How ATS Software Reads Your Resume (and How to Make Sure It Can)

When you upload a resume to a job portal, a person may not read it first. Most medium and large employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to store applications, extract information and let recruiters search for candidates. Understanding what the ATS does with your file helps you avoid formatting that quietly sabotages your application.

What actually happens when you apply

1. Your file is stored. The ATS keeps the original PDF or DOCX for recruiters to open later.
2. The text is extracted. The system pulls the text out of your file in the order it appears in the document's internal structure, which is not always the order you see on screen.
3. The text is parsed. The ATS tries to identify your name, contact details, job titles, employers, dates, education and skills, usually by recognising section headings and patterns.
4. Recruiters search and filter. They might search for "Python AND AWS", filter by location, or sort by how closely your profile matches the job.

If step 2 or 3 goes wrong, a recruiter searching for your skills might never find you, even if you're an excellent match.

Formatting that confuses an ATS

Multiple columns read side by side

In many two-column designs, the text is extracted line by line across both columns. Your job title can end up merged with a skill from the sidebar, producing nonsense like "Senior Product Manager Python Finlytics Figma".

Tables used for layout

Tables are often extracted cell by cell in unexpected orders, scrambling dates and job titles.

Text inside images, icons or graphics

If your name or skills are part of an image, the ATS sees nothing. Skill bars and star ratings carry no readable information at all.

Contact details in the page header or footer

Some systems ignore header and footer regions entirely. Keep your name, email and phone in the main body of the page.

Creative section headings

"Where I've Been" or "My Toolbox" may not be recognised. Use standard headings: Work Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications, Projects.

Very wide letter-spacing

This one surprises people. Headings set with wide tracking (for example, S K I L L S) are often extracted as separate letters, so the ATS doesn't recognise the word. We found this while testing our own templates and now limit letter-spacing in every design.

Fonts that aren't embedded

If fonts aren't embedded in the PDF, some systems substitute other fonts or fail to extract characters correctly. A good PDF generator embeds them.

What ATS-friendly formatting looks like

• One logical reading order: the order a person reads is the order the text is stored.
• Real, selectable text: if you can highlight and copy it in a PDF viewer, an ATS can usually read it.
• Standard headings and consistent entry formats (job title, employer, location, dates).
• Dates as text, in a consistent format such as "Jan 2023 - Present".
• Keywords from the job description, used naturally in your summary, skills and bullets.

A simple test you can do yourself

1. Open your PDF in a browser or PDF viewer.
2. Select all text (Ctrl/Cmd + A) and copy it.
3. Paste it into a plain-text editor.

If the pasted text reads in the right order (name, contact, sections in sequence, each job with its title, employer and dates together), you're in good shape. If it's jumbled, an ATS will probably struggle too.

How we test Resume Creator templates

Every one of our 25 templates goes through an automated check: we generate a real PDF with sample content through the same pipeline you use, extract its text, and verify that the name, contact details, every section heading (in the correct order) and the entry content are all present. We run it at both A4 and US Letter sizes.

Even our two-column Studio design passes, because its sidebar is placed after the main column in the document's reading order, so experience is read in full before skills.

PDF or DOCX?

Modern ATS platforms handle both well. Use PDF by default because it preserves your layout exactly. Use DOCX when a portal or recruiter specifically asks for Word. Resume Creator exports both from the same content.

Don't forget the human reader

Passing the ATS only gets your resume in front of a person. Then clarity, achievements and relevance do the work:

• lead each bullet with a result,
• quantify impact wherever possible,
• keep it to one or two pages,
• tailor it for each role.

ATS checklist

• Single reading order (or a two-column design with controlled order)
• No tables, text boxes or text inside images
• Contact details in the main body
• Standard section headings
• Consistent, text-based dates
• Fonts embedded; text selectable
• Keywords from the job description
• File named clearly, e.g. Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf

Ready to build a resume that ticks every box? Choose a template and start writing. No sign-up needed.