How to Make an ATS-Friendly Resume: The Complete Checklist

"ATS-friendly" gets used as if it were a special resume style. It is not. It simply means a resume whose text an applicant tracking system can extract and file correctly. If you understand how an ATS reads a resume, every item on this checklist follows from it.

Work through the sections in order. The first ones prevent your details from being lost; the later ones decide whether you are found.

Layout: keep the reading order obvious

A parser reads the text in the order it is stored in the file, not the order your eye follows. Anything that separates those two orders is a risk.

• Use a single column for your main content. Some two-column designs parse fine, and others interleave the columns line by line, attaching your skills to the middle of a job description.
• Avoid tables and text boxes for important content. They are the most common way the stored order and the visual order drift apart.
• Put contact details in the body, not the page header or footer. Some parsers skip those regions entirely.
• Do not use images for text. That includes your name set as a graphic, icons in place of the words "Email" and "Phone", and skill bars or star ratings, which a parser sees as nothing at all.
• Keep it to one or two pages. More on this in our guide to how long a resume should be.

Headings: use the names a parser expects

Parsers divide your resume into sections by looking for headings they recognise. Clever headings are a gamble with no upside.

Text and fonts: stay inside the standard character set

• Use a common font such as Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia or Times New Roman, at 10 to 12 points for body text.
• Use plain bullets. Decorative symbols, arrows and emoji can fall outside the standard character set and drop out of the extracted text, sometimes taking the rest of the line with them.
• Watch pasted punctuation. Text copied from design tools and chat apps can carry unusual characters. When in doubt, retype it.
• Spell out an acronym once. Write "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" the first time, so a recruiter searching either form finds you.

Dates and contact details: make every field fillable

• Give every role a start and end date, in the same format throughout, for example "Mar 2021 to Present" or "03/2021 to 06/2024". A role without dates cannot be placed on a timeline, and some systems drop it.
• Write your email in full, as name@example.com. Parsers will not recognise "name [at] example [dot] com".
• Include a phone number with a country code if you apply internationally.
• Include your location as city and country (or city and state). Many searches filter by location, and a missing one can leave you out.
• Add a LinkedIn or portfolio URL as plain text, not only as a hyperlinked icon.

Words: match the posting without stuffing it

Once your details are filed correctly, you still have to be found. Recruiters search for the skills and titles they need, so your resume has to use the same words.

• Mirror the exact terms in the posting. If it says "stakeholder management", use that phrase where it is true for you, rather than only a synonym.
• Use standard job titles alongside internal ones. "Member of Technical Staff (Senior Software Engineer)" is findable in a way the internal title alone is not.
• Keep a dedicated skills section with the concrete tools and methods you use, grouped by kind.
• Do not stuff keywords or hide them in white text. Parsers extract hidden text too, and a recruiter who sees it in your profile will read it as gaming the system.

File: send something a parser can open

• Send a text-based PDF unless the posting asks for Word. See PDF or Word: which resume file to send for when each is right.
• Make sure the PDF is real text. Select the text and copy it into a plain text editor. If you cannot select it, or it pastes out of order, rebuild the file.
• Name the file clearly, for example "Priya-Sharma-Resume.pdf", not "resume_final_v7.pdf".

Content: the part the checklist cannot do for you

Everything above makes sure you are parsed and found. What gets you chosen is the content: bullets that open with an action verb and show a result. Our guides to resume action verbs, quantifying your bullet points and what to write instead of "responsible for" cover that side.

Before you hit submit

1. Copy and paste the whole PDF into a plain text editor. Is everything there, in order?
2. Search the PDF for your name and your top three skills. Does the viewer find them?
3. Does every role have a start and end date?
4. Are your email, phone and location in the body of the page?
5. Do your skills and titles use the posting's own words?
6. Is the file named with your name?

If you want a second opinion, the ATS check in this builder scores your resume against 12 published rules, including dates, contact details, section coverage and characters a parser can mangle, and tells you exactly which one you failed.

Frequently asked questions

Is a two-column resume ATS-friendly?

Sometimes. It depends on how the columns are stored in the file, which you cannot see from the page. Some two-column resumes parse cleanly, while others mix the columns together line by line. A single column is the safe choice when you do not know which system the employer uses.

Are resume templates from design tools ATS-friendly?

Often not. Templates from graphic design tools tend to rely on text boxes, layered shapes and columns, which can export text in a scrambled order. Test any template with the copy and paste check before you trust it.

Do I need a different resume for every job?

You do not need to rewrite it each time, but you should adjust the summary, the skills section and the wording of your top bullets to match each posting's language. Those are the parts that decide whether a keyword search finds you.

Can I use bold and italics on an ATS-friendly resume?

Yes. Bold, italics and underlining are stored as formatting on normal text, so they do not affect parsing. They help a human reader scan, which matters just as much.

Is it a problem to include a photo?

The photo itself is ignored by the parser, but it can push text into awkward positions around it. Conventions also differ by country: photos are common in parts of Europe and Asia and generally discouraged in the United States, the UK and Canada. Follow the norm for where you are applying.