In today’s competitive job market, employers need to do everything they can to find high-quality candidates for their company. ATS (Application Tracking System) helps employers and brands to attract top talent using tags. Tags are keywords associated with a job or user.

They are used to filter resumes and applications in the ATS, which helps cut down on time spent sorting through irrelevant materials. It is important to use tags because they allow recruiters to find qualified candidates more quickly.

Tags are a new feature that allows you to categorize candidates by skills, experience, industry, or other information. This makes it easier for recruiters to find the right people when they have hundreds of applicants applying every day.

6 tips to use tags in your ATS effectively

Tags should be clear

The tag “software” can mean a “software developer”, a “software company”, or plainly, “software”. When a word or phrase has more than one meaning, it is said to be ambiguous. The goal of the tag is to eliminate guesswork for its users, requiring that each word match only one concept uniquely.

If there are no alternatives to use such vague terms, then we should explicitly clarify these terms using some kind of qualifier. The following are some of the recommended methods:

Qualifiers

Make use of a qualifier, such as a parenthesis, to add context and clarify the wording. For example, “computer (programmer)”, “computer (operating system)”, or “computer (hard disk)”.

Compound Terms

Whenever possible, combine two words to form a compound word rather than using qualifiers. For example, use “computer programmer” instead of “computer (programmer).”

Tags should be mutually exclusive

Each taxonomic tag should represent a single concept. As a result, there should be no overlap in the scope definitions of the two tags. It is not a good idea, for example, to include tags like “customer satisfaction and “business growth” in the same taxonomy.

Tags with overlapping meanings create confusion. This causes users to tag similar information inconsistently, and end-users could get confused about which tags they should select from a list of options. It is the result of a poorly designed taxonomy. For example, the taxonomy of a given location should include the country, the state, and the city, in order to eliminate all ambiguity.

Tags should include most (but not all) possibilities

Developing a complete taxonomy with highly specific tags for every piece of content can lead to an overwhelming system. This makes the taxonomy difficult to manage and for users to use. You should not strive towards absolute granularity to attain perfection, as this could result in a very inefficient system of tag-based ATSs.

The taxonomy should be built to grow and adapt with the information, users, and use cases. This will make it easier for everyone involved in its management because we can start from a rough draft rather than trying to create something perfect-in advance.

The following guidelines will help you control the taxonomy terms around your core use case:

Map the terms with the use-cases. Avoid adding a word if there is not a direct use case for it.
To keep up with new information, it is vital to make sure taxonomies are extensible and design them for iterative development.
Develop a clear taxonomy document to manage how changes are implemented, tested, and communicated to users.

Tag names should be intuitive and reflect the scope

Typically, users will go with the face value (or the name) of the tag, it would be a mistake to assume that the user will read all the scope notes, and remember what is included and excluded from the tag. Good examples of tag names are “data science” and “data analysis,” as the name clearly states about these tags.

Tag names should conform to a style guide

Maintain consistency in the names of the tags. For example, use the same grammatical form, plural versus singular, company name with or without the legal entity, abbreviations, or spell out the entire term, multi-word terms, capitalization (upper, title, capital, or sentence). It is important to be consistent when naming your tags.

Organizing tags by category and having a consistent schema for tagging will allow users to better understand your taxonomy, while further developing it with multiple owners.

Use nouns, not verbs

Taxonomies are an important way to organize information. They should be nouns that follow consistent and predictable structures, with the primary purpose being ease in storage, retrieval, or sharing. Such as “python programming language” and “java programming language.”

An applicant tracking system is a web-based software solution that allows companies to automate the recruitment process. ATS also allows recruiters to track applicants’ progress through the recruiting process and provides scores and ratings to profiles of the candidate based on the applicant’s skills and experiences that follow their resume. This helps employers determine if their company will be a good fit for them or not.

Webbtree’s ATS helps manage all your talent acquisition efforts in one place. Our ATS recommends the most relevant candidates from your database based on the job description and other details. Customize hiring flows for each job to ensure a seamless experience for both applicants and hiring managers alike.

Tags can be utilized within Webbtree ATS as well! Tags can be added against each individual candidate, and filter results according to custom requirement parameters as well! Thousands of candidates can be filtered through and more accurate results can be gained by making use of relevant tags – all with Webbtree ATS.