How to optimise your CV for ATS (with checklist)
75% of CVs are filtered by software before a human ever sees them. The 10 criteria that let yours through — and the checklist to verify.
You apply to ten roles and hear nothing back. You start wondering what's wrong with your profile. Often, the truth is your CV was never read by a human. It got filtered by an ATS — an automated screening system. And 75% of CVs are eliminated at this stage. Good news: the rules to clear the filter are known and fit in 10 points.
What's an ATS?
ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System. It's the software HR teams use to handle applications. When you apply through a big company's site (or Welcome to the Jungle, LinkedIn Easy Apply, etc.), your CV first goes through the ATS, which:
- reads the text of your CV
- looks for keywords from the job posting
- assigns a score to your profile
- ranks candidates from most to least relevant
The recruiter then opens the CVs with the highest score. The others, they never see. A nice design with columns, boxes and icons? The ATS can't read any of it, your score drops, your CV ends up at the bottom of the pile.
The 10 criteria that count
1. Format: PDF or .docx, not image
A CV as JPG, PNG, or built in Canva and exported as an image is unreadable by the ATS. Go with PDF (selectable text, not scanned) or Word .docx.
Quick test: open your CV, select all the text with Ctrl/Cmd+A, copy, paste into a text file. If the text is coherent, you're good. If it's gibberish or pieces are missing, the ATS will read the same.
2. Single column
Two-column CVs (the famous "modern" templates) break ATS reading because ATSes read line by line. Result: they mix your education and experience, then make sense of nothing.
Single column, classic vertical structure: name, contact, summary, experience, education, skills. Boring? Yes. Effective? Also yes.
3. Standard fonts
Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman. No downloaded font, no Comic Sans (unless you're applying to a comic book publisher). Size 10-12 for body, 14-16 for titles.
4. Clear section headers
The ATS looks for sections. Name them clearly: Work Experience, Education, Skills, Languages. No frills like "My journey in pictures" or "What defines me".
5. Keywords from the offer
This is the most important point. The ATS compares your CV to the offer and counts matches. If the offer asks for "project management, Scrum, JIRA, international team", these exact terms must appear in your CV — not "I managed teams" but "Project management with Scrum methodology, tracked in JIRA, international teams".
Warning: no keyword stuffing. The human who reads next will notice. Integrate them naturally in your job descriptions.
6. Standardised dates
Format: MM/YYYY or Month YYYY. Not "since last summer", not "around 2 years". The ATS calculates your tenure from these dates — be precise.
7. Real job titles
If you were "Digital Communications Manager" on your payslip, write "Digital Communications Manager" — not "Content Wizard". Recruiters search for known titles, ATSes too.
Tip: if your internal title is exotic, put it in parentheses after the standard one. "Marketing Manager (internal: Growth Wizard)".
8. No info-bearing graphics
Progress bars for your skills, stars, pictograms — the ATS ignores them. If you write "English: ★★★★☆", the ATS reads "English:" and that's it. Prefer "English: C1 (TOEIC 950)" or "English: fluent".
9. Contact info in the body, not header/footer
Some ATSes ignore header and footer zones. Put name, email, phone, city in the document body, at the top. Avoid trapping the email inside an image.
10. No complex tables
Simple tables (two-column name/value) often pass. Nested or merged tables with invisible borders used for layout — guaranteed parsing death.
The 30-second checklist
Before every send, check:
- PDF or .docx format (no image)
- Single column, vertical structure
- Standard font, size 10-12
- Sections named clearly
- At least 5 keywords from the offer used naturally
- Dates in MM/YYYY format
- Real job titles
- Skills rated in text, not pictograms
- Contact info in document body
- Copy/paste test: everything readable
If you check all 10, your CV clears the filter.
What plays out after the ATS
Clearing the ATS is necessary. But it's only half the road. Once HR opens your CV, the next 10 seconds decide. And there, it's a different job: structuring the narrative, surfacing the right achievements, handling gaps, not overselling.
That's exactly what Sirius does — the AI built into Woodle Career. You upload your CV (PDF, DOCX, TXT), you indicate the target role, and you get a frank diagnosis: 0-100 score, 3 to 5 strengths with quotes, 3 to 7 points to fix with a concrete suggestion, and 2 priority actions. No automatic rewriting — you keep control, you keep your voice.