How to optimise a resume for an ATS
Optimising for an ATS means two separate things: making the file parse correctly, and making its content match the job description. Parsing is solved by structure — a single-column layout, standard section headings, real text rather than images, and a .pdf or .docx export. Matching is solved by describing your real experience in the words the posting uses. Most advice conflates the two, which is why people reformat endlessly and never fix the wording.
8 min read · Updated 14 September 2026
What an ATS actually does
An applicant tracking system is mostly a database with a parser bolted on. It ingests your file, tries to split it into fields — name, contact details, employment history, education, skills — and stores the result so a recruiter can search and filter.
The popular image of a robot rejecting resumes is largely wrong. Most systems do not auto-reject; they rank, and a recruiter works down the ranking. That distinction matters, because it means your goal is to be sorted upward and to survive parsing intact, not to defeat a gatekeeper.
Formatting choices that break parsing
Parsers fail on layout, not on content. These are the recurring causes, roughly in order of how often they cause real damage:
- Multi-column layouts, where a parser reads straight across and interleaves two columns into nonsense
- Contact details inside the page header or footer, which some parsers never read
- Text baked into an image or a logo — invisible to a parser
- Tables used for layout, which scramble reading order
- Invented section headings ("Where I've Made an Impact" instead of "Experience")
- Text boxes and sidebars, which are frequently dropped entirely
Quick self-check: open your PDF, select all, copy, and paste into a plain text editor. What you see is roughly what the parser sees. If it is jumbled, the layout is the problem.
Matching: the part that actually moves your ranking
Once the file parses, ranking is driven by overlap between your resume and the posting. This is where tailoring and ATS optimisation turn out to be the same activity described in different language.
The practical move is to use the posting's own terms wherever they honestly describe your work, and to make sure any skill in your skills list also appears inside an experience bullet. A skill that appears only in a list is a claim; the same skill attached to a project is evidence, and it reads better to the human too.
Before
Developed web applications and worked with backend APIs.
After tailoring
Built responsive web applications in React and TypeScript, integrating REST APIs for search, checkout and account flows.
Same experience, different emphasis: The candidate already listed React, TypeScript and REST APIs in their skills section — the bullet just didn't say so. Naming the stack inside the experience bullet puts the evidence where a recruiter reads it, and where keyword matching looks. No new technology was claimed.
What not to do
Every few years a trick circulates — pasting the whole job description in white text, stacking keywords in a hidden footer, repeating a term twenty times. They range from ineffective to disqualifying. Recruiters see the parsed text, where white-on-white is simply text, and a keyword block with no supporting experience reads as exactly what it is.
There is no version of this where the trick works and nobody notices.
A sane ATS checklist
Do these once for the file, then re-check the match per application.
Single column, standard headings
Experience, Education, Skills. Boring headings parse correctly everywhere.
Contact details in the body
Top of page one, in the document body — not in the header or footer.
Export as PDF or DOCX
Both parse well when the layout is simple. Avoid exotic formats and never send a screenshot.
Spell out abbreviations once
"Search engine optimisation (SEO)" matches both forms; "SEO" alone matches one.
Re-check wording against each posting
This is the per-application step, and it is the one that changes your ranking.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ATS score?
- There is no universal score. Every vendor computes matching differently, and scores shown by third-party tools — including SynCV's — are that tool's estimate of overlap between your resume and one posting, not a number the employer sees. Use it to find gaps, not as a target to max out.
Do ATS systems reject resumes automatically?
- Some can be configured with knockout questions, usually on things like work authorisation. Automatic rejection based on resume content is far rarer than the folklore suggests. Ranking, not rejection, is the normal behaviour.
Is a PDF or a Word document better for ATS?
- Both are parsed reliably by every mainstream system today. Structure matters far more than format — a clean PDF beats a multi-column DOCX comfortably. Follow the posting's instruction if it states one.