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ATS Guide

Master Applicant Tracking Systems and get your resume noticed

What is an ATS?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software used by recruiters and HR departments to manage job applications. It automatically screens resumes before they reach human eyes, filtering candidates based on keywords, skills, and other criteria.

Did you know? 75% of resumes are rejected by ATS systems before a human ever sees them.

How ATS Systems Work

1

Resume Parsing

ATS scans and extracts information from your resume, converting it into a structured format.

2

Keyword Matching

The system searches for specific keywords and phrases from the job description.

3

Scoring & Ranking

Resumes are scored based on relevance and ranked for recruiter review.

4

Filtering

Candidates are filtered based on criteria like experience, education, and location.

5

Human Review

Only the highest-scoring resumes reach human recruiters for final review.

ATS-Friendly Formatting

✓ Do This

  • • Use standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman)
  • • Include clear section headers (Experience, Education, Skills)
  • • Use bullet points for easy scanning
  • • Save as PDF or Word document (upload PDF, get Word output)
  • • Use standard date formats (MM/YYYY)
  • • Include full company names and job titles
  • • Use standard section names

✗ Avoid This

  • • Fancy fonts or creative layouts
  • • Graphics, images, or logos
  • • Tables or complex formatting
  • • Headers and footers
  • • Text boxes or columns
  • • Unusual section names
  • • Special characters or symbols

Keyword Optimization Strategy

1. Analyze the Job Description

Identify key terms, skills, and qualifications mentioned multiple times:

Example: "Looking for a Software Engineer with Python experience. Must have AWS knowledge and Agile methodology experience."

2. Use Exact Keywords

Include the exact terms from the job posting:

❌ Generic

"Experienced in various programming languages"

✅ Specific

"5+ years experience with Python, JavaScript, and SQL"

3. Include Variations

Use different forms of keywords naturally throughout your resume:

  • • "Managed" vs "Management" vs "Manager"
  • • "Developed" vs "Development" vs "Developer"
  • • "Analyzed" vs "Analysis" vs "Analyst"

Popular ATS Systems

Workday

Used by large corporations, focuses on structured data extraction

Greenhouse

Popular with tech companies, emphasizes candidate experience

BambooHR

Used by small to medium businesses, simple interface

Taleo

Oracle's enterprise solution, very strict formatting rules

Lever

Modern interface, good at parsing various formats

iCIMS

Widely used, focuses on keyword matching and scoring

Testing Your Resume

1

Use ATS Checker Tools

Test your resume with free online ATS checkers to identify formatting issues.

2

Copy-Paste Test

Copy your resume content into a plain text document to see how ATS will parse it.

3

Keyword Density Check

Ensure your target keywords appear 2-3 times throughout your resume.

Let TailorCV Optimize Your Resume for ATS

Our AI automatically formats your resume and includes the right keywords to pass ATS screening.

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