Making your resume readable by screening software
35 min · Intermediate
Many companies collect applications in an applicant tracking system (ATS): software that stores resumes, pulls out fields like name, skills and education, and lets recruiters search and filter them. A resume that the software reads cleanly is easier to find; one it garbles may never reach a human.
Topics in this lesson
- How applicant tracking systems commonly parse resumes
- Simple layouts: avoid tables, images and columns that break parsing
- Using job-description keywords honestly
- File naming, and PDF vs DOCX
- The plain-text copy test
Interview questions this lesson answers
- What is an ATS?
- Does an ATS reject resumes automatically?
- Why did you choose a simple single-column resume?
- How did you decide which keywords to include?
- Why is a PDF usually preferred?
- What is the plain-text copy test?
- Why should contact details not be only in the page header?
- Is it okay to use icons for phone and email?
- What is keyword stuffing and why is it a bad idea?
- How do you tailor your resume for different companies?
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