The ATS Candidate Life Cycle
The moment you submit your application, your resume enters the ATS lifecycle. Understanding this journey—from automated parsing and indexing to recruiter search queries and the shortlist—is the key to making sure you actually get hired.
The ATS Candidate Life Cycle
Most job seekers believe hiring process starts when the recruiter opens the resume. In fact, your resume has just started a much longer journey upon clicking the "Submit Application" button. Your application goes through multiple automatic phases within an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) before it reaches your hiring manager's attention. This journey is called ATS Candidate Life Cycle.
It is the knowledge of this lifecycle that gives a glimpse into why some candidates are being invited to interviews within a couple of days while others are not getting any response, even though they have the skills and experience needed. Understanding each stage can help you optimize your resume and application for each stage, helping you get noticed and improve your odds of being shortlisted.
Stage 1: Application Submission
The process of a candidate starts at the point when the candidate applies to the job posted by the company on their careers page, job board or recruitment portal. In addition to your resume, employers may request more information like your contact information, work authorization, salary requirements, location, education, certifications, and answers to pre-screening questions.
Now, the ATS will form a candidate profile and save all the information you submit. Your resume is no longer just a resume, it is structured data, that can be searched, filtered, and compared to thousands of other resumes.
Stage 2: Resume Parsing
After you submit your resume, the ATS will start parsing your resume with a technology called resume parsing. Instead of being a document that is formatted to look like a resume, the system reads your resume into its system and tries to find the sections that are important, like your name, professional summary, work history, education, technical skills, certifications and contact information.
This is then passed to the parser which transforms it into structured fields in the ATS database. For instance, the previous job titles, employers, employment dates, programming languages, software tools, and certifications are searchable attributes.
The parser may misread or not recognize important data if your resume has complex formatting, multiple columns, text boxes, graphics or decorative elements. That's why it's crucial to have ATS-friendly formatting.
Stage 3: Data Indexing
The ATS parses and indexes your info. Indexing enables recruiters to find the right candidates in a matter of seconds by searching for keywords and filters among thousands of candidate profiles, rather than sifting through each one.
You can now search by these things such as: Job title, Technical skills, Programming languages, Certifications, Years of experience, Education, Location, Industry, and Previous employers.
In the case of a Software Test Engineer being recruited by a recruiter, it could be looking for candidates with keywords like Selenium, Python, SQL, REST API Testing, and Jira. It will be more likely to show up in search results if you have these skills in your resume in the right context.
Stage 4: Automated Screening
It is common knowledge that many companies set their ATS to screen job seekers before they're seen by a hiring manager. This screening could be for necessary certifications, years of experience, work authorization, location, education, or responses to application questions.
For instance, if a job specifies they need 3 years' experience with automation testing, but your application only shows 1 year, the profile might be assigned to a different category or need further consideration by the recruiter.
Recall that these automatic rules are unique to each organisation. Some companies are very dependent on the filtering capabilities of the ATS, while others are mainly using the ATS as an organizational tool.
Stage 5: Recruiter Search and Review
Once an application is processed, recruiters start looking in the ATS database for suitable candidates. Recruiters also may use combinations of keywords, Boolean search operators, experience filters, locations, and skills to help cut down the candidate field.
This is where the importance of keyword optimization comes from. If someone is looking for Manual Testing, Automation Testing, Python, Selenium, and SQL skills, then only those people will be able to be found by a recruiter based on their resumes.
After compiling a short list of potential candidates, resumes are then reviewed one by one to assess the candidate's experience, achievements, communication skills, and overall suitability for the position.
Stage 6 & 7: Shortlisting and Hiring
ATS candidates who meet the ATS requirements and the recruiter's expectations are advanced in the hiring process. This can range from a screening call with the recruiter, a technical test or coding challenge, panel interviews to final interviews with hiring managers. The ATS then logs in the feedback from interviews, hiring status, status changes, and recruiting notes.
After a candidate has been hired, the process doesn't stop. The majority of ATS store candidates' profiles for future opportunities, enabling recruiters to look back at past candidates when they have similar positions that become available.
Even if you're not chosen on your first job application, having a well structured and keyword optimized resume will raise the chances of recruiters finding you again for future jobs that are a better fit.
Understanding the ATS Candidate Life Cycle Matters
Many people think their CV is either accepted or rejected on the spot after they've sent it. In fact, your application goes through several phases – automated parsing, structured data extraction, data indexing, recruiter searching and human evaluation.
Once you know this lifecycle, you can make informed decisions as you create your resume. It is organized and presented well, has relevant keywords, measurable achievements, and is ATS friendly, which makes the information easier to process and present during the hiring process.
Knowing the ATS Candidate Life Cycle is the one thing that can help make sure that your resume accurately represents your qualifications at each stage. A technology and content marriage has a much higher chance of getting the attention of decision makers.
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