Which ATS Software Do Employers Use? A Guide for Job Seekers
Dozens of ATS platforms exist, and the one an employer uses can affect how your CV is parsed and scored. Understanding the major players helps you make better decisions about formatting and optimisation.
The Most Common ATS Platforms
Workday: One of the most widely used enterprise ATS platforms globally. Used by many FTSE 100 companies and large US multinationals. Workday is known for relatively robust PDF parsing, though it can still struggle with complex layouts. Applications go through Workday's own portal rather than third-party job boards.
Greenhouse: Popular with tech companies and scale-ups. Generally considered more modern and better at parsing, but still keyword-match dependent.
Lever: Used by many mid-sized tech and startup employers. Relatively modern parsing with good PDF support.
Taleo (Oracle): Older platform still used by many large enterprises and some public sector organisations. Can be more sensitive to formatting issues than newer systems. Still fairly common.
iCIMS: Widely used by US enterprises and some UK multinational employers. Good for standard formats; more formatting-sensitive than Greenhouse.
SmartRecruiters: Increasingly popular with European employers. Modern platform with reasonable parsing capability.
Jobvite: Common in the US, used by some UK firms with US parent companies.
NHS Jobs / Trac Jobs: Used by NHS organisations in the UK. These use structured application forms more than free-form CV uploads.
Civil Service Jobs portal: UK government applications. Also primarily form-based.
Does It Matter Which ATS the Employer Uses?
The core best practices work across all platforms: clean formatting, standard headings, keyword-matched content. You rarely know in advance which ATS an employer uses, so optimising for ATS in general — rather than a specific platform — is the right approach.
The exceptions are older platforms like Taleo, where formatting issues are more common. If you know an employer uses Taleo (it is often evident from the application URL), extra care around formatting is warranted.
How to Identify the ATS From the Job Application
The application URL often contains clues:
- app.greenhouse.io — Greenhouse
- jobs.lever.co — Lever
- workday.com or myworkday.com — Workday
- icims.com — iCIMS
- taleo.net — Taleo
This can help you make a final formatting check if you know which system you are dealing with.
The Universal Approach
Because you cannot always know which ATS is in use, optimise for ATS in general. CVCircuit's ATS checker gives you a keyword match score and formatting assessment that applies across the major platforms.
Check your CV's ATS compatibility free at CVCircuit before every application.