On a recent consultation, I was asked:
“What is your teams strategy to beat the ATS when applying for jobs that you’ve seen work recently?”
My client was applying to hundreds of jobs on job portals, and had not had any luck. Since he was also working another full-time job at the same time, and was interested in adding a J2 (that’s Job #2 for those who are not in the overemployment community), he decided to pay for our job application service – so that he could spend his time focused on his current role.
Within 2 weeks, he had 5 interviews (with follow-up assessments), and he turned off our services, because there was no longer any need. (We love getting fired for that reason!)
Here is how we turned his situation around, and how you can repeat the same thing in your own job search.
Understanding the ATS / Recruiting Situation
There are some nefarious things happening with job ads, e.g. job postings being used as resume farms, recruiters posting a job just to hire someone who is already working at the company, etc. However, despite the stories that come out about this, most cases of this are overblown.
In most cases, recruiters are simply short-staffed, under pressure from management to get more done, and terrified that if they don’t, they lose their job in a market that is one of the worst that industry has seen since 2009. As a result, most recruiters are simply overworked, and as a result, are only skimming resumes, and only skimming until they have a “good enough number”. Then, they proceed to start phone screening the accepted applicants, and then pass on the quality candidates to their superiors or hiring managers.
Notice – I did not mention closing the job ad. They aren’t going to close the ad until they are certain that they have all the candidates that they need, and that will require a few weeks of interviewing. That is why you are seeing zombie advertisements. It’s unfortunate that you as a jobseeker will waste your time applying, but it is not in the recruiter’s self-interest to close the ad, and everything in business is about looking out for one’s self-interest. That is why BackgroundProof recommends lying on your resume to get what you want. Read here about a recent national news story in sports, which demonstrates how successful executives pursue their own self-interest.
Establish Filters for Application Date
BackgroundProof only recommends applying on public job sites, for applications that are 48 hours old, and never more than 72 hours. The 48-hour mark comes from research and interviews we’ve done with recruiters in the field. Asked about the typical lifecycle of a job post, on average, the typical recruiter will do the following:
- After confirming the JD (job description) with hiring managers, the recruiter will post it on the board (Careerbuilder, Monster, Linkedin, etc.)
- Recruiters will then wait 3-4 hours, and check in on the resumes coming in. At this point, he/she is not shortlisting candidates, instead, they are simply making sure that the ad is working, and that the ad is getting the right candidates.
- Around the 24 hour mark (sometimes 4-6 hours later depending on their current project flow), recruiters will start reading resumes and shortlisting candidates. If you get a rejection before this time, it is most likely an automatic filter, not a human recruiter. Human recruiters don’t sit on their job ads waiting for resumes to come in, they simply do not have the time.
- Between 24 and 48 hours after the posting, candidates will complete their initial shortlisting. This means either shortlisting everyone that meets the job qualifications, or looking for the absolute “dream” candidates – depending on the recruiter’s personality. In the case of “dreamers”, the recruiter will soon be disappointed in the quantity of “perfect” candidates and will come back to the resume stack and look for “less perfect” candidates.
- After 72 hours, the recruiter will move on interviews, assessments, etc. What he/she won’t due is close out the job, because they are always concerned that, “What if these candidates don’t work out, I’ll have to pull more from the stack”. That’s a great idea, except they never will, and by the time they come back the chance of your resume will be one of a thousand.
Based on the observed behaviors of recruiters, it is therefore imperative to set your criteria filters on job ads for that time period.
Customize Resume for Job Posting
Look, we get it, you’re applying to hundreds of jobs, and you want to find the fastest way to apply. What if instead of focusing on the total quantity of applications, you instead focus on the total time spent applying before you get an interview?
In other words, when appropriate, spend time to make sure that the application is high-quality, and not high-quantity. This means customizing your resume in a smart way, that is both time efficient for you, and speaks directly to the recruiter’s needs.
We’ll go much more into detail on how to customize a resume based on the job ad, with specific details to look for – and details that are time-wasters. Until that is published, please join our newsletter so you are updated as soon as it comes out.
In the meantime, you’ll want to follow these guidelines:
- Design a cover letter that is easily customizable
- Keep a Resume Notes document, so that you can easily copy & paste bullets and word phrases
- Use general language in the resume
- Do not use “keyword stuffing”
Design a Customizable Cover Letter
We recommend customizing the cover letter instead of a resume. This is because the cover letter is the “sizzle” that attracts a recruiter’s attention, and the resume is the “steak” – the details that the recruiter looks to verify what she read in the cover letter.
