ATS-friendly CV checklist

1.Use standard section headingsStick to "Experience", "Education", "Skills" — a creative heading like "My Journey" can confuse an ATS parser into missing the section entirely.

2.Avoid tables, columns, and text boxesMulti-column layouts and tables often get read out of order by ATS software, scrambling your work history into nonsense.

3.Stick to standard, ATS-safe fontsArial, Calibri, or Times New Roman parse reliably — decorative or narrow fonts sometimes get misread character by character.

4.Save and submit in the format the posting asks forDefault to PDF unless the application explicitly requests .docx — some older ATS versions parse Word files more reliably than PDF.

5.Mirror the exact keywords from the job descriptionIf the posting says "project management", use that exact phrase rather than a synonym like "coordinating initiatives" — ATS keyword matching is literal.

6.Don't put contact info only in the header or footerSome parsers skip headers and footers entirely, which can mean your name and email never make it into the extracted text.

7.Use one consistent date format throughoutPick "Jan 2023 - Present" or "01/2023 - Present" and use it everywhere — inconsistent formats can break an ATS's chronological parsing.

8.Skip graphic skill bars and iconsA 5-star rating graphic for "Excel" means nothing to a parser — write the skill as plain text instead.

9.Spell out an acronym the first time you use itWrite "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" once so both the human reader and a keyword-matching ATS catch the full term and the abbreviation.

10.Name the file professionallyFirstnameLastname-CV.pdf reads better to both a recruiter's inbox and some parsing tools than a generic "resume_final_v3.pdf".

11.Use a single-column layoutA traditional top-to-bottom, one-column structure is the safest bet across the widest range of ATS software still in use today.

12.Quantify results wherever you canNumbers like "30% faster" or "$2M pipeline" pass through an ATS as plain text just fine, and they're what a human reviewer looks for right after the keyword match.

13.Run the CV through an ATS checker before submittingA quick automated check catches parsing issues you can't see just by looking at the formatted document yourself.

Related checklists