ATS & filters · 2026-08-15 · 15 min read

How to write a CV for ATS filters (practical guide)

Complete guide so your résumé passes ATS filters: structure, PDF format, keywords, common mistakes, and a pre-send checklist. ClarCV.

An ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is the software many companies use to collect, sort, and filter applications before a recruiter opens your file. It is not a magical judge or a personal enemy: it is an imperfect parser that tries to turn your CV into database fields (name, jobs, dates, skills). If that process fails, your profile can be mis-tagged or ranked out even when you fit the role.

This guide shows, with concrete examples, how to design a résumé that is readable for ATS tools and still persuasive for humans. The goal is not to game the system; it is to remove friction: selectable text, clear sections, truthful keywords, and a layout that does not break when parsed. On ClarCV (clarcv.com) the flow is simple: upload your PDF or Word file, get AI feedback on clarity and structure, then regenerate a clean version with ATS-friendly templates.

If your CV looks fine on screen but interviews are rare, the bottleneck is often parsing, misaligned keywords, or a structure that forces recruiters to guess. We will fix that step by step, with before/after examples and a ten-minute final checklist.

What an ATS actually does (without the myths)

In most mid-size and large hiring processes, the ATS does three jobs. First, it stores your application and links it to a requisition. Second, it tries to extract data: emails, phones, job titles, employers, dates, and skill lists. Third, it applies rules or scores (keywords, years of experience, location, education) to prioritize who recruiters see. Some tools are advanced; others barely match text. That is why universal advice focuses on reliable basics: structural clarity.

Common myth: ATS systems hate PDFs. False. They struggle with image-only PDFs, fragile columns, complex tables, or fonts turned into drawings. Another myth: hide keywords in white text at the bottom. That is detectable stuffing and often backfires. What works is aligning real experience with the job language and presenting it in a predictable order.

Treat the ATS like a rushed reader with blurry glasses. If your email lives only in a header graphic, it may miss it. If dates sit in a sidebar and titles in another column, it may mix roles. If skills are icons, it may not index them. Reduce ambiguity and you score points before a human reads.

• Real, selectable text (you can copy/paste a sentence from the PDF).
• Standard section headings: Experience, Education, Skills, Languages.
• Clear dates (MM/YYYY or YYYY) next to each role.
• Skills written as text, not only icons or level bars.
• Contact details at the top: email, phone, city/country, LinkedIn if relevant.

Recommended structure (an order parsers handle well)

Use a predictable single-column flow. Start with contact details. Add a 2–4 line professional summary (who you are, in what context, what you deliver). Then work experience in reverse chronological order: title, company, dates, 3–6 achievement bullets. Follow with education, relevant hard and soft skills, languages, and certifications or projects if they help. Avoid literary about-me openers, irrelevant hobbies at the top, and creatively named sections (My journey, Superpowers).

Before: a two-column CV with a large photo on the left, skills in a sidebar, experience on the right, plus an Excel level chart. After: the same information in a vertical flow, skills as a list (Advanced Excel with Power Query and pivot tables), experience with aligned dates and measurable wins. The second version parses more reliably and reads faster on mobile when a recruiter opens the attachment on a phone.

For each role, write the exact title or the closest market-facing title first, then company and dates. Bullets should start with an action verb and, when possible, include magnitude: coordinated, reduced, launched, automated. The ATS indexes words; humans look for evidence. If you lack public metrics, use honest ranges or proxies: team size, number of accounts, process frequency, tools used.

File format: PDF vs Word for ATS

For most European job portals, a PDF with selectable text is the safe default: it keeps layout stable. Word (.docx) is also fine and sometimes parses even better in older ATS products, but formatting can shift across Office versions. Practical rule: if the posting asks for a format, follow it; otherwise a clean PDF is usually best. Never send a scan or a photo of a printed CV.

Always check: open the PDF, select three different paragraphs, and paste them into a plain text editor. If you cannot select text, the ATS likely cannot either. If you export from Canva or PowerPoint to PDF, run the same test; many exports become images. ClarCV generates HTML/PDF with real text designed for A4 print and parser readability.

File name: use something professional and searchable, for example Ana_Lopez_Customer_Success.pdf. Avoid CV final FINAL v7 (2).pdf. Keep file size reasonable; huge photos do not help and can block uploads on portals with megabyte limits.

