company’s needs. 
   
   
8. Mention your hard skills more than your soft skills or qualities. An example of this is to include “SEO operation” more than “hard worker.”
   
   
9. Save your document on .docx, preferably. 
   
   
10. Mention your goals in each job you performed using bullets. It helps with the matching process and makes your qualifications clearer and easier to read.

Those are some practices you can use on your resume, but this work has more effort than you think.

Remember that every day the market is more saturated with brilliant competitors with similar skills and talents than yours.

Don’t miss the opportunity to get the job you want because your resume is not optimized.