Before a recruiter opens your CV, it often goes through an ATS (applicant tracking system), software that manages applications. It reads the text of your file, stores it in a profile and lets the recruiter search, filter or rank candidates.
An ATS-friendly CV is one this software reads without losing information. This guide explains what it reads, the rules that follow from it and how to check yours before sending it. Every company sets up its software in its own way: these rules lower the risks, they do not guarantee you get through.
How an ATS reads your CV
An ATS does not look at your CV the way a person does. It extracts the plain text, line by line, then tries to recognise the sections: contact details, experience, education, skills. What it understands goes into a candidate profile, and that profile is often what the recruiter reads or searches by keyword.
So everything depends on two things: the text must be extractable, and in the right order. Here is what most often breaks that reading:
- Columns: the software may read a line from the left column, then a line from the right one, and mix your experience with your skills.
- Tables and text boxes: their content may be read out of order, or not at all.
- Images: a name, a title or skills written inside an image are not text, and the software does not see them.
- The document's headers and footers: some software reads them poorly. Do not put your contact details there.
- Icons and rating bars: a phone icon or five stars next to a language mean nothing to the software. Write the word and the level.
The rules of an ATS-friendly CV
A CV that software can read is still a pleasant CV for a recruiter. These rules serve both readers:
- Standard section titles: Profile, Professional experience, Education, Skills, Languages. An original title such as "My journey" may not be recognised.
- The keywords of the job offer: the job title, software, degrees and skills it asks for, written as in the ad, when you really have them.
- Dates for every job and every degree, always in the same format, for example month and year: 03/2023 to 06/2025.
- A single reading column, from top to bottom, with your most recent experience first.
- A common font, such as Arial, Calibri or Garamond, between 10 and 12 points, and margins of about 2 cm so nothing gets cut off.
- A PDF file whose text can be selected, unless the offer asks for a Word file.
On LYZY, the templates marked "ATS-friendly" already follow these layout rules, and a filter in the gallery shows only them. The other templates have a graphic layout, designed to be read by a person: their page says so, and they are best avoided for an application screened by software.
The mistakes that lose your CV
Some mistakes do not show on screen, but empty your CV in the eyes of the software:
- The CV as an image: a CV exported as JPG or PNG, or pasted as a picture into a document, holds no text to read.
- The scanned PDF: a printed page that was scanned is still an image, even if the file ends in .pdf. Some software tries to decipher it, with errors.
- Abbreviations alone: write the full name at least once, such as "Higher National Diploma (HND)", so a search finds both forms.
- Spelling mistakes, above all in keywords: a person guesses a misspelt word, software does not recognise it.
- A layout in columns, tables and skill charts, which scramble the reading order.
- A vague file name: prefer CV-Firstname-Lastname-Role.pdf to "CV final 2".
To test your file, open the PDF, select all the text and paste it into a note. If it comes out whole and in reading order, that is a good sign. If your name, phone number or a section is missing, look for the image or table hiding it.
Check your CV with the LYZY ATS score
LYZY offers two checks, which do not measure the same thing:
- The ATS conformity audit, from your dashboard, with the "ATS conformity" button on each CV: ten checks on your CV alone. Email, phone, city, professional summary, described experience, experience dates, education, skills, quantified achievements and action verbs. Each check is passed, to improve or missing, with recommendations.
- The match score, from each job offer, with the "Check my match score" button: a score out of 100 comparing your CV with the offer. It details the required skills your CV covers, the offer keywords present and how complete the CV is, then lists the skills found, the ones missing and what to fix.
How to read it: start with the missing skills. If you really have them, add them using the words of the offer, then run the score again. If you do not have them, do not write them: a recruiter will check them in the interview.
What it does not guarantee: this score is an estimate calculated by LYZY, not the one from the employer's software. Every company sets up its ATS in its own way, and the decision is the recruiter's. A good score guarantees neither an interview nor a job; it shows you what your CV lacks for an offer.
Each analysis feature can be tried once for free. After that, it is included in the subscription or paid per use.
Tailor your CV to a specific offer
The same CV sent everywhere rarely uses the words of each offer. To tailor it without rewriting everything:
- Use the exact job title at the top of your CV, if it matches what you do.
- Note the skills, software and degrees the ad asks for, and check they appear in your CV in the same words.
- Place them where they make sense: in your profile, in the description of your experience, in your list of skills.
- Do not copy the ad: whole sentences lifted from the offer are easy to spot, and a keyword with no experience behind it does not hold up in an interview.
On LYZY, the "Tailor my resume to this job" button prepares a version of your CV adjusted to the ad, without inventing anything: your original CV stays intact, and anything your CV does not back up is removed. If your CV is too far from the offer, LYZY does not tailor it.
Already have a CV in PDF or Word? Import it: its content goes into a new CV, which you can place in an ATS-friendly template.