How to Beat the ATS: 12 Rules for Resumes That Get Read

What an ATS actually does

An applicant tracking system is software that ingests your resume, parses it into structured fields (name, dates, skills, education), and ranks it against the job description. If the parser fails or the keyword match is too low, your CV is filtered out before any human sees it.

The good news: ATS parsing is mostly mechanical. Follow the rules below and you'll get through 95% of them.

The 12 ATS rules

1. One column. Multi-column layouts confuse parsers — they read left-to-right and merge sentences across columns.
2. Standard section headings. Use "Work Experience" not "Where I've Made Magic Happen".
3. No headers or footers. Many ATS strip them. Your contact info should be in the body of the document.
4. No tables. Tables break parsing. Use plain bullets instead.
5. No images, logos, or icons. ATS can't read them.
6. Standard fonts only. Inter, Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, or Times. Anything custom may not embed in the PDF.
7. Spell out acronyms once. "Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)" beats "SEO" alone.
8. Include keywords verbatim. If the JD says "Python", don't write "Py" or "scripting languages".
9. File name matters. Save as "FirstName-LastName-Resume.pdf".
10. Date format consistency. Use "Jan 2024 – Present" everywhere — never "01/24" mixed with "January 2024".
11. Avoid text boxes. Some ATS skip them entirely.
12. Test your resume. Paste your PDF into a plain text editor — if the layout falls apart, the ATS will see the same mess.

The keyword density rule

Aim for at least 70% keyword overlap with the job description. Tools like the MyResumeAI score widget compare your CV against any JD and show missing terms.

The most common ATS mistakes

• Two-column "creative" templates from Canva and Figma
• Skill bars and percentage rings that don't parse
• Embedded fonts that get lost when converted
• "References available on request" — wastes a line
• Generic objective statements — replaced by professional summaries in 2018

For role-specific keyword guides, ats keywords by role check our ATS keyword library indexed by job title.