A job opening, 80 applications received in a week. You skim through them, one eye on the screen, one eye on the clock. A good profile falls through the cracks because their CV is poorly formatted and hard to skim. Another, less relevant but better presented, rises to the top of the pile. Manually sorting CVs at volume isn't a skill problem, it's a method problem.
Key takeaways
- Manual CV sorting at volume favors form over substance: a well-presented CV wins out over a relevant but poorly formatted profile.
- An ATS doesn't reject, it ranks: it extracts, compares and prioritizes based on defined criteria, the final decision stays human.
- According to Apec (2025), only 27% of French companies use an ATS, a rate that climbs to 68-75% past 200 employees.
- The risk isn't the ATS, it's a poorly configured ATS: overly rigid keywords, mishandled CV formats.
Article updated on July 10, 2026.
What is an ATS and what is it used for?
An ATS (or Applicant Tracking System) is a system for managing applications and recruitment. A true ally of human resources departments, it pursues a simple objective: to save time for both employers and candidates.
Yet these tools remain far from the norm. According to Apec (2025 study, relayed by France Travail), only 27% of French companies use an ATS (French labor market data), but that rate climbs to 68-75% past 200 employees: the more applications there are to process, the more indispensable the tool becomes.
These devices fall into 2 categories:
- Online software in SaaS format, or Software as a Service . The database and ATS service are hosted remotely and do not take up space on the company's workstations. The company pays a subscription to the hosting provider and can manage its operations from anywhere.
- Software packages are installed directly on the company's network or computers. The company must then consider the storage space occupied by the ATS in relation to its storage capacity.
Most of these tools include features related to optimizing the recruitment process for both companies and recruitment agencies . From posting job offers to selecting CVs, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) support you during the hiring phase and beyond.
A comprehensive Applicant Tracking System (ATS) helps your HR teams monitor and optimize their activity. Performance analysis is designed to make projections and adapt the recruitment strategy of companies and recruitment agencies.
Why is sorting CVs important for recruitment?
Any recruitment professional will tell you: the hiring process can be long and sometimes tedious. For each job opening, dozens , or even more, CVs typically end up on the human resources desk.
Organizing the search for the best candidates is also becoming a major challenge for recruitment professionals in many sectors. Having an organized and user-friendly candidate database is more essential than ever.
CV screening is essential for optimizing the work of recruiters. By highlighting the most promising and interesting profiles, human resources departments can dedicate more time to analyzing applications .
However, it is precisely the careful examination of applicants that will allow you to identify your future colleague. Carefully sorting profiles is one of the keys to successful recruitment and team retention .
CV screening is necessary for several other reasons:
Avoid unproductive interviews
Companies sometimes find themselves with CVs that are irrelevant to their recruitment needs. Here too, the in-depth analysis of profiles made possible by the filtering process will save you time by preventing fruitless interviews .
Identify the ideal candidates.
You need to interview candidates whose profiles align with your values and projects. These individuals can be identified through an initial screening process carried out methodically and precisely.
To perform an effective screening, you can use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). The artificial intelligence associated with these tools will provide you with the most promising CVs based on your needs, saving you time.
How to sort and select CVs on an ATS?
While ATS offer many possibilities, at least two should capture your attention when it comes to the initial screening of CVs .
Matching
To determine if an application is relevant to a job posting, the software uses matching . You can customize the keywords that the artificial intelligence will search for. It will then analyze the semantic field of the CVs according to your recruitment objectives.
In practical terms, this method allows you to highlight the CVs that most closely match your job offer … And therefore the candidates you would be wise to see first in an interview.
Parsing
Parsing , on the other hand, relies on selecting and extracting data from each profile. The algorithm then populates the ATS database with each candidate's past experiences, training, and skills.
This feature allows you to keep interesting profiles on hand for future employee searches.
CV sorting and selection
More generally, all information and applications are available on the ATS platform. In other words, the features related to sorting and selecting CVs do not definitively exclude applications that do not fit the criteria of a job posting.
How to filter CVs on an ATS?
Some companies are looking for very specific skills . As an extension of mechanisms like matching , Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) offer the ability to filter CVs.
Features like scoring and ranking allow you to filter CVs based on match occurrences in the job posting. These techniques have proven particularly effective in finding the most specific talents and skills.
You can search for candidates using keywords related to your job posting or future recruitment plans. This feature is particularly useful if different departments within the same company are recruiting.
