Taleo ATS Reviewed: What Candidates Need to Know

The particular ATS makes a huge difference in how your resume will perform once you hit apply. Keep reading for a breakdown of everything candidates need to know about applying to jobs through Taleo Recruiting.

Taleo is an applicant tracking system (ATS) used by hundreds of organizations worldwide. If you're applying for a job that uses Taleo as its primary recruiting tool, it's important to familiarize yourself with how the system works and what you can do to improve your chances of being selected for an interview. In this blog post, we'll provide a brief overview of Taleo and share some tips on how to make your application stand out.

What is Taleo Recruiting?

Taleo is the cloud-based applicant tracking system that was acquired by Oracle in 2012. Since that time, Oracle has developed new functionality and managed the partner ecosystem for Taleo.

There are multiple levels of Taleo that can be customized to the organization. All of these talent technology products are used by employers to sort, filter, and manage applications through the hiring process. The pricing is relatively high compared to other ATS, so Taleo is often used by larger companies.

Employers will often pick Taleo because they already use Oracle products in their operations. However, there are many features and automations that can make Taleo attractive to employers with a large number of open jobs at all times. The systems offer a variety of features designed to streamline the hiring process, including job postings, resume management, candidate screening, and interview scheduling. Taleo is used by companies of all sizes in a variety of industries, although it's particularly popular in the healthcare, financial services, and retail sectors.

Taleo or Oracle HCM has a number of ATS competitors. The top competitors right now are Workday and SAP SuccessFactors. Changing ATS can be an expensive and costly process because of the data and technology integrations that most companies using Taleo have. So, many companies will opt to stick with Taleo even though there may be better or less costly options available.

Oracle has a newer more robust Human Capital Management (HCM) tool that includes a number of recruiting additional solutions. This means that you will likely see more employers make the shift from Taleo to the newer and improved Oracle Recruiting solution.

How Do You Know the Employer is Using Taleo?

There are a few ways to tell if an employer is using Taleo. The first way to tell is by going to the employer's job board. At the bottom, you will likely see the name Taleo.

The second way to tell if the employer is using the Taleo applicant tracking system is to look at the URL for the job posting or the company's job board. Employers can customize their careers page websites, but often times you will still see Taleo in the URL for the company job board or job posting.

The third way to determine if the company is using Taleo for its ATS is to look at the emails confirming your candidate profile or application. Oftentimes, those emails will be sent from an automated Taleo address or otherwise include the ATS name in the body of the message.

How Do You Know the Employer is Using Taleo?

There are a few ways to tell if an employer is using Taleo. The first way to tell is by going to the employer's job board. At the bottom, you will likely see the name Taleo.

What Happens to Your Resume After You Hit Submit on Taleo?

Most candidates feel like it is a total mystery as to what happens to your resume after you hit submit on an ATS - let alone on Taleo. You will often receive a ton of automated emails or status updates, but no real clarity on where you sit during this immediate post-application phase.

Basically, the following happens to your application after you hit submit on Taleo: Basically, the following happens to your application after you upload your resume on Taleo:

The system default for Taleo is to send candidates back to the application so you can keep entering information in the fields.
Your resume should have been scanned by Taleo for keywords including skills, education, certification, and all other details when you hit upload. Depending on your resume and the system configurations, you should see some of the information pre-populated in the application fields.
You may have to re-enter the data or copy/paste the data from your resume into the fields for your application. This can happen if you don't have the information on your resume properly or if the company customized the system in such a way that prevented the proper parsing of information from your resume.
After getting all the way through the application, you will hit submit for a particular job with the company. This is when Taleo algorithms evaluate your fit for the job - based on how the information appears on your resume and your online job application. This means if the information is not present, you will be deemed unqualified for the job and likely receive one of those automated rejection emails.
If you make this first cut, then a sourcer will decide whether or not to review your application. This person is not an expert in what you do or the department you are applying to. Instead, they know Taleo and candidate sourcing. So, the sourcer will use Taleo to review the analytics about you and skim your candidate profile in Taleo. The sourcer may or may not actually view or open your resume. During this stage, your application may show as "under review" when you log in to your candidate profile in Taleo.
If the sourcer decides that you do not meet the requirements, they basically check a box and you receive an automated rejection message.
If you make the second cut, then you will be sent to the recruiter or talent acquisition specialist who will review your candidate profile and reach out to schedule an interview or send you a link to one of those automated video interviews.
Based on how you do in the interview, your information will go on to the hiring manager for consideration and you may or may not proceed through the hiring process at this time.
The role of Taleo shifts at this point in the hiring process because not everyone that you will meet with through the interviewing/hiring process will have access to Taleo after this point. Instead, many of these interviewers will also do some external research. This could be looking at your LinkedIn profile or other social media profiles to get more information about you before or after the interview. And, remember that these colleagues or other people involved in the hiring process will be working with HR at each step.

How to Get Your Resume Through Taleo for a Real Person to See

Taleo is highly customizable with strong algorithms to search for keywords on resumes and in candidate profiles. So, the first step of getting through Taleo to get in front of a real person is to fully build out your candidate profile. Use all the fields and enter all the information here. A fully built candidate profile will have a huge impact on how your applications/resume will do.

Additional ways to get your resume/application to stand out on Taleo also include:

Pick the right keywords. When you are creating your candidate profile and resume, use keywords that closely match the job description. Use the same terminology that is in the job posting to ensure that Taleo's algorithms will pick up on these keywords when searching resumes. For example, if a job posting mentions "salesforce" five times and your resume only mentions "customer relationship management (CRM)" once, you will likely not be found in the search.
Format your resume for Taleo. When you upload your resume to Taleo, it will likely go through an optical character recognition (OCR) software that converts your PDF or Word document. This is where graphics and heavy formatting make it really hard for the applicant tracking system to find what it needs. So, stick with a text-focused resume that uses standard font like Times New Roman or Arial in size 10-12 font. Use clear headings and keep your bullet points short.
Customize your resume. This is important as different jobs require different keywords and skills. There are also different talent acquisition people reviewing your resume if it makes it through Taleo. So, you need to show that person how you are qualified for the different jobs clearly on your resume.
Include a cover letter. Even though most people believe that the cover letter is dead, it can actually help your resume stand out on Taleo. This is because of that OCR software that converts PDFs and Word documents into text. The cover letter will likely be read by this software first and may help your resume get past the initial screening process.
Be sure to check out the company's website. You will find additional concepts or keywords that the company values on its careers page, the About, Mission, or other important website pages. Use this information when possible on your resume to show that you are a good fit for the company.
Update your LinkedIn profile. Most employers using Taleo have also integrated with LinkedIn. So, they will pull in analytics about your fit for the open job based on your LinkedIn profile. This means that you need to have consistent messaging and keywords on your profile.
Get an Employee Referral. For many employers, the referral by an employee or partner will result in the candidate being automatically short-listed for an interview. The person referring you for the job doesn't have to know you incredibly well or even be in the same department. Instead, they need to be well-liked or regarded by the company you are applying to. And make sure that you put that person's name everywhere as the source when you apply to make sure that your application is flagged as a referral.

Applying for a job on Taleo can be time-consuming, but if you follow these steps you will be sure to get your resume in front of a real person. With a little extra effort, you can ensure that your application stands out from the rest.

If you're applying for jobs that use Taleo as their primary recruiting tool, it's important to be aware of how the system works and what you can do to improve your chances of being selected for an interview. By taking the time to complete your profile thoroughly and submitting a standout application, you can increase your chances of being seen by recruiters and getting one step closer to landing your dream job.

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