How to Beat the ATS: Resume Tips That Get You Past the Bots

What Is an ATS?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that employers use to receive, organize, and screen job applications. Common platforms include Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, and Taleo. Nearly every company with more than 50 employees uses one.

When you submit an application, the ATS parses your resume into a structured format and compares it against the job requirements. Resumes that score below a threshold may never be seen by a human recruiter. This is why a strong resume can fail — not because of its content, but because of its formatting.

How ATS Parsing Works

The ATS extracts text from your resume file, identifies sections (contact info, experience, education, skills), and matches keywords against the job requirements. The parsing process breaks down when:

• Your resume uses tables, text boxes, or columns (the parser reads these out of order or misses content entirely)
• Your resume uses graphics, icons, or images for key information
• Your file is submitted as an image-based PDF (scanned document) rather than a text-based PDF
• Your section headers use non-standard labels (“Where I’ve Worked” instead of “Experience”)

ATS-Safe Resume Formatting

• Use a single-column layout — no tables, no text boxes, no columns
• Use standard section headers — “Work Experience,” “Education,” “Skills,” “Summary”
• Submit as a text-based PDF or .docx — never a scanned image or JPG
• Use standard fonts — Arial, Calibri, Georgia, Times New Roman. Avoid decorative or uncommon fonts.
• Don’t put critical information in headers or footers — some ATS parsers ignore these
• Spell out acronyms at first use — “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)” catches both keyword variants

Keyword Optimization

The most important ATS optimization is keyword matching. The ATS compares your resume against the job description — and resumes that include the specific phrases from the job description score higher.

How to keyword-optimize:

1. Copy the job description into a document
2. Highlight every skill, tool, and requirement phrase
3. Check which ones appear in your resume
4. Add missing ones naturally — where you genuinely have that skill or experience
5. Don’t keyword stuff — human reviewers read what the ATS passes, and obvious stuffing reduces credibility

Tool tip: Paste your resume and job description into Jobscan or Resume Worded to get a match score and specific keyword gaps in minutes.

Common ATS Mistakes

• Creative resume templates — designer templates from Canva or Adobe Express look great to humans but often fail ATS parsing completely
• Skill icons or progress bars — ATS can’t read these; they waste space and create parsing noise
• Abbreviations only — “AWS” without “Amazon Web Services” may miss the match for some parsers
• Using “Responsibilities included…” as a bullet opener — this is passive and provides no achievement signal
• Job title mismatch — if the job description says “Account Executive” and your title was “Sales Rep,” add the equivalent title in parentheses where accurate

Beyond ATS: The Human Review

Passing ATS is necessary but not sufficient. Human reviewers spend 6–10 seconds on a first pass. The top third of your resume — summary, most recent role’s title and first 2 bullets — is what gets read. Make those 6 seconds count: specific achievements, relevant metrics, clear role scope.

The candidates who convert at the highest rate combine ATS-optimized resumes with differentiators that no ATS optimization can replicate: referrals, video introductions, and targeted outreach. How to stand out beyond ATS →

Frequently asked questions

What is an ATS in job applications?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software employers use to receive, parse, and screen job applications. It extracts text from your resume, matches it against job requirements, and scores it. Resumes below a threshold score may never be reviewed by a human. Common platforms include Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, and Taleo.

How do I make my resume ATS-friendly?

Use a single-column layout with no tables or text boxes, standard section headers ('Work Experience' not 'Where I've Been'), text-based PDF or .docx format, and standard fonts like Arial or Calibri. Include keywords from the job description naturally throughout your resume — especially in your experience bullets and skills section.

Do all companies use applicant tracking systems?

Most companies with 50+ employees use an ATS. Small businesses and startups often use simpler tools or even direct email, where ATS optimization is less critical. Knowing which platform a company uses can help you understand how to format — most job application portals (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever) indicate the ATS in the URL.

Can a good resume get rejected by ATS?

Yes — formatting issues cause strong resumes to fail ATS parsing even when the content is excellent. Common culprits: multi-column layouts, tables, text boxes, Canva-style templates, and image-based PDFs. Content aside, if the text can't be extracted cleanly, keyword matching fails and the resume scores poorly regardless of qualifications.

Should I use a creative resume template?

No — for companies using ATS, creative templates (columns, text boxes, icons, progress bars) frequently fail parsing. A clean, single-column text-based resume is reliably parsed by every major ATS. Save design investment for LinkedIn, which is human-read, and for portfolio/personal sites where creative presentation adds genuine value.

Practice on video: record your answers on Employment.Media, re-record as often as you like, and share one Video Group link with employers. Get started free.