Some Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), like the one developed by Marvin Recruiter, offer even more advanced filtering options . A recruiter can find a candidate based on the date of last contact, their location, their level of education, or their experience, and contact them immediately.
A recruitment agency can easily build a pool of candidates using these features. It simply needs to adapt the filtering parameters to meet the needs of its various client companies.
How to automatically complete CVs using an ATS?
When you post a job opening, you'll receive numerous applications. However, this doesn't stop employers from searching for their future talent through other means , in addition to the profiles submitted to them.
LinkedIn is full of promising potential candidates for your company. This professional social network hosts several million French users, and its potential should not be overlooked.
To supplement your CV database with profiles tailored to your needs, you can enhance your overall recruitment strategy with certain tools. Marvin Recruiter's ATS includes an extension that allows you to scrape social media profiles.
This feature allows you to extract additional data from LinkedIn about candidates in your database, provided, of course, that they are active on the network.
Here too, the main advantage is saving you time by focusing on the profiles that interest you most . Candidates on LinkedIn use the platform as another way to showcase their background and skills.
Web scraping on LinkedIn for recruitment requires specific use of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Through its approach, Marvin Recruiter's solution allows you to save approximately 50% of the time you spend on all your recruitment processes.
Marvin's ATS: Why is it the most practical?
Simplicity and ergonomics at the service of your projects
Marvin's ATS is part of the era of intelligent ATS: its various functionalities make it a high-performing and flexible assistant , suitable for all recruitment projects.
Its main distinguishing feature is its ease of use. Its 2-in-1 formula provides an intuitive system integrating both CRM and ATS. By centralizing all profiles in one place, you can focus on candidate analysis.
Features that get straight to the point
Marvin Recruiter's priority is to save you time by giving you total visibility on all profiles.
Marvin's ATS is based on the principle that the human element remains central to the process. That's why it helps you gain a clearer understanding, both in terms of statistics and transaction tracking.
Using AI to scrape LinkedIn and better sort CVs
The ATS's powerful impact on LinkedIn sets it apart from other software. The profiles suggested to you are enriched thanks to the web scraping .
The completed database gives you a head start in your recruitment efforts . You save time for your teams, but also for your candidates.
Complementary and adaptable tools
Other features can complement the Marvin Recruiter tool.
The shared candidate pool system allows interaction with other recruiters . Because the hiring process is a collective endeavor, the ATS offers time savings in sourcing through collaboration.
Sharing the profile database and tracking performance is the solution to bring all your recruitment processes to success .
The real cost of manual sorting at volume
Skimming 80 CVs takes several hours, and attention drops off after the twentieth one. Two recruiters sorting the same batch of applications almost never land on the same ranking: fatigue, reading order and individual bias weigh more than we'd like to think on who gets an interview. It's not a rigor problem, it's a human limit facing volume.
How Desk sorts without losing the good profiles
Desk automatically extracts the key information from every CV (experience, skills, education), whatever its format, and compares it against the role's criteria using a consistent grid, applied the same way to every application. The ranking stays a guide: you still decide, but on a consistent basis rather than on the mood of the moment.
If the batch of applications received isn't enough to fill the role, Scout takes over to query your existing pool before reopening an external search.
In brief
Sorting 80 CVs by hand means accepting that form sometimes wins over substance. A structured sort doesn't replace your judgment, it keeps you from exercising it on a basis skewed by fatigue and the luck of reading order.
See how Desk sorts your applications for you
FAQ
Can an ATS wrongly reject a good candidate?
Yes, if the configuration relies solely on overly rigid keywords or if the CV is in a poorly supported format (image, complex table). This is exactly why the recruiter needs to stay the decision-maker: the tool prioritizes, it doesn't decide.
What's the difference between sorting and rejecting CVs?
An ATS deletes nothing: it ranks applications by a match score. Lower-scored ones remain accessible, they're never automatically erased.
How many CVs does a recruiter receive on average for a role?
It varies widely by sector and how rare the profile is, but volumes commonly range from a few dozen to over a hundred applications for an open role in a non-tight market.
How do you avoid an ATS wrongly screening out good profiles?
By avoiding overly strict exact-keyword filters, favoring a tool able to understand a profile beyond its literal job title, and keeping human oversight over rejected applications before the final decision.
Do all French companies use an ATS?
No. According to Apec (2025), only 27% of French companies are equipped with one, a rate that rises to 68-75% in organizations with more than 200 employees.
