ATS-friendly resume format: 6 rules that keep your skills readable
An ATS-friendly resume is one that applicant tracking software can read in the right order. Use one column, standard headings, contact details in the body of the page, the job post's exact terms, bullets that start with a verb, and the file type the posting asks for.
What an applicant tracking system does with your resume
Many employers collect applications in an applicant tracking system, or ATS. When you apply online, your resume goes into that system first, and the software pulls your text into fields like name, education and work history. A recruiter then searches and reads those fields, as the University of Houston's career center explains for students.
Layout tricks can break that step. Roche, a large employer, warns in its resume parsing FAQ that some systems "read columns straight across rather than reading column one top to bottom", and that information in the header and footer "sometimes gets dropped".
The 6 rules
1. Use one column
Two columns can get read as one line, so your skills land inside your job titles. The University of Maryland says tables and columns "may cause major parsing errors". Full explanation: Are two-column resumes ATS-friendly?
2. Use standard section headings
Name your sections Education, Experience, Projects and Skills. Roche recommends standard labels so the system can sort your information, and Maryland says to use "mostly standard resume section headings". A heading like "My Journey" is easy for a person to understand and easy for software to miss.
3. Put your contact details in the body
Write your name, email, phone and city at the top of the page itself, not in the document's header or footer area. Both Roche and Maryland warn that header and footer text can be lost.
4. Use the job post's words, for skills you really have
If the posting asks for SQL and you know SQL, write "SQL", not "good with data". Maryland suggests mirroring the job description's keywords and writing out both the full term and its acronym once. Never add a skill you don't have: the interview will find it.
5. Start each bullet with a verb
"Built", "led", "organized", "analyzed". Then say what you did and what came out of it. A duty like "Responsible for social media" is a job title, not a result. More in How to write a new grad resume with no experience.
6. Send the file type the posting asks for
Follow the instructions in the job post first. If it doesn't say, career centers disagree slightly: Roche, Houston and Maryland prefer a Word file (.docx) for parsing, while Idaho National Laboratory asks for a PDF. Name the file with your first and last name.
What to leave out
- Tables and text boxes. Houston's career center says plainly: "Do not use text boxes or tables."
- Skill bars and other graphics. Software can't read the levels. See Should you put skill bars on your resume?
- A photo, if you're applying in the US. See Should you put a photo on your resume in the US?
- Decorative horizontal lines. Maryland notes that some systems can't read past them.
Before and after
A two-column resume
Python Marketing InternSQL Acme Co · 2025ExcelAbove: a two-column layout, and the order some parsers read it in. The fix is the same content in one column, with Skills as its own section.
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Check my resumeThe guides
- Are two-column resumes ATS-friendly?Not reliably: some systems read across the page. Why it happens and how to switch.
- How to write a new grad resume with no experienceThe section order, what counts as experience, and a sample resume.
- Resume objective or summary? What new grads should useWhy a short summary usually beats an objective, with three examples.
- Should you put skill bars on your resume?Why ratings don't help, and how to list skills as plain text instead.
- Should you put a photo on your resume in the US?Why US resumes leave it off, and what to use the space for.
To see these rules in a full resume, browse the resume examples for 68 entry-level roles.