Job seekers often repeat to me this factoid circulating online: a large majority of resumes are never viewed by a real person. The increasing use of applicant tracking system (ATS) software is thought to “hide” applications from HR or hiring managers.
I find this very curious. I’m not prepared to say that it’s 100% untrue, because I have not done recruiting within very large corporations that receive thousands of applicants per day. Maybe those companies do receive resumes into their database that never get looked at. I’ll defer that question to others working in those sectors.
Focusing on the impact sector, nonprofits and philanthropies are mostly small and medium-sized organizations. A lot of my clients are receiving applications into an email box such as “careers @ yourfavoritecharity.org”. I speak from experience when I assure you that processing applications this way is a very manual process. You can be certain that a real person is opening those messages and attachments.
Some of my medium-sized clients are using an ATS to streamline things, but it’s still mostly for storage and tracking. I’ve now had the opportunity to be a “back-end” user of several applicant tracking systems (Paycom, Paylocity, iSolvedHire, Workable). These systems actually make it more likely that candidates will get good consideration, because HR spends less time “processing” the application and more time actually reviewing the content.
The first thing most of my HR-team clients told me, when providing me access to their ATS to screen applicants, was that I should ignore the automated scoring. The system’s “match analysis” of any given candidate’s suitability compared with the posting was completely unreliable. In each of these systems, I have found this to be true.
Myth Dispelled. However…
The advent of the scapegoat ATS notwithstanding, there has always been a need to get the right “eyeballs” on your resume to secure an interview, regardless of where an application is sent or uploaded.
The real problem is not the screening technology, it is the sheer volume of applications. Technology has made it easier than ever to submit an application, so there is more competition at the initial stage than ever before. This is particularly true for remote roles, and is indeed (pun intended) more true for applications submitted via an online system.
Job seekers: The best way to get a real human being to look at your application is to reach out directly to a real human being, in parallel to the formal application process.
This is where your network can be truly helpful. The closer your relationship to the job you’re applying for, the higher the likelihood that someone will look at your resume and schedule an interview. Even a courtesy interview is better than no interview at all.
So, right after you upload your resume and cover letter to the ATS, or send it to the generic hr@ inbox, send a direct message to someone to let them know you’ve applied. A few ways to do that include:
• Find out who the hiring manager is, and send an email or LinkedIn message
• Find the email address for an individual on the HR team, and email them
• If you know someone within the organization who isn’t the hiring manager or HR, ask them to mention your interest to the hiring team
• Similarly, ask someone who knows you well who has a connection to the organization to send an email or LinkedIn message on your behalf
This doesn’t automatically get you the job, but I guarantee it will get a few extra views of your resume. It does increase the likelihood that you’ll get an initial interview.
Some will ask, isn’t this annoying? The answer is yes. It is slightly annoying to the hiring team and to HR to receive these inquiries. So keep it cool and stick to the suggestions above. I’ve had applicants email the entire staff (please don’t do that!). If you’re tempted to follow up more than once, limit those messages to inquiries regarding the status of your application, to those whose job it is to handle them (i.e., the recruiter or HR team). Don’t follow up with the hiring manager or other network connections if they didn’t reply the first time.
But one quick message is truly not a problem… and it might get the results you’re looking for.