ATS checklist: make your CV readable by hiring software

The system reads your PDF, splits it into fields (name, employer, dates, titles, skills), and stores them so a recruiter can search. Problems arise when the layout hides the text: content inside images, text in headers and footers, columns that interleave when read linearly, or tables used for structure.

• Export a text-based PDF, never a scan or screenshot of a CV.
• Keep contact details in the body, not in a page header.
• Use conventional headings: Experience, Education, Skills.
• One consistent date format, for example 2021–2024 or 03/2021–08/2024.
• Avoid icons as the only carrier of information; label the phone and email in text.
• Single-column CVs parse most reliably; a sidebar is fine when it is real text.

Every template in the builder exports selectable text with standard headings, so parsing works whether you pick a minimal or an editorial design.

Recruiters search the database for terms from the advert. Use the employer’s own wording for tools and qualifications you genuinely have: if they write “Power BI”, do not write “MS reporting tools”. Spell out both the abbreviation and the full form once, for example “Certified Public Accountant (CPA)”.

Do not paste a block of skills you cannot demonstrate, and never hide white text in the document. Both are easy to detect and end the application.

• Open the PDF and try selecting your name — if you cannot, the file is an image.
• Copy the whole PDF into a plain-text editor and check the order still makes sense.
• Confirm each job has an employer, a title and start and end dates.
• File name includes your name and the word CV.
• The five requirements from the advert appear somewhere truthful in the CV.