Tuesday, October 15 - "Do ATS Scores Matter?"

Good morning!

Just checking in you. How are you doing today?

Here’s what’s on the job description for today:

1. New roles from a company focused on sustainability through the electrification of their clients’ fleets.

2. George asks, “I tried an ATS program online and got a poor score. Does that matter and how should I improve it?”

IN HIRING

Radius

• With a wide reach, the company helps their clients improve operational efficiency through fleet management.

• Aiming to grow rapidly and scale to a more global presence, there are many open sales jobs, among other departments.

• Here are a few of the most interesting roles available

  • HRIS Manager - Click here for full details

  • Commercial Finance Manager - Click here for full details

  • Team Manager - Multi Product Sales - Click here for full details

Click here for the company’s career page

TODAY’S QUESTION

George asks, “I tried an ATS program online and got a poor score. Does that matter and how should I improve it?”

Recommendation: this is one of the most widely debated topics in job seeking right now. Here’s how I’d think about it if I were you:

• First, an ATS (applicant tracking system) is meant to find key words and other relevant parts of a resume to see if a candidate is a good fit. It seems to be quite rare that a human isn’t involved in reviewing resumes as well.

  • As a candidate, I would be worried that the ATS was removing me from opportunities where I was a good fit but that seems quite unlikely. It should be looking for profiles exactly like mine if I was a good fit.

  • The other worry is that some candidates are putting key words in white text at the bottom in size 1 font so they get picked up by the ATS. While there are some dummies in talent acquisition, the vast majority would be able to see immediately that something doesn’t make sense and remove their candidacy.

• Second, you mentioned the use of ATS testing websites. These have always existed but by another name. I have seen so many candidates get interviews where they were less than 30% qualified by these programs and even more get nothing, even though they’re at 90%+.

  • The useful way to take advantage of these is to look at the recommendations and see if any of them make sense. There may be biases or things you’ve missed that could be added. Any further analysis is a waste of time.

• Finally, it seems a reality that ATS will be a part of hiring for at least the near future. If you can’t beat them, then take advantage.

  • Use key words

  • Make job titles match

  • Use the wording from the job descriptions

  • Basically do all the things we know should be in resumes anyways 🥲 

Conclusion:

ATS is an annoying part of a relatively broken system. If you want a job in the next 3 months or so, it’s a better use of time to take advantage of the breaks rather than focus on why they’re holding you back.