How to write a resume that gets past applicant tracking systems (ATS)

You may have read that applicant tracking systems reject 75% of resumes. The figure goes back to a 2012 sales pitch by a software company that closed the following year, and no method behind it was ever published (The Conversation, 2026). It keeps going around because fear sells resume services.

The truth is more useful. An ATS is not a wall. It is software that reads your resume before a recruiter does, and sorts it by how well it fits the job. A person still makes the decision.

Knowing how the ATS reads your resume keeps you from being filtered out for trivial reasons: a file it cannot read, two columns that scramble the text, missing keywords. Those are technical mistakes, not a judgment of what you are worth.

This guide explains how applicant tracking systems really work, what matters and what is myth, with concrete steps for job seekers in the US and the UK.

What an ATS is and how it really works

ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System. It is the software many employers use to manage the applications they receive. Before you optimise anything, it helps to know what it does.

Three steps: collect, read, rank

An ATS works in three steps.

First, it collects: every application goes into one database. The recruiter can find it, filter it and compare it with the others. Your resume often stays there afterwards, and some employers search it again for future openings.

Second, it reads (parsing): the software turns your resume into plain text. It pulls out your name, contact details, experience and skills, and files them into standard fields. This is the critical step. If the ATS cannot find the text, or finds it jumbled, it cannot read you properly.

Third, it ranks: the ATS compares your resume with the job posting and orders candidates by relevance. Some systems show a match score, but there is no single standard.

One point matters more than the rest: the ATS does not decide who gets hired. It does a first sort and hands over an ordered list. A person makes the final call. The goal is not to beat an algorithm but to be read without obstacles.

Who actually uses one (and who doesn’t)

Not every employer uses an ATS. Mid-sized and large companies do, because they receive many applications for each opening. The more resumes come in, the more an automatic filter helps.

Small businesses often read resumes by hand. There, what counts is clarity for a human reader, not for software.

The practical rule settles it: write a resume that is clear for the ATS and it will be clear for a person too. The two do not conflict.

ATS myths to drop

Much of what you read about applicant tracking systems is wrong or exaggerated. Six myths to put aside.

“ATS software rejects 75% of resumes.” Never shown. The figure has circulated for years without a verifiable source. An ATS filters and ranks candidates; it does not bin applications on its own.

“An ATS can’t read PDFs.” False. Modern systems read PDFs without trouble. The real problem is the image PDF: a resume saved as a picture, with no selectable text. For the ATS that is a blank page. The test is simple: try to select the text with your mouse.

“Hide keywords in white text.” A bad idea. Recruiters see it as soon as they open the file or paste it into the system, and it damages your credibility instead of helping.

“Designed templates always get rejected.” It depends. The problem is not design but multiple columns, tables and images that confuse parsing. A clean layout can still look good. If you use a template, pick a single-column one.

“More keywords, better chances.” No. Stuffing your resume with keywords backfires. Repeating the same word ten times does not raise your score; it lowers it in the eyes of whoever reads it. Relevance counts, not quantity.

“You need a special paid ‘ATS template’.” You don’t. Any plain, single-column document saved as a text PDF or .docx is ATS-friendly. Paying for a template buys you nothing a word processor can’t do.

The common thread: an ATS rewards clarity and relevance, not tricks. An honest, well-structured resume beats every shortcut.

The right structure: file, font, layout

A well-written resume can still be filtered out because of its format. Here is how to avoid it.

File format and the image-PDF trap

Two formats work: a PDF with selectable text and a .docx file. Both are readable by applicant tracking systems.

The test takes five seconds. Open the PDF and try to select a line of text. If the text highlights, the ATS can read it. If you only select a box, it is an image: rebuild it in a word processor.

PDF or .docx: which one, when

Both work, but they behave differently once they leave your computer.

The rule of thumb: follow the posting. If it asks for Word, send .docx; if it says nothing, a text PDF is the safest choice, because what the recruiter opens is exactly what you saw. Name the file plainly, with your name and the role: Jane-Smith-Resume-Data-Analyst.pdf, never resume_final_v3.pdf.

Fonts that travel well

Pick a font that is installed on almost every computer, so a .docx opens as you designed it and an ATS reads every character. The usual safe choices:

Keep the body text between 10 and 12 points and headings one or two points larger. Use bold for section titles and job titles; skip coloured text for key information, script fonts and symbols in place of words (a phone icon instead of the word “Phone” is invisible to many parsers).

Columns, tables, headers and footers

These three are where a good-looking resume most often breaks.

• Columns. Parsers read a page top to bottom, left to right. With two columns, a line from the sidebar can end up in the middle of a job description, or your skills can be attached to the wrong employer. One column, always.
• Tables and text boxes. Many templates build the layout with an invisible table or with text boxes. Some systems skip their content entirely; others read the cells in the wrong order. If you need two pieces of information on one line (a job title on the left, dates on the right), use a tab stop, not a table.
• Headers and footers. Some systems ignore what sits in the document’s header or footer. Your name, phone, email and city belong in the body of the page, on the first lines. Page numbers in the footer are fine: losing them costs nothing.
• Section titles. Use the standard names — Experience (or Work Experience), Education, Skills, Certifications. A creative title like “Where I’ve made an impact” can leave a parser unsure where your jobs begin.

The quick test for all four: copy the whole resume and paste it into a plain text editor. If the text comes out in a sensible order, with your contact details at the top and each job followed by its dates and bullets, an ATS will read it too.

US resume vs UK CV: the format differences

The ATS rules are the same on both sides of the Atlantic. The conventions around them are not.

