You've spent hours on your application, hit send and... nothing. No invitation, no rejection, often not even a reply. Chances are a human never saw your CV at all. At many mid-sized and large employers, your application first passes through an ATS: an Applicant Tracking System that reads, searches and ranks CVs. In this guide you'll learn step by step how to make an ATS-friendly CV that gets through the software and convinces a recruiter.
What is an ATS (and why does it decide whether you're seen)?
An ATS is software that employers use to manage applications. The system converts your uploaded file into readable text, recognises sections such as your work experience and education, and matches them against the vacancy. Recruiters then search and filter by keywords, job titles and skills.
The biggest misconception: an ATS rarely rejects you outright. It ranks. If your CV is read poorly or contains the wrong words, you simply sink to the bottom of the list — and no one reads the bottom. An ATS-friendly CV makes sure your strengths end up at the top of that list.
The 5 basic rules for ATS-friendly formatting
Before we get to the content: the format has to be right. A beautifully designed CV that the system can't read works against you. Stick to these rules to stop an ATS from reading your CV as a garbled mess:
- Use a single column. Two columns, text boxes and sidebars are often scrambled or skipped. One clear reading column from top to bottom is the safest choice.
- Avoid images, icons and text inside logos. Anything saved as an image can't be read by the system. So put your skills in plain text, not in a little chart or a star rating bar.
- Choose standard headings. Use recognisable titles like “Work Experience”, “Education” and “Skills”. Creative headings like “My journey” sound fun, but the system won't recognise them as sections.
- Keep your font and bullet points simple. A sans-serif font (such as Calibri or Arial) and plain round bullets are read reliably. Avoid unusual symbols as bullets.
- Submit as a .docx or a good PDF. Always follow the instructions in the vacancy. If none are given, a text-based PDF (one where you can select the text) is usually a safe choice; a scanned PDF or an image is not.
Keywords: the key to a high ranking
An ATS matches your CV against the vacancy. That's why mirroring the right language is crucial. The job description is quite literally your cheat sheet: the words it contains are the words the recruiter searches for.
How to find the right keywords
Read the vacancy carefully and note the recurring skills, tools and job titles. Then weave those words naturally into your CV — especially in your work experience and a skills section. Keep an eye on the following:
- Use the exact term from the vacancy. If they ask for “project management”, use that phrase and not just “led projects”.
- Include both the spelled-out term and the abbreviation. Think “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”, so you're found under both variants.
- Match the job title where it's honest to do so. Was your role called “customer contact assistant” but they're looking for a “customer support specialist”? Then use the common term visibly, provided it genuinely reflects your work.
One limit: don't force anything. Hiding keywords in white text or repeating them endlessly is seen through by modern systems and certainly by recruiters. The goal is an honest CV that happens to also speak the right language.
From weak to strong bullets: a concrete example
Keywords only gain power when they sit inside a convincing sentence. Recruiters don't want to read what your tasks were, but what you achieved. Compare these two lines for the same job:
Weak: “Responsible for social media and writing posts.”
Strong: “Built and ran a social media strategy across three channels, noticeably growing reach within six months and increasing engagement.”
See the difference? The strong bullet begins with an action verb (“built”), makes the scale concrete (“three channels”) and names the result. Use numbers wherever you honestly know them, and otherwise a concrete outcome. This formula — action verb + what you did + the effect — works both for the ATS (rich in keywords) and for the human (it tells a story).
Test your CV before you send it
Want to be sure your CV is read correctly? Do the simple copy test: open your CV, select all the text and paste it into a blank text document. If everything comes out readable and in the right order, an ATS will probably read it well too. If you see clutter, missing chunks or scrambled lines, your formatting is too complicated.
Want to go a step further and get targeted advice on your keywords and structure? Then you can analyse your CV with MARA's free CV Optimizer. You'll get concrete improvement points you can apply right away, so you can hit send with confidence.
Finally: human and machine-readable
Making an ATS-friendly CV doesn't mean handing in a dull, robotic document. It means serving two readers at once: the software that filters and the recruiter who decides. Keep your formatting clean and single-column, mirror the language of the vacancy, and let every line prove something. Do that, and you'll no longer vanish at the bottom of the pile — you'll be at the top, where the invitations are sent. And that's exactly the place you deserve. Get it right once, and you'll use it again for every application. Good luck.