ATS Resume Guide: How to Get Past Automated Screening in 2025

Most job applications never reach a human recruiter. Before your resume lands on anyone's desk, it passes through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) — software that scans, parses, and ranks resumes automatically. If your resume isn't formatted correctly or doesn't contain the right keywords, it gets filtered out before a person ever sees it.

This guide explains how ATS works and exactly what to do to make your resume pass.

What Is an ATS?

An Applicant Tracking System is software used by recruiters and HR departments to manage job applications. When you apply for a job online, your resume is almost always parsed by an ATS before anyone reads it.

ATS software does three things:

1. Parses your resume — extracts text and identifies sections (work experience, education, skills)
2. Scores your resume — ranks it based on keyword match against the job description
3. Filters — only the highest-scoring resumes are surfaced to recruiters

Over 98% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS. SMEs are increasingly adopting it too. If you've been applying for jobs and hearing nothing back, there's a good chance your resume isn't passing ATS.

How ATS Reads Your Resume

Understanding how ATS parses your resume helps you format it correctly.

What ATS can read well:

• Plain text
• Standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills)
• Standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, Georgia)
• Single-column layouts

What ATS struggles with:

• Tables and columns (text often gets garbled)
• Headers and footers (often skipped entirely)
• Text inside images or graphics
• Fancy fonts and unusual symbols
• PDFs that aren't text-based (scanned documents)
• Complex designs with text boxes

Key insight: A beautiful, designed resume often performs worse in ATS than a plain, clean one. Design for humans only after you've ensured ATS can read it.

Step 1: Use the Job Description as Your Keyword Source

The single biggest factor in ATS scoring is keyword match. The ATS compares your resume to the job description and scores how closely they match.

How to extract keywords:

1. Copy the full job description into a text document
2. Identify the key skills, tools, qualifications, and responsibilities mentioned
3. Note exact phrasing — if the JD says "project management" don't just write "managing projects"
4. Identify both hard skills (Python, Salesforce, SQL) and soft skills (cross-functional collaboration, stakeholder management)

Where to place keywords:

• Skills section (most impactful)
• Job title in experience section
• Bullet points under each role
• Summary/objective statement at the top

Don't keyword-stuff. Write naturally but ensure important terms appear at least once.

Step 2: Format Your Resume for ATS Parsing

Follow these formatting rules to ensure ATS can correctly parse your resume:

Use standard section headings:

• Work Experience (not "Where I've Been" or "Career Story")
• Education (not "Academic Background")
• Skills (not "My Toolkit")
• Certifications
• Projects (for freshers)

File format:

• Submit as .docx unless the application specifically asks for PDF
• If submitting PDF, make sure it's a text-based PDF, not a scanned image

Layout:

• Single column layout is safest
• Avoid tables, text boxes, headers/footers
• Use bullet points (standard •, not custom symbols)

Fonts and sizing:

• 10–12pt font for body text
• 14–16pt for your name
• Standard fonts: Arial, Calibri, Garamond, Georgia, Helvetica

Contact information:

• Put it in the main body, not in a header — ATS sometimes skips headers
• Include: name, phone, email, LinkedIn URL, city/country

Step 3: Write Achievement-Focused Bullet Points

ATS rewards keyword density but humans reward impact. Write bullets that do both.

Weak bullet (responsibility-focused):

Responsible for managing social media accounts

Strong bullet (achievement-focused with keywords):

Managed LinkedIn and Instagram accounts, growing organic followers by 40% and increasing engagement rate from 1.2% to 3.8% over 6 months

Formula: Action verb + task + tool/method + quantified result

Common action verbs that ATS recognizes: developed, designed, implemented, managed, led, optimized, reduced, increased, launched, collaborated, analyzed, built, automated.

Step 4: Tailor Your Resume for Each Application

One resume rarely works for all jobs. At minimum, customize:

• Your summary statement for the specific role
• The skills section to match the job description keywords
• Two or three bullet points in your most recent role to emphasize relevant experience

If you're applying to 10 similar roles, you may only need 2–3 resume variants. But sending the exact same resume everywhere hurts your ATS score.

Step 5: Score Your Resume Before Applying

Use Jobfound's AI resume builder to get an ATS compatibility score before you apply. It checks:

• Overall ATS score (0–100)
• Missing keywords compared to the job description
• Bullet point quality and impact
• ATS readability signals
• Specific improvement suggestions

Aim for a score above 75 before submitting any application.

Common ATS Mistakes

Using a creative resume template — Designer templates with columns, icons, and graphics look great but parse terribly in ATS. Save the design for portfolio links.

Putting key information in headers/footers — Name and contact info in the header is often completely skipped by ATS parsers.

Using images for your profile photo or logos — ATS cannot read images. Never embed your contact info or skills in image form.

Using abbreviations inconsistently — If the job says "Search Engine Optimization" write it out once, then use "SEO" — or include both. Don't assume the ATS knows they're the same.

Incorrect job title — If your actual title was "Growth Hacker" but the role was functionally a "Digital Marketing Manager," you can use the more recognizable title in parentheses: "Growth Hacker (Digital Marketing Manager)."

ATS for Freshers

If you're a fresher with limited work experience, ATS can feel like a hurdle since you have fewer keywords from actual job titles. Compensate with:

• Skills section — Be explicit and comprehensive. List every relevant tool and technology
• Projects — Describe them with the same keyword-rich bullet format as work experience
• Internships — Even short internships should be described with full bullet points
• Certifications — Google, AWS, HubSpot, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning certifications all add relevant keywords
• Coursework — For technical roles, list relevant university courses ("Machine Learning, Database Systems, Software Engineering")

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does ATS reject resumes automatically? Yes. If your resume scores below a threshold, it's filtered out automatically and no human sees it. This is why getting your ATS score right matters before applying.

Q: Should I use a one-page or two-page resume? ATS doesn't care about length. One page is fine for freshers and those with under 5 years experience. Two pages are acceptable for experienced candidates. Never go beyond two pages.

Q: Do cover letters go through ATS? Sometimes. Many ATS systems parse cover letters in addition to resumes. Apply the same keyword principles to your cover letter.

Q: Is a PDF or Word document better for ATS? Word (.docx) is generally safer as it's universally parsed. If submitting PDF, ensure it's text-based (you can select and copy text from it).

Q: How do I know if a company uses ATS? Assume they do. Any company using an online application form almost certainly runs resumes through ATS. Only very small companies (under 10 employees) or those taking applications by email may skip it.

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Getting past ATS is the first step to landing an interview. Format your resume correctly, match the job description keywords, and score it before you apply. Use Jobfound's AI resume analyzer to check your score for free.