Keywords: align the job ad with your experience (without lying)

Pull 8–15 terms from the posting that describe the real work: tools, methods, functional domain, and responsibility verbs. Example: if they ask for customer success, Salesforce, onboarding, churn, NPS and you did that work, use those words in the summary, bullets, and skills. Do not invent Salesforce if you only used Excel and a generic CRM; say CRM with daily use and account segmentation and, if you are learning Salesforce, place it honestly under training or skills in progress.

Put keywords where they create context. Bad: a footer list Salesforce Salesforce Salesforce. Good: Cut churn 12% in 6 months while managing 80 accounts in Salesforce and redesigning onboarding. The ATS finds the term; the human sees impact. If you are changing industries, translate your experience into the new market vocabulary without falsifying titles: supplier coordination can map to vendor management when that was truly the work.

Highlight nouns and tools in the job ad, then mark where they already appear in your CV. Important gaps (a core day-to-day tool) should be filled only when true. If you lack one, do not invent it: emphasize close transferables and be transparent in the interview.

Design: what to prioritize and what to drop

An ATS-friendly CV can still look professional. Limit elements parsers confuse: nested tables, text boxes, critical contact data only in headers or footers, icons instead of words, skill bars, graphic timelines, and very narrow columns. Clear typography, enough margin, standard bullets, and readable contrast all help. Photos are optional by country and industry; if you include one, do not push contact text aside or consume half a page.

• Prioritize: typographic hierarchy, intentional whitespace, labeled sections.
• Limit: aggressive two-column layouts, infographics, dark backgrounds with thin light text.
• Avoid: creative headers that hide the email, QR codes as the only contact method.
• Keep: 1–2 pages by seniority (often 1 for junior; 2 for dense senior profiles).
• Check: phone numbers are not split awkwardly across lines with odd hyphens.

If you work in design, creative marketing, or architecture, you can keep a visual portfolio. For the job portal, though, a clean ATS version plus a creative PDF is safer. Many processes filter with software first; the portfolio comes later. Separating both documents prevents losing out at the first gate.

Common mistakes that break parsing

The costliest failures are rarely lack of talent; they are technical friction. Ambiguous dates (2020–present without months when roles overlap), titles without employers, skills only in a graphic sidebar, merged-cell competency tables, and decorative fonts that rasterize on export. Symbols instead of words also fail: a phone icon with no plain-text number.

Another mistake: mixing languages without a plan (English titles and Spanish bullets, or the reverse) when the posting is monolingual. Match the ad language and stay consistent. For international applications, keep two versions, EN and ES, not a confusing hybrid.

Before / after example (same profile)

Before (weak bullet): Responsible for customer care and reporting. After: Managed a portfolio of 60 B2B accounts in HubSpot, cut average response time from 18 to 6 hours, and shipped a weekly Looker report that saved the team four hours. Same person, stronger signal. The ATS finds HubSpot and Looker; the recruiter sees impact.

Before (structure): two columns, skill bars, email only in the footer. After: one column, skills as a list, email and phone under the name, MM/YYYY dates. You do not need to rewrite your career; you need to present evidence in a format software and humans can use.

10-minute checklist before you apply

• Can I select and copy text in the PDF?
• Are email and phone plain text near the top?
• Does each role show title, company, and readable dates?
• Are section names standard?
• Are 5–10 real keywords from the posting in summary, experience, and skills?
• Did I remove decorative tables and skill bars?
• Is the file reasonably sized and named Name_Role_Company.pdf?
• Did someone scan the CV for 20 seconds and say what I do?
• Does the summary fit in three or four lines and speak to the target role?
• Did I remove unnecessary sensitive data (ID numbers, exact home address, photo if it adds nothing)?

If you fail two or more structural points, do not send yet; fix format first. A pretty CV that will not parse loses to a clean one that will. Once the base is solid, tailor the summary and 3–5 bullets for important roles; you do not need to rewrite everything from scratch every time.

How ClarCV fits this workflow

Upload the PDF or Word file you already have. AI reviews clarity, structure, and common ATS friction signals, then suggests actionable fixes. You can apply an ATS template, regenerate the document, and download a send-ready PDF. Start free; if you want more analysis and regenerations, Pro is €7/month with clear pricing and no shady trial. Spanish and English depending on the application.