If You Must Use The Applicant Tracking System
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I am not a fan of applying through the ATS. But if you must, here is what to do.
Hi! I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter and I’m not a big fan of applying for jobs through the applicant tracking systems but sometimes you folks insist on doing it. So, I want to give you some advice if you’re foolish enough to ignore my other advice and do it anyway. So, if you have to apply, if you choose to apply for a job through an applicant tracking system, don’t do these things.
I want to repeat, don’t do these things. First of all, don’t send the pdf. The reason is applicant tracking systems don’t have a standard way of deciphering a pdf.
So, what they tend to do is try to extract information from the document and provide a summary that’s the basis for how you get who they choose to interview. So, with pdfs being an atypical format for most systems, they’re going to be making mistakes. When they make mistakes, you get rejected.
So, number one, don’t use a pdf. Number two, no tables, no graphics. Again, there are issues with how atypical graphics and tables get processed.
It hurts and thus you get rejected. Send as long a resume as you like at this point but recognize that what you did back in the stone ages doesn’t matter to most employers. Yes, the data may be there but even if you get in front of the person, you’re going to get rejected based upon this being old information.
So, if you have to go more thorough and that’s the key word, not longer, thorough, do it but recognize the older the information is, the less attractive it is to an employer. I’m told that the way you label your professional experience is to call it work experience that systems like that language because it’s like a key to them as to what to look for. Professional experience, not the language it wants.
Work experience is the language it wants. Lastly, this is a formatting thing for these systems. I just want to make sure so I’m going to read it off the screen.
The way you format it is you start with employer name, your title, and date. So, not the other way around. You don’t start with your title and date off to the side that employer name underneath it.
You want to start off with employer name because the system is looking for that and then your title and then date and the system can extract that very easily. So, if you have to, that’s the way you do it and if you still insist on doing it your way, I’ll simply say you’re making a big mistake. I also have a another video that I did about applicant tracking systems that gives you great formatting for how to make it easy for these systems and I think really defeat the ATS by making your real experience clear.
So, look for that video on YouTube or on my website. I think you’ll find it very helpful. This is Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter.
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