The Complete Guide to Hiring Software (ATS) in 2026

What is hiring software (ATS)?

ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System — software that companies use to receive, sort, and filter job applications before a human recruiter reviews them. If you've applied for a job online in the last ten years, your resume has almost certainly gone through one.

The system works like this: you submit your application through a job portal (company website, LinkedIn, Indeed). Your resume is automatically parsed — broken into structured data fields — and scored against the job's requirements. Resumes that don't meet certain thresholds are filtered out before anyone reads them.

The number most people don't know: According to Harvard Business School research, 88% of employers admit that qualified candidates are screened out by their own hiring software before a recruiter sees the application. That means the majority of rejections you've received may have had nothing to do with your qualifications.

How hiring software actually works

The process varies by platform, but generally follows these steps:

• Parsing: The system extracts text from your resume and maps it to structured fields — name, contact info, job titles, dates, skills, education. This is where formatting errors cause problems: tables, columns, headers/footers, and graphics often confuse the parser.
• Keyword matching: The system compares your resume against the job description, looking for required and preferred keywords. If you say "PM" but the job says "Product Manager," some systems don't connect them.
• Scoring: Resumes are given a match score based on keyword coverage, work history, education, and other factors. The recruiter typically sorts by score and starts reading from the top.
• Filtering: Many systems allow recruiters to set automatic filters — minimum years of experience, required degree, required certifications. Applications that don't meet these are automatically excluded.

The key insight: most of these decisions are made before any human sees your application. You're not being rejected by a recruiter — you're being filtered by software.

The major hiring platforms

Not all hiring software is the same. Each platform has different parsing rules, scoring methodologies, and formatting requirements. Here are the most common ones and what you need to know about each:

Universal formatting rules

Regardless of which platform the employer uses, these rules apply to every ATS submission:

• Use a single-column layout. Multi-column resumes confuse parsers. They read left-to-right, top-to-bottom — a two-column layout can cause your work history to appear in the wrong order.
• Avoid tables, text boxes, and graphics. These are either skipped entirely or parsed as garbled text. If it's not plain text, assume the system can't read it.
• Use standard section headers. "Work Experience" works. "My Story" does not. Common headers: Summary, Work Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications.
• Don't put important information in headers or footers. Some parsers ignore them entirely. Keep your contact information in the main body of the document.
• Use both acronyms and full terms. If the job says "Machine Learning," write "Machine Learning (ML)" at least once. Don't assume the system is smart enough to connect them.
• Spell out dates consistently. Most parsers prefer MM/YYYY format. "Jan 2023" is safer than "January 2023" is safer than "1/23."
• Match the job's keywords exactly. If the job says "cross-functional collaboration," don't substitute "cross-team coordination." The system is matching strings, not concepts.

Keyword strategy

The most impactful thing you can do for an ATS submission is keyword alignment. Here's a practical approach:

• Read the job description carefully and identify the required and preferred skills sections.
• Make a list of every specific technology, methodology, certification, and skill mentioned.
• Check your resume: do you use the same words? If you have the experience but use different terminology, the system may not see it.
• Add a "Core Skills" or "Technical Skills" section where you can list keywords concisely.
• For technical roles: list tools, languages, and frameworks by name — both acronym and full term on first use.

The goal isn't to stuff keywords randomly. The goal is to ensure that any genuine experience you have is described in language the system will recognize.

The most common ATS mistakes

• Sending a PDF to Taleo. Taleo's PDF parser is notoriously unreliable. If you know or suspect the employer is using Taleo, send a Word document.
• Using a creative resume template. Most creative templates use columns, graphics, and unusual layouts that confuse parsers. They look impressive to humans but score poorly in ATS systems.
• Using the same resume for every job. ATS systems score your resume against the specific job. A resume optimized for one role may score poorly for a similar role with different language.
• Leaving off the contact information from the body. It belongs in the main content, not just in a header.
• Using images for your name or section headers. Images are invisible to parsers.

What is an ATS score?

An ATS score (or resume match score) is a numerical rating of how well your resume matches a specific job posting. Most tools express this as a percentage or a 0–100 number.

Career Quiver's scoring system rates resumes across 10 dimensions:

• Keyword coverage (required skills match)
• Keyword coverage (preferred skills match)
• Section structure and completeness
• Formatting compatibility with the detected platform
• Quantified achievements (percentage of bullets with numbers)
• Acronym completeness (both acronym and full term present)
• Readability score
• Contact information completeness
• Action verb usage
• Relevance of experience to role level

Score tiers: Strong (85–100) · Good (70–84) · Needs Work (55–69) · High Risk (0–54)

A score below 55 means your resume is very likely to be filtered out before a human reads it. A score above 85 means you're in a strong position — the outcome now depends on your actual qualifications, not your formatting.

The bottom line

ATS systems are a technical problem. Your resume isn't bad — it's just not formatted for the system it's going through. The good news is that this is fixable with the right approach.

The manual approach: read this guide, identify the specific platform, apply the relevant rules, and rewrite your resume for every application.

The Career Quiver approach: paste the job URL, let us detect the platform and build the resume for you.