How to make an ATS-friendly resume

What an ATS actually does

Most employers collect applications in software that stores each resume as structured data. The system extracts text from your PDF or Word file, then tries to identify your contact details, employers, job titles, dates, education and skills. Recruiters then search and filter that data, or read a rendered version of it.

Two things follow. First, if extraction fails or scrambles the order, your information may be missing or misplaced in the recruiter’s view. Second, being searchable means the words you use matter: a recruiter searching for “project management” will not find a resume that only says “led delivery of programmes”.

ATS products differ and none publishes its exact rules, so no tool can guarantee a score. What you can do is remove the known causes of bad parsing and use the language the job uses.

Layout rules that parse reliably

These choices work in essentially every system:

• One column. Two-column and sidebar layouts are often read straight across the page, mixing the columns together.
• Real text, never a picture of text. If you cannot select the words with your cursor, an ATS cannot read them.
• No tables, text boxes, headers or footers for important details. Put your name and contact information in the main body of the page.
• Standard section titles: Summary, Work Experience, Education, Skills, Projects, Certifications. Creative titles like “My Journey” may not be recognised.
• Simple bullets (a round bullet or a dash) and plain fonts such as Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman or Georgia.
• Dates in one consistent format, for example “Mar 2021 – Present”.
• Skill rating bars, icons, photos and logos add nothing a parser can read. In many countries photos are also discouraged for fairness reasons.

Wording: keywords without stuffing

Read the job description and note the tools, qualifications and phrases it repeats. Where they are true for you, use the same wording once or twice in your skills list and achievements. Writing “Amazon Web Services (AWS)” once covers both the spelled-out form and the abbreviation.

Do not paste a block of keywords in white text or an unrelated list. Systems and recruiters both treat that as a red flag, and it adds nothing a human can use. Claiming skills you do not have tends to surface in the first interview.

lightbulb Tip: paste a job posting into the ATS check tab of the free resume builder to see which of its key terms your resume already contains.

Achievements that stand up to both readers

After the parser, a human skims. Start each bullet with a strong verb (Led, Built, Reduced, Launched), say what changed, and add a number when you honestly can: percentages, money, team size, volume, time saved. “Reduced failed payments by 42%” is searchable and persuasive; “responsible for payments” is neither.

PDF or Word?

A PDF created from a word processor or a builder contains real text and keeps your layout, so it is a safe default. Send a Word file when the posting asks for it, or when a recruiter may need to edit it. A PDF made by printing a screenshot, or a scan, contains no text and will fail. Follow the instructions in the job posting if they specify a format.

A quick test you can run yourself

Open your finished PDF, select all the text, copy it and paste it into a plain text editor. Read what comes out. If your name, jobs and dates appear in a sensible order, a parser will most likely read it the same way. If the order is jumbled or something is missing, simplify the layout.

Frequently asked questions

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