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How to Make an ATS-Friendly Resume

Make your resume ATS-friendly with a practical checklist for layout, headings, fonts, file types, keywords, and testing.

The safest ATS-friendly resume is intentionally boring in the places software reads and specific in the places recruiters care about: clear sections, clean text, relevant skills, and achievement bullets with proof.

ATS-friendly formatting at a glance

LayoutUse: Single column with a clear top-to-bottom orderAvoid: Sidebars that split dates from job details
HeadingsUse: Experience, Education, SkillsAvoid: Clever labels such as My Journey or Toolbox
ContactUse: Selectable text in the page bodyAvoid: Contact details stored only in an image
BulletsUse: Simple round or square bulletsAvoid: Decorative glyphs that may become noise
DatesUse: Consistent month and year formatAvoid: Dates floating far away from the related role
KeywordsUse: Exact, truthful language from the postingAvoid: Hidden text or repeated keyword lists
ExportUse: Clean DOCX or text-based PDFAvoid: Scanned or image-only PDF

Use headings the parser already understands

Prefer Professional Summary, Experience, Skills, Education, and Certifications. Familiar labels reduce ambiguity and help a recruiter skim. Creative headings add style but can hide the purpose of a section.

Keep each heading attached to the content it describes. A heading at the bottom of one page with its first entry on the next page is harder for both people and software to interpret.

Choose a format that stays readable as plain text

Reverse chronological is the safest default. Put the most recent job first, keep every employer-title-date block consistent, and avoid using tables to force alignment. A combination format can work for a career change when it still includes a complete dated work history.

Find the right resume format

Use keywords where they belong

A skills section helps scanning, but experience bullets provide proof. Mirror a job posting's exact term when it truthfully describes your experience, then show how you used it and what changed because of your work.

Test the exported file

  1. Confirm the employer accepts your chosen file type.
  2. Select and copy all text from the exported document.
  3. Paste it into a plain-text editor and inspect the order.
  4. Check that no dates, headings, or contact details disappeared.
  5. Compare the content with the target job description.
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Put the advice to work in ResumeTurtle.

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Keep improving your application

ATS resume guide

Understand parsing and relevance from end to end.

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ATS resume checker

Test your resume against a target job.

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ATS templates

Start from a clean, editable layout.

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Frequently asked questions

What makes a resume ATS-friendly?+

An ATS-friendly resume has selectable text, a predictable reading order, familiar section headings, clear dates and titles, and job-relevant language supported by real experience.

What font is best for an ATS-friendly resume?+

Use a common, readable font such as Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Georgia, or Times New Roman at a legible size. Font choice matters less than clarity and clean text extraction.

Are icons safe on an ATS resume?+

Do not use an icon as the only label for important information. A small decorative icon may be harmless, but write Email, Phone, and LinkedIn as text so the meaning survives extraction.

Should an ATS resume include a photo?+

For most US applications, leave the photo off. It uses space, is irrelevant to parsing, and may create bias concerns. Regional expectations can differ.