Greenhouse ATS: Resume Tips and How Applications Get Screened

How to tell if an employer uses Greenhouse

The job page is hosted on greenhouse.io, or the company's careers page embeds an application form marked as powered by Greenhouse.

Common at: Technology companies, startups and scale-ups, plus a growing number of larger employers.

What a Greenhouse application looks like

Usually a single page with no account to create: name, contact details, resume upload, an optional cover letter, links such as LinkedIn or a portfolio, and a few questions the employer has added.

What happens to your resume

Greenhouse reads your resume to build a candidate profile and keeps the original file, which is what the recruiter reads. Recruiters can also search and filter their candidates.

Does Greenhouse automatically reject resumes?

There is no standard feature that rejects on resume wording. Employers can add application questions with rules that reject automatically on certain answers, such as location or work authorization.

5 tips for a Greenhouse application

1. 1

   Make the top third count

   A recruiter will usually open your resume. Put your current title, strongest result and the job's key skills where they are seen first.

2. 2

   Treat custom questions as part of the application

   Answers to questions like 'Why this company?' are read alongside your resume. Give specific answers of two or three sentences rather than one line.

3. 3

   Use the link fields

   Add LinkedIn, GitHub or a portfolio in the fields provided, and make sure they are also on the resume itself.

4. 4

   Mirror the job description's wording

   Recruiters scan for the terms in their own job ad, and can search candidates by keyword. Use the same names for skills and tools.

5. 5

   Keep the file simple

   A one or two page, single-column, text-based PDF reads well both in the parsed profile and on screen.

FAQ