How to make an ATS-friendly CV

An applicant tracking system, or ATS, is the software many employers and job portals use to collect and manage applications. When you upload a CV, the system tries to read it and turn it into a structured profile: name, contact details, jobs, dates, education and skills. Recruiters then search, filter and read those profiles.

Much of the advice about beating the ATS is outdated or exaggerated. What matters is simpler: the system has to be able to read your text, and a recruiter searching for the right person has to find the words they are looking for.

What an applicant tracking system actually does

An ATS is first a database and a workflow tool. It stores every application, tracks candidates through stages such as screening, interview and offer, and lets recruiters search across everyone who applied. Many systems also rank or score applications against the job description, and some ask knockout questions, such as whether you have the right to work in the country or hold a required licence.

In most setups a person still makes the decision. CVs usually drop out for one of three reasons: a knockout answer ruled them out, a recruiter's keyword search did not bring them up, or the parsed profile was so garbled that the recruiter moved on. All three are avoidable.

How CV parsing works

When your file arrives, the parser pulls out the text, works out which lines are headings and assigns what follows to fields. It looks for patterns: an email address, a phone number, dates next to a job title and a company, a degree next to a university.

Parsing goes wrong when the text cannot be extracted, when it comes out in the wrong order or when headings are unfamiliar. The recruiter then sees a profile where your current job is missing, your dates belong to the wrong employer or your skills are empty. They may open the original file to check, or they may not.

PDF or Word: which file type is best for an ATS?

A text-based PDF works well in most modern systems and keeps your layout the same on every screen. Word (.docx) is just as safe, and it is the better choice when the portal or the ad asks for it. Avoid image files, scans, and formats such as .pages or .odt unless they are listed as accepted.

The key word is text-based. A PDF made by scanning a printed CV, or exported from a design tool as a flat image, contains no text at all. To an ATS it is a blank page.

Quick test: open your PDF, select all the text and paste it into a plain text editor. If it comes out in a sensible order with nothing missing or garbled, most parsers will read it too.

Fonts and text: keep them standard

Use common fonts embedded in the PDF, which most CV builders and word processors do by default. Decorative fonts, and some fonts exported from design tools, can extract as strings of odd symbols even though they look fine on screen. The copy-and-paste test catches this.

Write everything as real words. Icons used in place of labels, such as a small globe instead of a written web address, can leave fields blank. Write “LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yourname” in plain text, and keep your email and phone number as ordinary text near the top.

Two-column CVs: myth and reality

The common advice is that two-column CVs always fail ATS parsing. That is out of date. Many modern parsers handle a simple two-column layout without trouble, provided the text is real and each column reads in a logical order. The problems usually come from how the columns are built, not from columns as such.

Layouts made from tables, floating text boxes or many small positioned blocks are the ones that go wrong. The parser may read straight across both columns line by line, dropping a skill from the sidebar into the middle of a job description. The safest design is one main column for experience and education, with an optional narrow sidebar for contact details, skills and languages. If you use two columns, run the copy-and-paste test: if the text comes out in reading order, you are fine.

What breaks CV parsing

• Scanned or image-only files, or text saved as part of a picture.
• Contact details placed only in the page header or footer, which some systems skip.
• Tables and text boxes used to build the layout.
• Skill bars, star ratings, charts and logos. Software cannot read a bar, and the skill name alone says nothing about level.
• Icons standing in for words, such as a phone or envelope symbol with no label.
• Creative section headings like “Where I've been” instead of “Work experience”.
• Dates in mixed or unusual formats, or years with no months.
• Unusual characters used as bullets or dividers, which extract as junk.

Use section headings an ATS recognises

Parsers rely on headings to split a CV into sections, so stick to conventional ones:

• Profile or Summary
• Work experience or Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Certifications
• Languages
• Projects

When you apply in another language, use the standard heading in that language, such as “Berufserfahrung” in German or “Expérience professionnelle” in French, rather than a creative translation.

Dates and job titles

Give every role a start and end date in the same format, for example “Mar 2022 – Present” or “03/2022 – 05/2024”. Month and year beats year alone, because some systems calculate years of experience from your dates.

Use your real job title. If your employer used an internal title nobody outside would recognise, add the common equivalent: “Client Success Partner (Account Manager)”. Recruiters often search by title, so this makes you findable without overstating your role.

Keywords: how to match the job description without stuffing

Recruiters search the ATS for the skills and titles that matter to them, and scoring systems compare your CV with the ad. Your CV should therefore contain the words the ad uses, wherever they are true of you.

1. Pull the hard requirements from the ad: job title, tools, methods, qualifications and sector terms.
2. Check which ones you genuinely have and whether they appear on your CV in the same form.
3. Use the ad's wording. If it says “accounts payable”, do not only write “AP”. Where a common acronym exists, give both once, as in “search engine optimisation (SEO)”.
4. Put keywords in context inside your bullets, not only in the skills list. “Built monthly reporting in Power BI for five regional managers” carries more weight than “Power BI” on its own.
5. Do not paste the ad into your CV or hide keywords in white text. Parsers extract hidden text too, so the recruiter sees it in your profile, and it looks exactly like what it is.

Screening questions matter as much as the CV

Many applications start with a few questions before the upload: right to work, notice period, years of experience, expected salary or a required licence. A knockout answer can remove an application before anyone reads the CV, so answer accurately and keep your answers consistent with the CV itself. A form that says five years' experience next to a CV that shows three is exactly what recruiters notice.

How to test your CV before you apply

1. Run the copy-and-paste test on the final PDF.
2. Check that your name, email and phone appear as plain text near the top, not only in the header area.
3. Compare the ad with your CV and tick off each must-have skill you have.
4. If the portal fills in a form from your CV after upload, check every field. What you see there is roughly what the ATS understood.
5. Correct any field it got wrong in the form, and fix the cause in your CV if it is obvious.

An ATS-friendly CV does not have to be plain

A CV that parses well can still look good. Clear typography, a restrained accent colour and a sensible layout all survive parsing, and they help the person who reads it next. What matters is that the content is real text in a logical order, under headings the software expects.