Format · 2026-08-22 · 13 min read
Icons and skill bars on a CV: why ATS cannot read them
A phone-as-drawing and Excel at 80% are not keywords. A two-minute test and how to switch to parseable text. ClarCV.
Icons on a CV and skill bars look “designed”. ATS does not design: it extracts text. A phone that is a pictogram never enters the index. “Excel 80%” is a coloured rectangle, not the word Excel. People searching this usually have a Canva or creative template that looks fine on screen and pastes empty or shuffled into Notepad. It is the same failure as Canva CV and ATS and ATS mistakes.
This guide explains which icons break parsing, why skill bars lie (80% compared with whom?), and how to replace them with words without looking “boring”. ATS templates win here not on taste, but because email is still the word email. ClarCV: upload the PDF, catch structure friction, regenerate one column with contact and skills as text.
You will not ban all visuals forever. You will keep two files if needed: one for the portal, one for a design interview. The failure is using the infographic in Workday.
What the parser cannot read
Icons for email, phone, LinkedIn, location pin, language bubbles, Python logos instead of the word Python, QR codes, and text outlined on export. Also tables used as layout and floating text boxes. You see an elegant header. The software reads the sidebar first or eats the @ in the address.
- Replace the icon with a label: Email, Phone, LinkedIn + URL as text.
- Languages: “English B2”, not five dots. See languages on a CV.
- Skills: list “Excel, Power Query, SAP MM”, not bars.
- Photo: optional by country; if it stays, it must not be the only layer with your name.
- QR: ATS does not scan it. A human at a fair might; that is another channel.
Before: a row of icons and “Office” with a bar at 90%. After: Email: ana@… | Tel. +34 … | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ana — Skills: Excel (pivot tables), Word, Outlook. The second block is searchable. The first is guessed.
Why skill bars are worse than silence
“Photoshop 70%” means nothing in an ad that wants “retouch 20 assets/week in Photoshop”. The percentage is not a keyword and it invites an argument. Juniors put 90% on everything; an honest senior looks worse. Better: the tool + context in a bullet. If there is no context, a flat list. The recruiter assumes you are not native in all of them.
The two-minute test
Select the header and skills. Paste into Notepad. Do email and “Excel” appear? If not, do not send that file to a board. More on fragile design: Canva guide. More on odd headings (“My superpowers”): ATS mistakes.
How to leave Canva without redrawing by hand
Copy the content, not the canvas. In ClarCV you upload PDF or Word, analysis flags clarity and friction (not a magic % against Workday), you apply a parseable A4 template. Free: 3 analyses and 2 downloads / 30 days, no card. Pro €7/month. Keep facts; change the visual container.
FAQ
No icons, ever?
On the portal PDF, avoid icons that replace text. A simple bullet or dash rarely breaks. A phone pictogram does.
What about a creative CV for a studio?
Attach the parseable file to the portal and the visual one by email or portfolio. Not a single infographic in Greenhouse.
Do LinkedIn skill bars belong on the PDF too?
LinkedIn is another UI. The PDF is not LinkedIn. Do not copy the bars onto the file.
Does ATS read image alt text?
On a CV PDF, almost never. Do not rely on Canva alt text.
Does ClarCV remove icons on its own?
When you apply an ATS template, content becomes text. Check that phone and email survived.