The best way to handle this is to create a section on your cover letter titled, “Why I am a fit for this role” – and then a bulleted list of very easy-to-read phrases that directly approach what the job ad was looking for.
There’s a bit of an art to doing both (appealing to the human and the ATS), in a way this is like SEO but for job applications.
Keep a Resume Notes Document
This is a document with short phrases and prewritten bullets. As you customize your resumes, you’ll find yourself writing great statements that you’ll want to reuse, in similar situations. We recommend keeping a Google Docs document (or OneNote, Notion, etc.) and organizing your list based on job types, industries, etc.
Subscribe to our newsletter for an example of this – This is coming soon!
Using General Language on the Resume
Your cover letter is what sells you to the recruiter, not the resume. The resume is where an already-interested recruiter goes to verify that you do indeed meet the basic job qualifications. It’s important to understand the difference here, as you do not want to spend a lot of time customizing your resume itself for a specific role. Rather, it’s better to use general language that covers most or all of the jobs you’ll be applying for.
If you do need different language on a resume for a job category, we suggest creating a whole new resume template. For example, a candidate very likely might be applying for a Director of Software Development role at the same time that they are applying for Software Engineer roles – especially in this job market! You’ll want to create two resume templates, one with executive experience, and the other with engineering experience, since recruiters will not hire a Director for an engineering role. We recommend then changing the titles for every role on the resume, changing the tasks under each, etc. This is where you’ll also want to consider lying, to fill in any activity gaps and look like the best fit for the role.
If you are concerned about lying in an interview, this might help you stop worrying about the ethics.
Do not use Keyword Stuffing
At one time, candidates started copy & pasting the job description into their resume, changing the font background to the same color as the background (thus making it “invisible”), and then tricking the ATS into thinking the candidate is a perfect fit. Alternatively, you might grab a large string of industry jargon, and do the same. This is known as keyword stuffing.
Do not keyword stuff – it’s a risky move that might backfire, and it just doesn’t work. While it’s true that many hiring professionals use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter resumes, and these systems often rank resumes based on the frequency of relevant keywords, overusing keywords can also flag your resume as spammy and get you thrown out. Moreover, if a resume is filled with keywords to the point where it no longer accurately represents the applicant’s skills or experiences, it could be quickly rejected.
Secondly, recruiters often will find this on their own (it’s not invisible after all, just the same color), and they will likely auto-reject as well. recruiters are often skilled at spotting keyword stuffing in resumes. When applicants overload their resumes with an excessive number of keywords, it hurts your readability. Recruiters recognize that keyword stuffing is an attempt to manipulate applicant tracking systems (ATS) and artificially boost a resume’s ranking. But the larger issue from a human element is that the practice leads to resumes that lack authenticity, and fail to accurately represent the candidate’s qualifications. We are not talking about honesty, but rather, authenticity – can they look at your resume in 45 seconds and understand what type of candidate you are? Keyword stuffing simply muddies the picture for them and will cause them just to move on.
You’ll never know why you were rejected, but you will.
About “Easy Apply” Applications
Yes, you are far less likely to get a response from an “Easy Apply” application than a longer one. Does this mean you should skip this?
Absolutely not!
While these applications often attract a higher volume of applicants due to their simplicity, the ease of applying means that candidates can efficiently submit applications to numerous positions. However, they are still worth the time, because they are so easy to apply. In other words, if it takes 5 minutes for a normal application (which has a 3% chance of becoming an interview) and it takes 15 seconds for an “Easy Apply” application (which has a 0.5% chance of becoming an interview) – you are ___ more likely to get a job using Easy Apply instead of normal applications.
The math is here:
| Application Type | Time Required to Apply | Applications per Hour | Chance to Become Interview | Interviews per 3 Hours of Applying |
| Easy Apply | 15 seconds | 240 | 0.5% | 3.6 Interviews |
| Long-Form Application | 5 minutes | 12 | 3% | 1.08 Interviews |
Our suggestion is to create a separate filter in your job portal for Easy Apply jobs, and only apply to jobs that are less than a day old. And hit it every day, consistently.
And do not count the number of times that you apply to Easy Apply, because you will get frustrated. Just keep the faith that this is part of a broad portfolio of job seeking activities (including long-form applications, applications on the company’s website, networking on LinkedIn, etc.).
For more tips and strategies on navigating job applications and maximizing your success rate, visit our site regularly. We provide ongoing insights, updates, and tools that can help you stay ahead in a competitive job market.