ATS Audit
Is My Resume ATS-Friendly?
Most candidates assume their resume is ATS-friendly because it 'looks professional.' That's not the test. The test is whether the parser can extract your name, work history, and skills cleanly. Run the free check, or self-audit against the 12-point checklist below.
Everything this feature does. Built for signal, not noise.
1. No tables in work history
Tables look clean to humans and shred parses. Use plain text rows with consistent date formatting instead.
2. Single-column layout
Two-column resumes look modern and break parsing on most ATS systems. Single column is the safe default.
3. Standard section headers
'Work Experience', 'Education', 'Skills' — not 'My Journey' or 'What I've Built.' ATS systems look for the standard labels.
4. Reverse-chronological order
Newest job at the top. Functional and skills-first formats confuse ATS parse logic.
5. Text-based PDF or DOCX
Not a scanned image PDF. The text needs to be selectable. If you can't copy text out of your file, neither can the ATS.
6. No header/footer text
Some parsers ignore content in document headers and footers. Keep contact info in the body of the document.
7. Consistent date format
'Jan 2023 – Mar 2024' or '01/2023 – 03/2024' — pick one and use it everywhere. Mixed formats break employment-gap detection.
8. Standard fonts only
Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, Helvetica. Decorative or web fonts may not embed correctly and degrade to fallbacks that break alignment.
9. Real bullet characters
Use the bullet character (•) or dash (-). Decorative shapes from Wingdings or icon fonts won't render across all parsers.
10. No text inside images
Logos, infographic skill bars, badge images — invisible to ATS. If a piece of information matters, it has to be selectable text.
11. Filename clarity
'firstname-lastname-resume.pdf' parses cleaner than 'Resume Final v3 (2).pdf' — and recruiters will find it faster too.
12. JD keywords present (in context)
The keywords from the job description need to appear naturally in your bullets — not crammed into a 'Skills' word salad.
How it works. Three steps to results.
Self-audit against the 12 points above
Most resumes fail on 3–5 of these. The fixes are usually mechanical, not creative.
Run the free ATS check
Catches the issues you'll miss self-auditing — especially parse-level problems that look fine to a human.
Fix and re-test
Iterate until the score is 80+. Then tailor for specific roles.
Frequently asked questions. Everything you need to know.
It means the resume parses correctly into the structured fields an ATS extracts: name, contact, work history (with dates and titles), education, skills. If any of those parse incorrectly or get dropped, the resume isn't ATS-friendly regardless of how it looks visually.
Open your PDF, copy all the text, and paste it into a plain text editor. If the order, dates, and bullets stay readable, you're probably ATS-friendly. If it comes out garbled or out-of-order, an ATS will see the same garble.
Most aren't. Templates from design sites and Word's built-in 'Modern' or 'Bold' styles often use tables, columns, and graphics that break parsing. Plain templates from career-services pages tend to parse much better.
Some Canva templates are, most aren't. The 'Resume' Canva category contains both — read each before exporting. If the template uses two columns or sidebars, skip it.
ATS-friendliness, by far. A boring single-column resume that scores 90 will outperform a gorgeous two-column one that scores 50. The recruiter will never see the gorgeous one — the ATS rejected it first.
Yes. A 60 means structural issues — usually tables, columns, or wrong format. Fixes are mechanical and take 30 minutes. Most candidates jump from 60 to 85+ on a single revision pass.
Explore more. Features that pair well with this one.
Free ATS Checker
Run the same audit automatically with a 0–100 score.
Learn moreTest ATS Resume
Deeper diagnostic — see the parsed output the ATS extracts.
Learn moreResume Checker With JD
Score your resume against a specific posting.
Learn moreATS Resume Checker (Tool)
Live tool with the full report UI.
Learn moreTailor Resume to JD
Once ATS-friendly, tailor for individual roles.
Learn more