Is Your Resume Keyword-Scanned or Understood By The ATS?
Answer: It could be either, or both, and job seekers need to be savvy and prepared.
AI has launched us into a new generation of ATS capabilities and culture. For this post, I’ll designate two ATS categories: “2014,” and “Today.”
2014 def: verbatim keyword-scanning, then ranking.
2026 def: meaning-making/understanding context, then organizing (+ a gatekeeper of the qualifications/knockout questions that shows no mercy).
How can you tell what kind of system it is? The careers page URLs tend to reference the name of the ATS company in many instances. And to break it down and make it easier:
If you’re applying to a larger-sized company (a Fortune 500 perhaps, or a global company 5,000+ people) they may have Workday, Oracle Taleo or SAP SuccessFactors as their ATS. These systems are modern and read your resume based on context, not just keywords.
Modern midsized companies may go with Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, iCIMS, UKG, Dayforce, ADP. These are also AI/context-driven.
Small companies, nonprofit orgs or government agencies may utilize BambooHR, JazzHR, Breezy, Paylocity, Zoho Recruit, NEOGOV, USAJobs, PeopleAdmin or Interfolio. These may be less advanced and more keyword-driven, but still able to extract context to some extent.
However, (a) you don’t know who you’ll encounter until you apply; and (b) you don’t know if the company has enabled or disabled certain functions that make it more counterintuitive, or more acting like a 2010 ATS, or somewhere in the middle.
So what approach should you take with your resume and trying to ‘rank high’ or land in the A or B pools? Really, your only choice is to try to cover your bases with writing the resume for either, while still ensuring it’s your writing.
What does this look like on a resume that’s submitted for a role that has ‘project management’ in the requirements? Perhaps it’s “project management” appearing in your skills section… and then in your bullet points, “Managed 5-8 global enterprise projects …” appears, whereby a more progressive, AI-enabled system will recognize this as matching the role’s requirements.
So your full game plan:
Check for indicators of what ATS the company is using.
Write to the capabilities of the system.
To play it safest, include both keywords AND contextual phrases. (Because even if the system is advanced, the company may have turned off certain AI capabilities, so it really is best to cover your bases).
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