Everyone has dreams in life which are accompanied by a few goals and targets. One such dream is to get a job, preferably high paying and with a reputed business organization. Some people love to chase their dreams, they work hard, earn their degrees and apply at premier institutions in search of employment opportunities. With the rapid industrialization and growth of several modern business houses, job opportunities are plenty. Ironically, still, there is a large chunk of the population, which is still unemployed and yet to break their shackles of employment. This article is for those who have duly filled their job applications and have even submitted their resumes but are yet to hear back from the employer.
Submission Of A Job Application
With the growth of digital platforms and mediums, such as Emails and Instant messaging applications, nowadays most job applications are shared electronically via these electronic mediums. A job application is a kind of covering letter which is digitally placed over and above a resume. This is the first thing or document that an employer or hiring manager peruses. If the job application is nicely written and you are able to show ample interest, there are high chances that the ATS bots will have a go on your resume.
How Does ATS (Applicant Tracking System) Works?
Before proceeding any further, it is quite necessary for a candidate to understand how does an ATS system works. An ATS is like an electronic digital human resource manager developed in the form of software, which acts as a helping hand to the human hiring managers. This system segregates the relevant and appropriate resumes as well as job applications from a pool of hundreds (in some cases even thousands) of job applications. An ATS performs its duties by considering the following parameters, which are:
- Keywords: Every job description issued by an employer consists of several duties which are required to be performed by a candidate while working with the organization. An ATS looks for the relevant keywords which are similar in both the job description and the resume.
- Title: The job title, which is mentioned in the job application is carefully scrutinized by the ATS. Any inappropriate or different job title, will be immediately rejected. For Example, If the job opening is of an Accounts Receivable and you are sending a job application with the job title Accounts Manager, there are low chances that your application would be further processed, due to difference in job titles.
- Formatting: The way you design your resume and job application matters a lot. ATS being a software, rejects resumes and job application which are over-formatted or are written in the fonts which are not ATS friendly. Refer to our exclusive post, and read more about the corporate friendy resumes, post which, your resumes and job applications would never be rejected.
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How Is A Resume Scrutinized After Getting Clearance From ATS?
The role of ATS is simple, select/shortlist/segregate the best applications from the whole pool of applications and resumes. After an application gets clearance from an ATS bot, it reaches the table of a human hiring manager, who using his own analytical skills further scrutinizes the application. This application is further scrutinized on the basis of the following parameters:
1. Work Experience
This is the major factor that will decide the fate of your job application. Work experience plays a vital role in the ultimate selection or rejection of a candidate and is the first thing that a hiring manager notices in your resume. If the work experience is relevant and is enough to give you an opportunity, there are high chances that you will receive an interview call, post further scrutiny of your resume. Further, it is not only the number of years that matter but also the nature of tasks and duties that you have performed while being in employment.
2. Educational Qualification
After work experience what matters the most is your education. It is absolutely true that a highly qualified candidate with relevant degrees and certificates from reputed educational institutions will always have an edge over the other candidates. Academic achievements play a vital role in the overall selection of a candidate and thus must be shown in an exhaustive manner, that is, starting from your school, just share each and every of your academic achievements.
3. Gap Analysis
Usually, in a resume, there are two types of gaps, which are:
- Academic Gaps: These are the gaps which are present in your education or academics. For example, You started your college, after a gap of 2 years, post completion your schooling.
- Employment Gaps: These gaps are present in your employment or professional career. For example, You worked with an organization for two years, left it, and joined another one after 3 years.
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Whatever the nature of the gap is, there will always be skeptical questions and doubts about the gaps on display. The higher the gap, the lower would be your chances of getting an interview call.
4. Extra-curricular Activities
Only play and no work makes an individual dull and boring, and no business organization wants to hire dull employees. The next thing, which a hiring manager notices in your resume are your extra-curricular activities. As the name itself contains the word “extra”, this extra is needed to draw an edge over the other candidates. Your extracurricular activities play a huge role in deciding the better of the two equally qualified candidates. For example, Mr. A and Mr. B both have similar work experience and similar educational qualifications, however, Mr. A throughout his college years, represented his state team in the national basketball championships. In this case, Mr. A would be preferred over Mr. B.
How Long Can You Wait?
As mentioned above, there are basically several parameters using which, either an ATS system or a hiring manager scrutinizes your job application, and only post these measures, can a business organization call you for an interview. If there are considerable gaps in your resume (academic or professional), or you lack those extra-curricular activities which could have given you a competitive advantage over the other candidates, you will not be getting an interview call.
It is thus best to wait for a maximum of 10 days to 14 days, before making any decision. This wait of roughly two weeks is basically because:
- There are several factors in a resume to be judged and
- There are simply several candidates too, waiting to be judged.
Thus, wait for at least two weeks and then decide to move on, by applying to other job applications and shifting focus entirely from this job opportunity. However, it is also recommended that you either write a follow-up letter or make a follow-up call within this period of 14 days, to be absolutely sure about your status.
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Following Up Within The Waiting Period
We recommend candidates, to wait for 14 days before making a move on, however, in the meanwhile, you must either write a follow-up letter or make a follow-up call to your hiring manager.
Follow-Up Letter
The follow-up letter must be written in a decent and professional tone, mentioning all your vitals, such as name, date of interview, and designation for which you were interviewed, along with mentioning the reason for writing the letter, which is obviously about the determination of your status of the job application.
Follow-up Call
In case you are planning to make a call, be soft and prepare your speech well in advance, to avoid all kinds of stutters and pauses. A follow-up call is more effective than writing a letter but it is subject to the availability of the hiring managers. You can read in detail about this follow-up call along with knowing the technique of its preparation, by referring to our exclusive post.
References
- https://www.bmj.com/content/314/7091/1371.short
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964339718301800
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
All the team management, content creation, and monetization tasks are handled by me. Together with the team at PrepMyCareer, the aim is to provide useful and engaging content to our readers.