ATS-Friendly CV Format: The Only Guide You Need [2026]

An ATS-friendly CV is one that automated screening software can parse correctly, extracting your contact details, work history, education, and skills without errors. The ideal format is simple, clean, and structured with standard conventions. This guide covers everything you need to know about formatting your CV so it passes ATS screening and still looks professional to human readers.

What does an ATS-friendly CV look like?

The ideal ATS-friendly CV follows this structure:

FULL NAME
Phone | Email | Location (City) | LinkedIn URL

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
2-3 sentences summarising your experience, key skills,
and what you bring to the role.

WORK EXPERIENCE
Job Title - Company Name
Month Year to Month Year (or Present)
- Achievement-focused bullet point with metrics
- Achievement-focused bullet point with metrics
- Achievement-focused bullet point with metrics

Job Title - Company Name
Month Year to Month Year
- Achievement-focused bullet point
- Achievement-focused bullet point

EDUCATION
Degree - Institution Name
Year to Year

SKILLS
Category: Skill, Skill, Skill
Category: Skill, Skill, Skill

CERTIFICATIONS (if applicable)
Certification Name - Issuing Body - Year

This structure works because it uses standard headings that every ATS recognises, presents information in a logical order, and avoids any formatting that could confuse a parser.

Which fonts should you use?

Stick to widely available, professional fonts:

Avoid: Decorative fonts, custom typefaces, icon fonts, or anything that requires a special installation.

Font size: 10-12pt for body text, 14-16pt for your name and section headings.

What margins and spacing work best?

• Margins: 1.5-2.5cm on all sides (0.6-1 inch). Anything narrower may cause text to be cut off during parsing.
• Line spacing: 1.0 to 1.15 for body text
• Section spacing: Add a blank line between sections for clear separation
• Bullet indent: Standard bullet indent (0.5-1cm)

What formatting should you avoid?

These common CV design elements cause problems with ATS parsers:

Do not use tables

Tables are the single most common cause of ATS parsing failures. Even simple two-column tables, often used for contact details or skills, can result in jumbled or missing data. The ATS reads cells in an unpredictable order, mixing content from different columns.

Do not use text boxes

Text boxes are treated as separate objects by most document processors. ATS systems may ignore them entirely, skip them, or read them out of order.

Do not use columns

Multi-column layouts create the same problem as tables. The parser reads left-to-right across both columns simultaneously, producing garbled text.

Do not use images or graphics

Logos, headshots, skill bar charts, icons, and infographics are invisible to ATS parsers. Any information contained in an image simply does not exist as far as the system is concerned.

Do not put key information in headers or footers

Many ATS systems skip document headers and footers. Your name, phone number, and email should be in the main body of the document.

Do not use creative section headings

Stick to standard headings: Work Experience, Education, Skills, Summary, Certifications. The ATS expects these labels and may not recognise creative alternatives.

What about file format?

PDF

PDF is generally the safest choice for modern ATS systems. It preserves your formatting exactly and is universally accepted. Make sure your PDF is text-based (you can select and copy the text) rather than a scanned image.

DOCX

Microsoft Word format is also widely accepted and sometimes preferred by older ATS platforms. If a job posting specifically requests DOCX, use it.

What to avoid

• Scanned or image-based PDFs
• .pages files (Apple Pages)
• .odt files (Open Document)
• Password-protected documents
• Files larger than 5 MB

How should you structure each section?

Contact information

Place at the very top of your CV, in the main body (not a header):

• Full name
• Phone number
• Professional email address
• City/region (full address not needed)
• LinkedIn URL (optional but recommended)

Professional summary

2-3 sentences that summarise who you are, your key skills, and what you offer. This is prime real estate for keywords, so use it to include your target job title and 3-5 key skills from the job description.

Work experience

List roles in reverse chronological order (most recent first). For each role:

• Job title on its own line (or with company name)
• Company name and dates
• 3-5 bullet points starting with action verbs
• Quantify achievements where possible

Education

Degree, institution, and dates. Add relevant coursework, honours, or thesis titles only if they are directly relevant to the role.

Skills

Group by category: Technical Skills, Software, Languages, Certifications. This section is a concentrated keyword zone, so include all relevant skills from the job description.

How to check your format

The best way to verify your CV format works with ATS systems is to test it. ATS Pass analyses your CV against any job description and highlights formatting issues alongside keyword gaps. It is free (3 analyses per day) and requires no account.

You can also do a quick self-check:

1. Open your CV in a plain text editor (Notepad, TextEdit). If the text appears in the correct order and is fully readable, your formatting is ATS-friendly.
2. Try selecting all text in your PDF and pasting it elsewhere. If the pasted text is garbled or out of order, the ATS will have the same problem.

Common mistakes to avoid

1. Using a CV template with columns Many popular templates on Canva and similar tools use multi-column layouts that fail ATS parsing
2. Saving from Google Docs without checking Google Docs exports can sometimes introduce formatting issues
3. Including a photo Common in some European countries but unnecessary for ATS and can cause parsing issues
4. Using colour-coded sections Colour is ignored by ATS; if your structure depends on colour to be readable, rethink it
5. Writing in the third person ATS does not care, but recruiters find it awkward