Should I tailor my CV for ATS?

The big misconception

Let’s start by clarifying what an ATS is.

I expect most readers will know that ATS is an acronym for applicant tracking system, but ATS do a lot more than what job seekers need to concern themselves with.

An ATS typically helps organisations to manage their entire recruitment / talent management process including, but not limited to job posting, CV importing, CV parsing, CV matching, candidate tracking, analytics and onboarding.

Matching & Parsing

When we talk about ATS optimisation, we are really talking about optimising CVs for the CV matching and CV parsing modules of ATS.

The CV matching module matches a job description / contract brief with a CV and the CV parsing technology makes sense of the contents, ensuring the correct interpretation of the data prior to the CV data being imported into the ATS.

An astonishing 70% of CVs are rejected by the ATS and consequently never get read by a human.

There are several tactics that are needed to avoid this from happening, and to highlight the complexities of ATS optimisation, I have picked a scenario that many contractors will know well.

Location location

If a recruiter is looking for an IT Project Manager in Preston, its is unlikely that they will consider candidates as far away as Southampton, partly because there will be ample Project Managers in the vicinity of Preston, partly due to the operational challenges of arranging interviews for candidates in Southampton when the client is based in Preston, and partly because relocating / work away from home scenarios pose more risk that the alternatives.

Now if it was a really high-profile Programme Director role with only a hand full of suitable candidates across the UK, this rule may not apply, but mid-market and below, it’s aggravation the recruiter and employer simply does not need.

So how does this relate to ATS?

Well, what happens for many roles is that the client / recruiter stipulates that they will only consider candidates within a 30-mile radius of where the job is based.

The ATS can assess this based on postcode parameters.

So, to cut a long story short, omitting a postcode from your CV may render you one of the 70% who are rejected at source even if you live on Preston High Street.

There are approximately 10 other important tactics that you should adopt to optimise your CV for ATS, why not contact us for a free CV / resume review to find out more.