What happens to your job application once you click submit?

Land more interviews with these three steps.

Artificial intelligence (AI) acting as the gatekeeper reviewing job applications and making rejection decisions instead of humans is a common misconception about the hiring process. For most companies, this isn’t the case.

People teams often operate with an HR technology stack that is mediocre at best, without the additional capabilities of cognitive computing. Customer relationship management (CRM) on the people side comes in the form of an applicant tracking system (ATS). An ATS keeps track of candidates who apply and passive candidates that recruiters and sourcers engage.

Every inbound application starts in the “applicant review” stage. This is where applications stay unless a recruiter or sourcer makes the decision to move the candidate forward (usually to a phone screen) or decline the candidate (usually accompanied by a rejection email).

Sometimes, applications stay in the applicant review stage indefinitely. Meaning, you probably won’t hear back from the company after applying. This is usually the result of the recruiter closing the requisition without declining every applicant or a pause in the search due to shifting business priorities.