ATS Resume Tips: How to Pass Applicant Tracking Systems

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that companies use to manage the hiring process. When you submit a resume through an online application portal, the ATS parses your document extracting your name, contact details, work history, education, and skills into structured data fields. It then ranks your application based on how well your resume matches the job description.

Popular ATS platforms include Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, and Taleo. Each system has different parsing capabilities, but they all share common requirements for formatting and structure.

The key insight is this: an ATS does not read your resume the way a human does. It processes text sequentially, looks for specific patterns (like section headings and date formats), and relies on consistent structure to extract information correctly. Anything that breaks this pattern tables, columns, graphics, unusual fonts can cause parsing failures.

1. Using tables or columns for layout. ATS systems read text left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Multi-column layouts cause content to be read in the wrong order, mixing your job titles with unrelated skills or contact details.
2. Putting key information in headers or footers. Many ATS systems ignore document headers and footers entirely. If your name, email, or phone number is in a header, it may not be captured.
3. Using images, icons, or graphics. ATS cannot read text embedded in images. Skill bars, icon sets, and graphical elements are invisible to the parser. Your skills section should be plain text.
4. Non-standard section headings."Where I've Worked" instead of "Experience" or "My Journey" instead of "Education" confuses parsers. Stick to standard headings: Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications, Summary.
5. Inconsistent date formats.Use the same date format throughout "Jan 2022 – Present" or "01/2022 – Present", but not a mix. Inconsistency can cause parsing errors in employment dates.
6. Missing keywords from the job description.ATS systems match keywords between your resume and the job posting. If the role requires "project management" and you only wrote "PM", the match may fail. Use the same terminology the employer uses.
7. Submitting a scanned PDF. PDFs must have selectable text to be ATS-readable. A PDF created by scanning a printed resume is just an image the ATS cannot extract any text from it.
8. Using unusual fonts. Stick to widely supported fonts like Arial, Calibri, Garamond, or similar. Custom or decorative fonts may not render correctly and can cause character encoding issues during parsing.
9. Overusing formatting (bold, italic, underline). Moderate use of bold for section headings and job titles is fine. Heavy formatting throughout the document can interfere with text extraction.
10. Saving in the wrong file format. Most ATS systems accept PDF and DOCX. Avoid formats like .pages, .odt, or .rtf unless specifically requested. Always check the application instructions for format requirements.

Use a clean, single-column layout

The safest resume structure is a single column of text flowing top-to-bottom. This ensures the ATS reads your content in the correct order. Resuvia's ATS-friendly templates (Minimal, Modern, Classic, Compact, and Harvard) all use single-column layouts tested for reliable parsing.

Mirror the job description's language

Read the job posting carefully and identify key terms — "stakeholder management", "Python", "revenue growth", "Agile methodology". Use these exact phrases naturally in your bullet points and skills section. ATS keyword matching is often literal, so "managed stakeholders" may not match "stakeholder management".

Use standard section headings

Stick to headings that every ATS recognises: Professional Summary, Experience (or Work Experience), Education, Skills, Certifications. Creative headings like "My Expertise" or "Career Highlights" may not be mapped correctly.

Include both acronyms and full terms

Write "Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)" the first time you mention a term, then use the acronym afterwards. This ensures your resume matches whether the job description uses the full term or the abbreviation.

Keep formatting simple

Use bold for section headings and job titles. Use bullet points (not dashes or arrows) for experience items. Avoid text boxes, shapes, watermarks, and embedded images. The goal is plain, well-structured text that any parser can read reliably.

Test your resume before submitting

Resuvia includes a built-in ATS scoring engine that checks your resume against common parsing requirements in real time. The score highlights specific issues missing section headings, low keyword density, formatting problems so you can fix them before you apply.

Keywords are the bridge between your resume and the job description. Here is a systematic approach to identifying and incorporating the right keywords:

1. Extract keywords from the job description. Read the posting and highlight every skill, tool, qualification, and responsibility mentioned. Pay special attention to items that appear multiple times repetition signals importance.
2. Check the company's other postings. Look at similar roles the company has posted. Recurring terms across postings are likely baked into their ATS filters.
3. Map keywords to your experience. For each extracted keyword, identify where in your experience you demonstrated that skill. Rewrite bullet points to incorporate the keyword naturally.
4. Place keywords strategically. The most impactful locations for keywords are: professional summary, skills section, and the first bullet point of each role. ATS systems may weigh these sections more heavily.

Resuvia's AI Tailoring Studio automates this entire process — paste a job description and it identifies the key requirements, rewrites your bullet points with relevant keywords, and shows you the ATS score improvement in real time.