We have all heard of the dreaded ATS. The system that scans Resume’s and decides our fate before any human can look at our document. I want to talk a little bit about why they exist first, because many people voice their displeasure about the lack of human attention to the initial part of the hiring process. In many cases, technological advances arise from a need and usually come with both benefits and negatives. This is no different for the ATS. Let’s discuss the why first and move onto the what after. Why do they exist? One of the main reasons they exist is because of how easy the application process has become due to technology. We no longer have to fill out paper applications or find out about positions through the help wanted pages in newspapers. This has driven the average reply rate to approximately 250 applicants for every open position and only 25% of which meet the qualifications of the role. Pressed for time and with limited resources both Agency and Corporate Recruiters could not possibly assess all submissions. This led to the development of software that can scan and weed out unqualified applicants. Of course, this process has some obvious issues, including the exclusion of some very qualified candidates from the talent pool. What are we to

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This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. As someone that studied I/O Psychology and spent 6 years as a Learning & Development Manager, I find this to be an important topic. Let’s start with what is a skills gap. When applying this to your career we can simply define it as the space between your existing skills and the skills that you need to secure your intended career choice. These gaps can occur for several reason, including changes in technology, industry or workforce trends that we are unaware of. It can also occur because we simply choose to change our career path. The next question is how do we fill these in? Well the first step is identifying them. Our time is finite, so it is extremely important that we determine what we want to do going forward first. Understanding where we want to go will allow us to come up with a plan on how to get there. Our recommendations are the following: Start reaching out to your network to get a sense of the market and what opportunities are out there. Conduct a job search. See what positions look most interesting to you and what the skills required are. Then assess your skills and see where the disconnect is (if any). Connect with

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