How to Make Your Resume ATS-Friendly

Understand How ATS Works

Most large employers use ATS to parse resumes, extract keywords, and rank candidates. Your goal is a clean, parseable document that mirrors the job description honestly.

Formatting Rules

• Use a simple layout (no tables or text boxes that break parsing).
• Export to PDF (unless the employer requests DOCX).
• Standard section headings: Summary, Skills, Experience, Education.
• Consistent bullets and dates (MMM YYYY–MMM YYYY).

Keyword Strategy

1. Extract 8–12 exact terms from the JD (e.g., “Kafka”, “Terraform”, “A/B testing”).
2. Place them naturally in Skills and Experience bullets.
3. Do not keyword-stuff; every term should tie to actual experience.

Scan Test

• Copy the PDF text; ensure everything is selectable (no images of text).
• Use an online ATS simulator or plain-text view to spot parsing issues.

Example: Before/After Bullet

Before: Worked on microservices for payments platform.

After: Built Kafka-based payment microservices (Go, gRPC) with Terraform and K8s, reducing p99 latency 35% across 5 services.

Checklist

• Readable fonts (10–12pt), high contrast, no dense blocks of text.
• Keywords aligned to JD appear in Skills and relevant bullets.
• File name: Firstname-Lastname-Role-Resume.pdf