If you apply in both countries, keep two versions: the paper size and the spelling are details a recruiter notices even when the software doesn’t.

What to leave out in the US and the UK

Unlike in parts of Europe, a US or UK resume carries no photo, no date of birth, no age, no marital status and no nationality unless the job asks about your right to work. In the US, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warns that asking for this kind of information can be used as evidence of discrimination (EEOC); in the UK, GOV.UK and Acas tell employers not to ask about marital status or date of birth unless the job requires it. A photo is simply not the convention. Leaving all of this out is the norm, and recruiters expect it.

You also don’t need any data-protection consent statement at the bottom: that is an Italian habit, not a US or UK one.

Keywords: the factor that matters most

If one factor counts more than the others, it is keywords. The ATS uses them to measure how relevant your resume is to the posting. They deserve more care than the colour of your template.

How to find the right keywords (in the posting)

The right keywords are not invented: they come from the job posting. The ATS compares your resume with the text of the job and rewards relevant matches.

The method is simple. Read the posting carefully and mark three things: the skills it asks for, the tools it names and the verbs that keep coming back. Those are the words the employer is looking for.

Then cover the variants. “Human resources” and “HR” mean the same thing, as do “search engine optimization” and “SEO”. If both forms are relevant, use both: you don’t know which one the employer’s ATS searches for. Acronyms matter: if the posting says “CRM”, write “CRM”, not only “customer relationship management”. Mind the spelling too: a US posting says “organization”, a UK one “organisation”; match the one in front of you.

Repeat the exercise for each application. A resume tailored to the posting beats a generic one sent everywhere.

How to use them without forcing it

Once you have the keywords, work them in naturally. Spread them across your summary, your experience and your skills section. A keyword inside a concrete sentence is worth more than a disconnected list.

Don’t force it. Keyword stuffing works against you, in front of the software and in front of the person. Write the way you would talk to a recruiter, using the posting’s terms where they fit.

Tie each skill to a result when you can. “Managed a team of five” says more than “team management” alone in a list.

One rule is not negotiable: include only skills you really have. Keywords for things you can’t do come out at the first interview, and they burn your credibility.

Once the software has let you through, the next step is the job interview.

What to write: sections and content

The format opens the door; the content convinces. Here is what to write, and in what order.

Standard sections (and the headings an ATS recognises)

Use conventional section headings: “Work experience”, “Education”, “Skills”. The ATS looks for labels it knows. A creative heading such as “My journey” confuses it and risks filing a job in the wrong field.

Keep a predictable order: name and contact details, a short summary, experience, education, skills. Standard sections help the human eye too, which finds what it is looking for straight away.

Put a professional title at the top, under your name. “IT Project Manager” or “Sales Associate” helps the match with the posting from the first line. Align it with the role you are applying for.

Result-oriented bullet points

In your experience, write bullet points with concrete results. “Grew sales by 30% in one year” carries more weight than “responsible for sales”. Numbers speak to the recruiter and anchor your keywords to facts.

Start each point with an action verb: managed, reduced, launched, coordinated. Avoid vague duties and filler phrases.

Mistakes that get a resume filtered out

Many mistakes that get a resume filtered out are the other side of the rules above. Here they are as a checklist to run before you send it.

• Saving the resume as an image PDF: for the ATS it is a blank page.
• Using multiple columns or tables: parsing skips lines and mixes up dates and jobs.
• Putting your contact details only in the header or footer, which some systems ignore.
• Giving sections creative names: the ATS recognises “Work experience”, not “My journey”.
• Sending the same generic resume to every posting, without the job’s keywords.
• Overdoing keywords or hiding them in white text: the software ignores them, the person notices.
• Leaving typos: a misspelled skill is not recognised as a keyword.
• Naming the file badly: “Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf” is clearer than “document1.pdf”.

None of these mistakes is about your value. They are technical details, easy to fix before you apply.

Beyond the ATS: convincing the person too

The ATS is the first filter, not the last. Getting through it achieves little if the resume then fails to convince whoever reads it.

A resume full of keywords but hard to read fails anyway. The recruiter opens the file, skims it in a few seconds and decides whether to call you. Those seconds matter as much as the software’s score.

The goal is a balance: clear for the machine, convincing for the person. The two get along better than you might think. The software looks for matches; the person looks for a reason to call you.

Make it easy to read: white space, tidy sections, short sentences. Give it results that catch the eye: numbers, projects, concrete responsibilities. Keep it consistent: dates that add up, clear titles, no unexplained gaps.

Write for the person first, then check that the software can read it. In that order you rarely go wrong.

How to check that your resume is ready

Before you send it, run three quick checks. They take five minutes and catch the basic mistakes.

First, the selectable-text test. Open the resume, select everything and paste it into a plain text editor. If the full content comes out in order, the ATS can read it. If pieces are missing or the order is scrambled, parsing will struggle.

Second, the posting check. Read the job again and make sure its main keywords, where they apply to you, are in your resume. If you have skills it asks for that are missing, add them.

Third, the human test. Ask someone to read your resume for thirty seconds, about the time of a real first look. If they understand who you are and what you can do, it works. If they’re confused, simplify.

Online tools claim to simulate how an ATS reads you. They can help, but take them with caution: they don’t replicate the employer’s own system, and some scare you to sell a service.

If the three checks pass, your resume is ready. It doesn’t need to be perfect; it needs to have no obstacles.

To skip the manual work, Jobra tailors your resume to every job posting automatically, in a format applicant tracking systems read.

Frequently asked questions

An ATS is not a wall: it is a reader. It rewards clarity and relevance, not tricks. An honest, well-structured resume gets through the software and convinces the person who reads it next.