3 Things Job Seekers Should Know about Lever ATS

3 Things Job Seekers Should Know about Lever ATS 3 Things Job Seekers Should Know about Lever ATS Virtually all large employers utilize anapplicant tracking system(ATS) to manage their simultaneous job openings and high volumes of applicants. These systems make it possible for recruiters and hiring managers to comb through hundreds or thousands of applicants, but theyre not without drawbacks.Resumes and applications that arent optimized for behauptung systems might never see the light of day in what many job seekers call the resume black hole.What is an applicant tracking system?8 things you need to know about ATSThere are dozens of different ATS out there and they all have their own quirks. One up-and-coming ATS that youre increasingly likely to encounter is Lever.What is Lever ATS?Like its competitor Greenhouse, Lever came out of Silicon Valley in 2012 and offers cleaner design and a more user-friendly interface for recruiters and applicants compared to older ATS institutions like Taleo. Lever allows hiring teams to collect applicants and move them through the interview and offer stages.Companies that use LeverSome of the most recognizable companies using Lever do their work in tech and online, includingNetflixShopifyYelpTwitchCourseraMediumHeadspaceUpworkRingCredit KarmaEventbriteQuoraRooster TeethJobscanYou can oftenspot the specific ATSa company is using by looking at the URL of the job application. For example, a Jobscan job listing has a URL that looks like thishttps//jobs.lever.co/jobscan-2/5322bc20-1900-4ad6-8fef-98998785088bBig companies like Netflix and Yelp use a custom link that hides the ATS.3 things you should know about LeverIf youre applying for a job at a company that utilizes Lever, here are three things that will give you a competitive advantages over other job seekers.1. Lever displays docx files better than pdfThis advice can be broadly applied to most ATS, but our tests in Lever demonstrate one of the reasons why we recommend submitting a docx file (Microsoft Word, Google Docs) rather than a pdf whenever possible.In this example, we uploaded a very conservatively formatted resume to Lever. In the recruiter preview, the resume is fine as a docx but encounters formatting issues that make it harder to read as a pdf. These formatting issues only compound with more complex resume designs. If youre uploading a resume into an ATS, use docx if possible.2. Avoid columns and tables in LeverUsing columns or tables on your resume helps organize and economize information on the page, but they can also cause catastrophic problems within an ATS like Lever.We as people know to read the left column left first, then the right. Lever and other ATS arent programmed to accurately parse columns and tables, so they often read left to right across the entire page regardless of columns. Heres what it looks like in Lever. We uploaded this resume with a table that divides the resume into a two-column layout.Lever parses each resume into a dig ital applicant profile thats supposed to be easier for the recruiter to read. However, these columns get completely garbled.Use columns and tables when creating a resume that will be emailed or handed directly to a hiring manager, but avoid them when uploading a resume to an ATS like Lever.3. Levers search algorithm allows for keyword flexibilityOne of the best ways to increase your chances of getting noticed within an ATS is to ensure that your keywords (industry buzzwords and hard skills) are an exact match to what is in the job description. Thats because most ATS rely on exact matches to compile candidate rankings and search results.Lever is one of the few ATS that uses word stemming to create some wiggle room when it comes to your resume keywords. For example, when we searched the term communications, Lever returned results for words likecommunicationcommunicatingcommunityHeres an example of a search for engineers, which returned words like engineering, engineer, and even engine . You should still carefully tailor your resume to the job description, but if you know the ATS is Lever, you can loosen up on the keyword matching just a bit. That said, youre better safe than sorry as word stemming has its limitations. For example, we found that Lever struggled to return project management in a search for project manager and vice versa. To come up as a search result for both terms, youd need them both in your resume. Check your resume for ATS red flagsWe test and research top ATS like Lever to add unique insights to our resume optimization tool. Just paste in or upload your resume and paste in a job description to instantly generate a customized Match Report that details exactly how to increase your interview rate with a resume optimized for ATS and human recruiters alike. Why Jobscan uses an ATSWere in the business of helping applicants avoid the resume black hole of ATS. With that in mind, you might be surprised to learn that Lever ATS is part of Jobscans recrui tment and hiring processes. The truth is, were not an anti-ATS company. While weve seen ATS enable unjust recruiting practices that cause highly qualified candidates to slip through the cracks, weve always acknowledged that theyre necessary for hiring companies. When we post a brand new job, we get around 350+ applicants within the first few weeks, says Jobscans Jenia Xayamountry, People Operations.As a small team balancing multiple job openings, its not feasible to manage that many incoming resumes without an ATS. Trust us, weve tried.It was really important to find the right partner for an ATS that would allow us to streamline our internal recruiting process, says Jenia. Being able to clearly evaluate and track candidates in a consistent way allows for a more efficient and transparent hiring process.Check out Jobscans career page. Dont forget to optimize your resume before applying