There is a lot of misinformation on the internet these days about how “bots” or AI (artificial intelligence) are scanning and rejecting your resume in the Applicant Tracking System.
What MOST people think of when they are “auto rejected” during the application phase is called “knockout questions” in recruiting. The first thing to understand is that they have NOTHING to do with your resume; they are simple yes/no questions based on the requirements for the role.
Your status is based on how you – the applicant – answer those questions. There are some fairly standard one that most people see regularly:
Are you authorized to work in the <country where the job is located>?
Will you require a visa to work in the <country where the job is located>?
Are you at least 18 years of age?
Many employers have started using additional questions to filter applications. It is really important to understand that these questions are based on a simple decision tree of yes/no answers. How you answer the questions will determine if you do meet the basic qualifications.
An example could be a pizza delivery driver for a national/regional brand. In this case, questions might include:
Do you have a valid driver’s license?
Do you have access to a fully insured, reliable vehicle?
Do you live within X miles of the store you are applying to?
Have you ever been arrested for a moving violation other than a speeding ticket?
These are questions related to the basic requirements for the job. If you answer “yes” to a question that requires a “no” (and vice versa), then you are not qualified for the job. So you are application is terminated, and you will receive an automatic rejection email.
Major misunderstandings about knockout questions are that your application is “deleted” or shunted off that particular opening, and that this action means that a recruiter or hiring manager cannot see your resume. The first is illegal, the second is incorrect.
Once you apply for any specific job, a digital record is created. You are still associated with that job, but you are put in a status of “unqualified”. Knockout questions are enabled for a specific job, not universally (even standard questions.) Usually, once you apply for a specific job, you cannot re-apply for that exact same role, but you can apply for other roles that may open up.
Recruiters and hiring managers generally have two different ways they can look at records in an ATS. The first is by a specific job; they can see all the applicants to that job and what status they are in. Or they can look at a particular applicant record and see all the roles that person has applied to (and what status they are in each of those applications.) Usually, recruiters can also see all the notes and actions (including interview questions/feedback) associated with a specific person’s record.
It is important to note that EVERY transaction on every applicant record is visible from the time the record is created. Those records show the actual transaction, any result/s, and the person that authored the interaction.
Hopefully, that helps clarify the “auto reject” question.
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