They are here to stay
First off, Applicant tracking systems are here to stay and of course, no one likes them, not even the people using them. Unfortunately, they are set in place to limit the number of applications coming in, and split the good ones from the bad ones. This isn’t to say that you are a failure, but what they usually do is reject people by not having the industries specific Keywords in their Resumes.Do you stand out?

Mistakes, No, no one makes them
A common mistake is Resume formatting. Placing dates before the company and position held make it harder for the ATS to translate your information. In terms of length, the ATS doesn’t care if your Resume is 1 paragraph, or 100 pages, it will pull the information pertinent to the job you are seeking using those KEYWORDS (Keywords is the keyword here). At this point, it becomes important to optimize your Resume by utilizing those keywords as much as possible throughout your Resume, and altering your Resume for the position you are seeking. A generic Resume is great for handing to an individual, but most places don’t work like that anymore. The ATS is the gatekeeper and Resume Optimization is your key in.Emergency Alert, this is important

This is how it goes with the ATS (ATS 101)
- You upload your Resume (and/or fill out the application)
- The system scans your submission for a pre-selected set of criteria (those KEYWORDS)
- Your submission is given a rating
- Submissions within the specified rating are passed on to the recruiter