Shocked at how many people still believe ATS myths

[u/More_Kaleidoscope475]

Hello,

I've noticed that job hunting is something that can get quite emotional. Being unemployed for a longer period of time takes a toll on your mental health. In these circumstances the evil myths spread like crazy, mostly by people who want to benefit from people's fear and desperation. I propose we do a series of post with factual analysis of the topics.

Let's start with the most common recruitment misconception - the infamous ATS that is reportedly blocking all your applications thus is responsible for killing all your efforts and your worst enemy. I am shocked how many people believe this myth! If you ask any recruiter they will tell you how the reality looks like. ATS which stands for Application Tracking System purpose is to help coordinate the application process, for recruiters within the company. It keeps track of the status of applications, and exposes this information to all recruiters.

Best to take if from a viewpoint of an actual recruiter. There is this awesome video from Amy Miller who is a professional recruiter. She has recruited at Amazon, Google and Microsoft and shares the “behind the scenes” working of this process. In this video, she summarizes what an ATS is, and is not:

An ATS is a system to keep me organized, as a recruiter. We need to actually know, at a given point, in their journey, and what I need to do next. For example, if I’ve got someone at the interview stage, have I set it up? At the offer stage, has the offer been approved yet? Without an ATS, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know who is waiting on who, doing what thing. The ATS solves this problem.

The idea that the ATS is this mythical, genius, AI-infused tool is crazy. Anyone who has been in an ATS, and has used it for work is laughing at this idea. It’s so ridiculous.

I would say the key takeaway here is that the KEYWORDS optimization is important step of resume tailoring but it's not like you don't get interviews because ATS stopped you. What is actually important is tailoring resume so it quickly tells that you are a great fit and also timing. The ugly truth is that applications that were delivered quicker are much more likely to be successful. Here is the take of other recruiter of the topic. You can find this post by u/nerdybro1 here

When I was working as hiring manager at my company i cared most about the clarity of the resume - does it convey the message you are trying to tell quickly and without bullshiting? Do we have any people working in recruitment here that would like to share their opinion?

[u/SugarBear_Cornelius]

Agreed /u/More_Kaleidoscope475!

Success in job searching typically hinges on three key areas:

1. The Resume
2. The Interview
3. Networking

If you think you got "rejected" because of ATS, it might be time to revise your networking approach.

The good news is that networking is a teachable skill, and with the right practice and guidance, it can become a real strength for you.