At Personal Touch Career Services, we have seen a disturbing trend: Tons of people are being told that their resume’s format is “not ATS-compliant.” Let’s explore what that actually means and how you can make sure that your resume follows these extremely important guidelines.

Where is this feedback coming from?

Would you believe that the feedback that your resume is not ATS-compliant might be a scam? Yes! It’s true!

Over the past month, many people have been contacted out of the blue by a recruiter on LinkedIn, usually after they use the “Open to Work” feature on the site. The recruiter asks for a copy of the job seeker’s resume and immediately says that the resume is not “ATS-compliant.” However, never fear! They will fix it for just $25-$35.

That’s a scam, folks!

EVERYONE who responds to these recruiters gets the same feedback about the ATS compliance because it is a scare tactic for them to do a quick cash grab. Yes, they may reformat the document, but it is usually a haphazard job and doesn’t touch any of the content.

How do we know this is a scam? Because our clients ask us about their resume. All of our resumes are fully ATS-compliant and follow the best practices for professional resume writers as well as US-based recruiters.

What does “ATS-compliant” mean anyway?

Simply put, an ATS-compliant resume will upload as cleanly as possible into a company’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS.) It’s how employers track, screen, and rate candidates. Any time you fill out an online application, you enter your information into that dang ATS. Having a compliant resume saves you time, increases accuracy, and improves your chances of getting an interview.

How to tell if your resume is NOT ATS-compliant

If you have ever had to go back in and correct all of your information on the application after uploading your resume, it’s because your resume was not compliant. Similarly, if the information is garbled – such as the wrong dates in your employment history – that’s an ATS-compliance issue as well.

The usual culprits are improper formatting, unrecognizable headings, unclear information, or a lack of keywords in the document.

Another clear sign is if your information was not imported at ALL. This usually happens with graphically driven resumes, especially if it was created with InDesign, Canva, or another graphic design program. Even if you export your document as a PDF, the ATS will consider the underlying code as an image – which it is not able to read nor pull out the data.

Improper formatting

The ATS relies upon the format of your resume to know where to put the information into the application. As such, a straightforward format usually works the best. However, being straightforward does not mean that it has to be boring.

While the ATS generally doesn’t like graphics, images, or unusual fonts, you can use a pop of color to make it more appealing to the human eye. The trick is HOW you format it. For example, if you use a text box, the ATS has been trained to ignore those. The same is true for the information in the header and footer of the document.

Unrecognizable headings

The headings are actually one of the best tools you can use to ensure that your resume is ATS-compliant. From the actual name of the sections, such as “Professional Experience,” “Education,” “Skills,” and “Certifications” to how your work history is formatted, the words themselves are guides for the ATS. Avoid creative section headings like “Work History” or “Background” that may not correspond with the ATS’s logic.

Unclear information

As for your work history, keep the ‘facts” of the job together in a neat manner. Specifically, your title, company name, location, and dates should all be on the first one or two lines when describing each job.

YES, your contact information needs to be crystal clear. In modern resumes, you don’t have to list your entire mailing address. What is most important are your phone number, email address, LinkedIn URL, and the city and state. ZIP codes are optional but can be helpful if you want a hybrid or in-person job.

Lack of the right keywords

Once your information is in the ATS, you want to survive the AI screening process. Screening is based on the keywords AS LISTED IN THE JOB DESCRIPTION. Overall, you need a 60-75% match of those short, keyword-optimized phrases to get through the screening and to a point where a human will read it.

 If you take 30 minutes to adjust your keywords to fit the job posting, you will land more interviews. Sometimes, the keywords are insidious. For example, if your resume says that you are “detail-oriented,” but the job description states “attention to detail,” those keywords don’t match. This means that the ATS *thinks* that you don’t have “attention to detail” since the actual words themselves are different.

I know that it sounds tedious to tweak your resume for every job application. However, if you have a solid base resume at the start, a tweak should only take 30 -45 minutes. (We love to teach people how to do this, by the way.)

Sample: Fully ATS-Compliant Resume

Not sure if your resume is ATS-compliant?

At the Personal Touch Career Services, we offer a free resume review as part of our 30-minute consultation. You can sign up on our website:

https://www.personaltouchcareerservices.com/contact

(Restrictions: Limited to people in the US. One free review every 12 months.)