How to Make an ATS-Friendly CV in 2026

What Is an ATS and Why Does It Matter?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software used by employers to collect, filter, and rank job applications automatically. Major ATS platforms include Workday, Taleo, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, and SmartRecruiters. Over 98% of Fortune 500 companies and the majority of mid-sized employers worldwide use ATS to manage hiring. When you apply online through a company portal, your CV is almost certainly being scanned by an ATS before any human sees it.

The ATS scans your CV for keywords, job titles, skills, and formatting cues. If your CV doesn't match the criteria, it's automatically filtered out — regardless of how qualified you are. This is why you can be a perfect fit for a role and still hear nothing back. The fix is simple: optimise your CV for ATS without sacrificing human readability.

The 7 Golden Rules of ATS-Friendly CV Formatting

1. Use a Single-Column Layout

Multi-column CVs (two columns side by side) are one of the most common ATS failure points. Many ATS systems read left to right across the full page width, jumbling the text from both columns together. Use a single-column layout with clearly separated sections. CVcraft's templates are all single-column and ATS-safe by default.

2. Avoid Tables, Text Boxes, and Graphics

ATS systems often skip text inside tables, text boxes, headers, and footers entirely. If your contact details are in a header or a table, the ATS may not find your email address. Icons next to your contact details (phone icon, envelope icon) can confuse parsers. Keep everything as plain text in the main body of the document.

3. Use Standard Section Headings

ATS systems are trained to find standard section labels. Use: "Work Experience" (not "My Journey"), "Education" (not "Learning"), "Skills" (not "What I Bring"), "Certifications" (not "Badges"). Creative section titles sound distinctive to humans but are invisible to machines.

4. Use Standard Fonts

Stick to widely supported fonts: Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman, or Inter. Avoid decorative or uncommon fonts — they can cause character encoding errors in ATS parsing, turning your name into garbled text.

5. Save as PDF (with Caveats)

Most modern ATS systems handle PDFs well. However, some older systems — particularly Taleo — parse Word (.docx) files more reliably. If the job posting specifies a format, use it. If not, PDF is the safer default for most 2026 ATS systems. CVcraft exports as a clean, text-layer PDF that ATS systems parse correctly.

6. Don't Put Critical Info in Headers/Footers

Many ATS systems completely skip content in page headers and footers. Your name, phone number, and email must be in the main body of the document — not in a Word or PDF header/footer field. CVcraft handles this correctly in every template.

7. Spell Out Abbreviations the First Time

ATS systems match exact text strings. If the job description says "Search Engine Optimisation" but your CV only says "SEO," you may not match. Write "Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)" the first time you use it, then SEO thereafter. This ensures you match both keyword variants.

How to Find and Use the Right Keywords

ATS keyword matching is the core of the system. Here's how to do it right:

• Copy the job description into a text file.
• Identify the most repeated and most specific terms: job title, required skills, tools, qualifications, and industry terms.
• Check that every key term appears naturally somewhere in your CV.
• Mirror the exact phrasing used in the posting — if they say "stakeholder management," use "stakeholder management," not "stakeholder engagement."
• Never "keyword stuff" — paste a paragraph of hidden white text with keywords. Modern ATS systems detect this and will flag your application.

Test Your CV Before You Apply

Before submitting any application, paste your CV text into a plain text editor (Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on Mac). If the plain text version reads clearly and logically — all sections intact, no jumbled columns, no missing contact details — your CV will parse correctly through most ATS systems. CVcraft's export engine is designed to pass this test on every single CV it generates.