How Can You Write an ATS-Friendly Resume? (Tips and Tricks)

Are you applying for jobs and getting nowhere?

If you’ve seen a fair few rejection emails – even though you believe you’re qualified for the roles – it could be because of your resume’s funky font. Yes, really.

If you’re applying for a job, it’s extremely important to use an ATS-friendly resume:

• Skip the fancy formatting
• Use a simple date format
• Send your file as a .docx or .pdf
• Include keywords that come up in role requirements

What Is an ATS and How Does It Work?

An ATS is an abbreviation of applicant tracking system. These systems are commonly used by companies to help recruiters automate certain hiring functions.

In the past, an ATS was simply a centralized database that stored candidate information. Nowadays, these systems can do a whole lot more.

Here are some things an ATS can do:

• Read and sort through 1000s of resumes
• Build, manage, and maintain career pages
• Send emails and texts to candidates
• Save candidate profiles for future positions
• Centralize all candidate’s interview notes and other information
• Keep recruitment teams on track to meet hiring goals
• Post job openings to job boards
• View hiring performance reports

For a candidate, the most important function of an ATS is its ability to read and sort through resumes.

So, how does an ATS read a resume? When you apply for a role, the system takes your uploaded resume and organizes it in a way that it understands the data. Your ATS-friendly resume and any other information you included in your application are used to create a “candidate profile”. This profile can be searched, filtered, and even ranked by the ATS.

An ATS helps to make the applicant pool smaller by processing resumes for keywords. It can automatically turn down applicants who don’t meet the requirements of the role before a recruiter sees those applications. Typically, unqualified candidates will then receive an automated rejection message, while qualified candidates move forward to a phone screening or a one-way video interview.

How an ATS works (a simplified version)

Sam uploads his resume in a job application

ATS scans his resume for relevant keywords

The ATS finds some keywords – yay!

The ATS moves Sam to a list of qualified candidates

Why Are Applicant Tracking Systems Used by Companies?

You might be thinking, “Why do companies need to use an ATS, isn’t my application worth a human to view it?”

Companies can receive hundreds, if not thousands, of applications for one role – particularly in the days of “one-click apply” and work from home.

The amount of time and labor it would take to go through all applicants’ resumes manually by recruiters isn’t efficient or financially viable for a company.

Applicant tracking systems allow recruiters to focus on important tasks such as interviewing qualified candidates.

Why Do You Need an ATS-Friendly Resume?

Nowadays, the majority of medium or large companies use an ATS to help with their recruiting methods. 

In short, there really is no getting around it. It’s crucial you’re using an ATS-friendly resume. If an ATS isn’t able to accurately read your resume, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get an interview, even if you’re perfectly qualified.

How to Make Your Resume Optimized for an ATS

1. Skip on fancy formatting (even tables can hurt your resume)

Many candidates like to get creative with their resumes in an effort to stand out. Some even pay to make their resume look like an artistic masterpiece.

Unfortunately, an ATS will remove all of this, and likely before a recruiter sees it. More importantly, though, fancy formatting can cause errors in an applicant tracking system’s understanding – particularly if it's an older, less sophisticated system.

• Text in headers and footers can get lost or cause errors
• Complex tables (e.g. those with merged cells) can jumble text
• Shading or colored fonts can void out any words included in that text
• Logos (say, of previous employers) or graphics cannot be easily read by most systems
• Bullet points that use irregular characters can confuse an ATS
• Text boxes can be skipped by most systems

Our advice? Keep the formatting simple.

Some safe fonts are Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Cambria, and Georgia

2. Use a simple date format with standard headings

Applicant tracking systems tend to search for dates based on a MM/YYYY format such as 02/2021 or February 2021. Always use both the month and year as only providing a year can cause confusion. Some systems will assign a start date of January 1st to any work experience that only has the year.

ATS software relies on clearly defined section headings to properly categorize your information. Using non-standard or creative headings can confuse the system, leading to sections being misinterpreted or skipped entirely.

For example, if you add creative headings such as “Career Journey,” “What I’ve Done,” or “Professional Milestones” in your resume, the ATS may not categorize the information correctly, which could result in key qualifications being overlooked. Your resume may be thrown in the digital trash bin before a recruiter even has a chance to see it.

