How to Make an ATS-Friendly Resume

Many companies use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to collect and organize applications. If the software cannot read your resume properly, a recruiter may never see your best qualities.

What is an ATS?

An ATS is software that stores resumes, extracts details like job titles and skills, and lets recruiters search and filter candidates. How it ranks or filters depends on the company's settings, but clean, readable formatting always helps.

Use a simple layout

• Single-column design
• Standard headings such as Summary, Experience, Education and Skills
• Regular bullet points instead of special symbols
• No tables, text boxes, headers or footers holding key information
• No images, icons or skill-level graphics

Choose readable fonts

Stick with Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Cambria or Georgia in 10 to 12 pt. Decorative fonts can cause parsing errors.

Use keywords from the job description

Compare your resume with the posting and include relevant terms where they truthfully describe your experience. If the ad says project management and stakeholder communication, use those exact phrases rather than loose alternatives.

Write dates and job titles clearly

Use a consistent format such as Jan 2023 to Mar 2025. Keep official job titles, and add a clarifying term in brackets if your title was unusual.

Pick the right file type

Follow the instructions in the application. If none are given, a text-based PDF or a .docx file generally works. Avoid scanned images of resumes.

Test your resume

• Copy and paste it into a plain text editor to see whether the order stays logical
• Check that all contact details appear
• Ask a friend to skim it for a few seconds and tell you what stands out

Common ATS mistakes

• Putting contact info in the document header
• Using unusual section names like My Journey
• Submitting a design-heavy template
• Leaving out important keywords