How ATS affects your CV

ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System. It’s a piece of software that many recruiters use to carry out a first review of CVs. This means that your CV needs to pass the test of a mechanical process before it’s seen by a person. Research by Capterra found that 75% of recruiters use some form of ATS. To get your CV through to the next stage, it’s therefore very important to understand how these systems work. We look at how ATS affects your CV and the steps to take to make your CV ATS friendly.

1. Keywords: give the employer what they are asking for

• It can be tempting to include information in your CV that the employer isn’t asking for in the specific role you’re applying for
• ATS will look for keywords and is more likely to reject those CV where there isn’t a match
• Look carefully at the information you’ve been given about the job. Identify the keywords. Make sure that your CV contains evidence that you have the skills and experience being asked for
• Write your CV based on the keywords that the employer is asking for, not on what you want to say. These can be quite different things!
• To have the best opportunity for your CV not to be rejected by ATS, tailor your CV to each job you apply for

2. Use the exact language in the job description

• Not only do you need to provide evidence of your relevant skills and experience, you should also mirror the words used in the job description
• For example, if a requirement is to be able to deal with people in “an engaging and communicative manner”, use these exact words in your CV
• Do this in a way that will not just pass the ATS test. It also needs to make sense to the recruiter when they read your CV

3. Include the exact job title

• Ideally the job title of your current, or previous roles, will match that of the job you’re applying for
• Be mindful that different employers might use slightly different names for the same job, so use the job title given in the job description
• If you haven’t worked in a role with that job title before, then you could include it if you’ve reported to someone with that title
• You could also say that you’re aspiring to work in a role with that job title, or you’re developing your experience to reach that level

4. Format

• Keep the format simple, with clearly defined sections
• Include a section for your Personal Profile and Areas of Expertise (hard and soft skills)
• List your career experience chronologically, starting with the most recent first
• Use bullet points to make it easier for ATS to “read” your CV
• Submit your CV in Word, rather than PDF, as it’s more ATS friendly

5. Think about your audience

• Although it’s really important to write your CV in a way that will pass the ATS test, don’t forget that ultimately you want it to be read by a person
• Avoid making your CV so ATS friendly that when it reaches a recruiter it won’t make sense, or give them the level of detail they need
• Remember, on the whole, a recruiter will only take a few seconds to decide whether to put your CV on the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ pile, so don’t fail at this stage of the process

We hope you found these tips useful. If you’d like support with CV writing, cover letters, LinkedIn profile, job applications or interview techniques, please get in touch. We’d be very happy to talk to you about the services we have to offer.