When I was training exiting employees at a client site, the Director of HR sat in to see how things were going. I was stressing the importance of using your network to be referred into a job, rather than going directly through the ATS, because an internal referral gives you more clout as a candidate. She thought that was a solid, practical idea, so obvious yet she hadn't even considered it.
Zippia's job search research reinforces this point. They found that when a candidate is interviewed who was referred in, that referral increased their chance of being hired by 40%. 40%? That's huge! So, build and use your network to get referred in!