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Comment by jakub_g | Hacker News Reader

FWIW (at least in tech industry), apparently the automated filtering systems are a myth spread by companies who make money on the promise to optimize your resume to get past the filter.

https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1292909844886945792

(The OP of the tweet was an engineering manager in several big tech companies, wrote The Software Engineer’s Guidebook last year, and talked with many recruiters in the process)

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I don't know if there are automated filtering systems that will send a rejection email in place but I know as a manager who used LinkedIn job posts I had what was basically a, "qualified" and then a "not qualified/spam" folder for applications. New applications were auto sorted into one or the other depending on their resume/linkedin profile/some other factors I was not aware of.

I could still find those profiles but it was auto filtering the candidates it thought were relevant and those that were not. To at least some extend these types of automated filtering systems do exists. I don't know why recruiters/manager say they do not.

I talked to a recruiter for a three letter company, and they told me that they actively search for keywords on people's resumes and the applications that most apply to the role. This would in fact be considered filtering. Now I don't know if the software they use (brassring) automatically "suggests" applicants (which would imply automated filtering) or not.

>(at least in tech industry), apparently the automated filtering systems are a myth

Sounds like horseshit. There's no shortage of graduates in tech, on top of graduates of various "bootcamps", as everyone and their dog has been telling young people they just need to "learn to code!" and they'll have a luxurious, joyous future.

I paid someone $250 to get my resume past ATS systems, it worked.

Care to share the service/company?

Reminds me of that old trick: Pay me $100 and I'll cast a spell to get you accepted to university. Your money back if it doesn't work.

And what would have happened if you hadn't?

Huh? This directly disagrees with my experience. I believe this person is mistaken. Resumes are always filtered before they hit my desk, I just never even knew the filter happened. Apparently they toss out a huge amount.

Reading this tweet in depth disagrees with a lot of my experience in Fortune 500 tech companies. Can’t figure out the misunderstanding.

If you never knew it happened, how do you... know it happened?

I can't conclusively say one way or the other. I have been a hiring manager at a F500 tech company and have never seen direct evidence of any automatic filtering or rejections.

Anyone speaking with complete confidence in either direction needs to bring actual evidence...

As in, my managers always talked about their piles being “presorted by HR” which was just code for a computer did it. I never thought some well paid HR person was actually sorting through those, but maybe I guess.

There’s no evidence to bring? Like, in the case of bunch of people bringing personal anecdotes you can still create a sense of truth without evidence Christ.

The companies I worked at had sourcers and resume screeners who did exactly that. Mostly but not all contractors. Not necessarily well-paid, but humans nonetheless.

jakub_g refers to the claim that "automated filtering systems are a myth". That doesn't mean that HR aren't filtering them manually.

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