Stick to common headings, the industry-standard section names, including:

• Work Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Certifications
• Awards and Honors (if applicable)

3. Include keywords in your resume that come up in role requirements

After an uploaded resume goes through its first screening, a recruiter or hiring manager may search for job-related keywords. This helps to identify candidates with the right skills and experience. Now, having the right keywords isn’t as simple as copying in sections of their job description. Here’s what you can do:

Look at a variety of job openings for similar roles and determine which required skills or experience overlap. Requirements that show up frequently are the keywords you should try to incorporate. For example, if you were applying for a content writer position, and you noticed SEO was a popular requirement, you should ensure your SEO knowledge (as long as you have some) is listed on your resume.

Many popular ATSs are unable to recognize the relationship between long-form words and their respective abbreviations or acronyms.

This can lead to problems if a recruiter – or even the system – is searching for one version of the word. Solution? List both (with the whole term in brackets) on your resume.

In the example above, SEO should be written as both SEO (the abbreviation) and Search Engine Optimization (the long-form) within a resume.

4. Send your file as a .docx or .pdf

Applicant tracking systems tend to favor the .docx or .pdf file format. Formats such as .txt, .rtf, and .pages can be rejected by most systems. If you’re thinking of using an online resume builder, check what file type it creates.

Some resume builders will generate your resume as an image (.jpg or .png, for example). And, if you read tip #1, you’ll know an ATS cannot read an image.

If they don’t specify what type of file to use, it’s always best to stick with a .docx to be extra safe.

5. Skip applying to jobs you definitely aren’t qualified for

Nowadays it’s easy to apply for dozens of jobs in only a few minutes – especially with tools such as Indeed’s "Apply Now" button.

However, if you’re applying to jobs outside of your qualifications to simply try your luck or get a job faster, an ATS will stand in your way and reject your application based on your failure to meet specific keywords.

You need not have every qualification or skill set to apply for a job. For example, if you find an awesome job that requires five years experience but you only have two, it’s worth applying for.

Many companies like to interview candidates that have similar skill sets or transferable knowledge, so they’ll cast a wide net in their search.

6. Focus on Achievements on Top of Job Duties

Rather than simply listing job duties like a to-do list, focus on specific achievements in each role. This helps ensure your key achievements are properly recognized by an ATS.

ATS software prioritizes quantifiable experience, so focusing on measurable achievements such as “Increased sales by 25% during Q2” can improve your resume’s ranking in the system. This shows employers you’re results-oriented, and ATS software often favors resumes with detailed, performance-based information.

• Quantify your achievements – add relevant statistics that show off your skills
• Use powerful action verbs – words like “Led,” “Improved,” “Achieved” can help your resume stand out
• Tailor your achievements to the role – ensure your past experience aligns with responsibilities listed in the job description

What’s an ATS-Friendly Resume Template?

If you follow all the tips above, you should end up with a resume that looks something like this:

ATS-Compatible Resume

1. All text is consistent in font and easy to read
2. Skills are listed in bullet points
3. Jobs are listed without the use of tables or complex formatting
4. There’s no information in a header or footer
5. Work experience lists dates in a readable format

NOT an ATS-Friendly Resume

1. Text can become jumbled when housed in a table
2. A graph showing the skill cannot be interpreted by an ATS
3. Header for objective can go undetected
4. Logos are unreadable to an ATS
5. Dates aren’t formatted in an understandable way

ATSs Are Everywhere – Position Yourself for Your Dream Job!

Applicant tracking software helps recruiters to free up much-needed time and resources to help make an efficient hiring experience for candidates. To maximize your chances of landing a job interview, you have to be sure that an ATS can actually read your resume.

Armed with the tips above, you can be confident you’ve got a good shot at getting past the first stage of the hiring process. This could be your next dream job!

Once your ATS-friendly resume has made it past the first hurdle, make sure it is well-organized and easily readable by people. The average recruiter scans a resume for about seven seconds. Make sure your most relevant work history, education and accomplishments are easy to scan.

Happy job hunting!