Applicant Tracking Systems
- January 22, 2016
- Posted by: h1c0nsult1ng
- Categories: Human Resources Support, Personal & Professional Development
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What does ATS stand for and what does it do?
ATS stands for applicant tracking system. An applicant tracking system is all about being able to track and manage candidates in one organized database. Recruiters and other personnel responsible for hiring employees use applicant tracking systems to stay organized, grow the candidate pool and speed up their placements. In fact, 75% of recruiters use recruiting or applicant tracking software, with 94% believing the software has improved their hiring process.
- How does an Applicant Tracking System work? An ATS is very similar to customer relationship management systems, but are designed for candidate tracking purposes. In many cases they filter applications automatically based on criteria established by the recruiter such as keywords, skills, former employers, years of experience and education level.
- Do all companies use Applicant Tracking Systems? In the last five years, most companies in the United States and Europe have embraced ATS. According to more recent reports, nearly 95% of fortune 500 companies are relying on Applicant Tracking Systems to source candidates, manage the candidate pool and move qualifying candidates through the hiring process. However, there are now many free versions available online for companies of all sizes to utilize, regardless of budget requirements.
- What is the most popular ATS? Some of the most popular Applicant Tracking Systems include Taleo, iCims, and Jobvite. However, websites used for posting positions and resumes such as Indeed, Monster, and LinkedIn all include a variation of ATS as part of their recruitment packages.
- How do you write a resume for ATS? Current hiring trends and best practices encourage job seekers to use resume optimization techniques similar to those used in search engine optimization when creating and formatting their resume.
A few simple tricks include;
- Adding a “skills” section to boost keyword match
- Using strong, action-oriented words at the beginning of all bullet points
- Omitting filler words such as “the,” “this,” and “that.”