There’s an urban rumour – which has spread across the western world – that the ATS screens and knocks out resumes if they don’t conform to a specific format.
There are a few dodgy recruitment software companies such as Expr3ss! and Job Hero, who do set their filters to knock out applications, but they are in the minority.
I tell clients to go around them and apply elsewhere.
One issue with ATS is they don’t like ‘pretty resumes’ – that’s lots of colour, tables and graphics.
For government, corporate or NGO applications, go conservative.
The video below is long but worth watching as it gives you inside knowledge about how the ATS works.
Every resume is read (except for those mentioned above) but watch out for knock out questions such as whether you have work rights.
Below shows a configure error but you can still watch it.