As the name suggests it's a software used by recruiters globally to screen and track candidates throughout the recruiting and hiring process. It enables recruiters to set key parameters (keywords, skills, qualifications and more) for the role and filter candidates based on how closely their CVs and responses to knockout questions align with those criteria.
If you've often heard to tailor your CV and answers for each job application according to the job description, the ATS is the reason why. No matter how good you might be for the job, if you do not optimise your CV to the JD of the role you're likely to not get past the screening stage.
How do you optimise your CV for an ATS / How do you create an ATS friendly CV?
Three crucial steps:
You might ask do i actually need to do care about the ATS?
The answer is: Yes, you do. Why?
So you get the picture, using an ATS for recruitment has become an industry standard and the use of the technology is just going to increase with the prevalence of AI being incorporated into the tech.