Top 10 ATS Systems Employers Use in 2026

Understanding Which ATS Your Application Goes Through

Over 98% of Fortune 500 companies and 75% of all employers use an Applicant Tracking System to manage job applications. Knowing which ATS a company uses helps you understand how your resume will be parsed, scored, and presented to recruiters.

Each system has different parsing capabilities, which means formatting that works perfectly in one ATS may break in another. Here are the 10 most widely used systems and what you need to know about each.

1. Workday Recruiting

Used by: Large enterprises — Amazon, Netflix, Target, Bank of America, Visa

Workday is one of the most common ATS platforms for large corporations. It integrates with the company's broader HR suite. Tips: Workday parses standard formats well. Use clear section headings (Experience, Education, Skills). Avoid tables, columns, and graphics. Always fill in all fields in the online application — do not rely solely on your uploaded resume.

2. Greenhouse

Used by: Mid-to-large tech companies — HubSpot, Airbnb, Coinbase, Stripe, Pinterest

Greenhouse is popular in the tech industry and focuses heavily on structured hiring processes. Tips: Greenhouse has solid parsing capabilities. It extracts skills, work history, and education reliably from well-formatted PDFs. Include a skills section with keywords matching the job post.

3. Lever (now Employ)

Used by: Tech startups and mid-market companies — Shopify, Netflix, Lyft

Lever combines ATS and CRM functionality. It is known for a candidate-friendly experience. Tips: Lever parses resumes reasonably well but favors simple formatting. Stick to standard section headers and avoid creative layouts.

4. iCIMS

Used by: Large enterprises across industries — Southwest Airlines, UPS, Hershey, Target

iCIMS is one of the largest ATS providers, particularly popular in retail, healthcare, and manufacturing. Tips: iCIMS supports PDF and Word formats. Use standard headings, avoid headers/footers (they may not parse), and include both spelled-out terms and acronyms (e.g., "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)").

5. Taleo (Oracle)

Used by: Large enterprises and government — Starbucks, Boeing, AT&T, many federal contractors

Taleo is one of the oldest and most widely deployed ATS systems. Its parsing technology is older and can be finicky. Tips: Taleo has the most issues with complex formatting. Use a single-column layout, no tables, no images, and standard fonts. This system is one of the biggest reasons to keep your formatting simple. See our ATS-friendly format guide.

6. SAP SuccessFactors

Used by: Large global enterprises — Siemens, Bosch, Unilever, Deutsche Bank

SuccessFactors is popular with multinational corporations, especially in Europe. Tips: Similar to Taleo in its parsing limitations. Keep formatting simple, use standard section headers, and avoid non-standard characters.

7. SmartRecruiters

Used by: Mid-to-large companies — Visa, Skechers, Equinox, LinkedIn

SmartRecruiters focuses on a modern, user-friendly experience for both recruiters and candidates. Tips: SmartRecruiters has good parsing capabilities. It handles PDFs and Word docs well. Still, stick to clean formatting for best results.

8. BambooHR

Used by: Small to mid-size businesses — widely adopted by companies with 50-500 employees

BambooHR is primarily an HRIS but includes ATS functionality. It is very common among smaller companies. Tips: BambooHR has basic parsing. Your resume may not be parsed at all — some companies just store the file. Make sure your resume is visually clear since a human may read the PDF directly.

9. Jobvite

Used by: Mid-market companies — Logitech, Schneider Electric, Hulu

Jobvite emphasizes social recruiting and referral programs alongside traditional ATS features. Tips: Jobvite's parsing is reliable for standard formats. It also pulls information from LinkedIn profiles, so make sure your LinkedIn matches your resume. See our LinkedIn vs resume guide.

10. Ashby

Used by: Fast-growing tech companies — Notion, Ramp, Deel, Linear

Ashby is a newer ATS that has gained rapid adoption in the tech startup space. It combines ATS, analytics, and scheduling. Tips: Ashby has modern parsing that handles most formats well. It is particularly good at extracting structured data from clean, standard resumes.

How to Optimize Your Resume for Any ATS

Regardless of which system a company uses, these principles apply universally:

Use a single-column layout — Multi-column designs confuse many parsers

Stick to standard section headings — Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications

Use common fonts — Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, Helvetica. See our resume font guide

Avoid images, charts, and graphics — ATS cannot read them

Submit as PDF — Unless the posting specifically requests Word

Mirror job description keywords — This is the single most important factor. Use our resume keywords guide

Check Your Resume Against Any ATS

Want to know how your resume scores? Our free ATS checker analyzes your resume against a job description and tells you exactly what to fix. Pair it with our AI resume builder to create a resume optimized for every ATS on this list.

For a deeper understanding of how these systems work, read our complete guide on what is an ATS.