CV Once

ATS formatting pitfalls, and a two-minute test for your CV

Nine layout habits that scramble parsed CVs, and how to test yours in two minutes.

An applicant tracking system reads the text inside your file, in the order it is stored, and tries to work out which parts are your name, jobs, dates and skills. Most of the time it gets close. Certain layout choices make it get things badly wrong: jobs with no dates, a missing phone number, skills merged into the middle of a sentence.

None of these pitfalls will automatically reject you. They make your record harder to search and, when a recruiter views the parsed version, harder to read. The ATS explained guide covers what these systems actually do.

The pitfalls

1. Tables used for layout

Tables are a common way to line up dates on the right or create columns. Some parsers read table cells in an unexpected order (across rows rather than down columns, or skipping cells entirely). If you need dates on the right, use a layout that keeps the date on the same text line as the job title rather than in a separate cell.

A small, simple table of data (say, a list of languages and levels) is usually less of a problem than a whole CV built inside a table.

2. Text boxes and floating shapes

Word processors and design tools let you place text in boxes anywhere on the page. That text is often stored separately from the main body, so a parser may read it last, out of context, or not at all. Contact details and skills placed in text boxes are frequent casualties.

Document headers and footers are stored separately from the body in Word files, and some parsers ignore them. If your name, email and phone are only in the header, the system may create a record with no contact details. Put them at the top of the body instead.

4. Text inside images

Any text that is part of an image (a logo with your name, a skills chart, a screenshot, a heading saved as a picture) is invisible to a parser. This includes the “skill level” bars and star ratings common in design templates: the parser sees no text, and a human cannot tell what four out of five stars means anyway.

5. Icons instead of labels

A phone icon next to a number looks neat, but the icon itself is either an image or a special font character that may come out as a stray symbol. Usually the number itself survives, but a labelled line (“Email: sam.taylor@example.com”) or plain text is safest. Make sure the actual email address and number are written out in full, not just linked from an icon.

6. Multi-column layouts on older parsers

Two-column CVs are popular and many modern systems handle them well. Older or simpler parsers may read straight across the page, line by line, interleaving your left column with your right: a skill, then half a job title, then a language. If you are applying to large organisations whose systems you cannot see, a single-column layout removes the risk. If you prefer two columns, test your file (see below).

7. Unusual section headings

Parsers look for familiar headings to decide where each section starts. “Work experience”, “Experience”, “Employment history”, “Education”, “Skills” are recognised widely. “My journey”, “Where I’ve been” or “Toolbox” may not be, and the content underneath can end up in the wrong field. The builder flags headings an ATS may not recognise; the section order and headings guide lists safe ones.

8. Decorative or unusual fonts

Some decorative fonts use unusual character mappings, so when text is extracted it comes out as the wrong letters or symbols. Ligatures in some fonts can also cause problems (“fi” coming out as a single odd character). Standard fonts, either system fonts or common web fonts, avoid this.

9. Scanned or image-only PDFs

If your PDF is a scan of a printed CV, or was exported as an image from a design app, it contains no text at all, only a picture of text. A parser reads nothing. You can check by trying to select a word in the PDF: if you can’t, it is an image.

Less risky than people think

  • PDF format. Text-based PDFs are read well by most current systems. Send a Word file if the employer asks for one. See saving your CV as a PDF.
  • Bold, italics and bullet points. Fine.
  • A little colour on headings. Fine; colour is ignored by parsers.
  • Two pages. Length does not affect parsing.

The two-minute copy-and-paste test

This is the most useful check you can do, and it needs no special software.

  1. Open your finished PDF in a browser or PDF reader.
  2. Select all the text (Ctrl+A on Windows and Linux, Cmd+A on a Mac) and copy it.
  3. Paste it into a plain text editor: Notepad, TextEdit in plain-text mode, or any code editor. Not a word processor, which may preserve the layout and hide the problem.
  4. Read the result from top to bottom.

Check that:

  • your name, email and phone number are all there and written correctly;
  • each job title appears next to its own employer and dates;
  • sections appear in a sensible order (not the whole sidebar dumped in the middle of your first job);
  • no words are missing, merged or replaced by odd symbols;
  • nothing important is absent (if you can see it on the page but not in the paste, it is an image or is otherwise unreadable).

Tip: If something comes out wrong, fix the layout and test again. This is roughly what a parser sees, so a clean paste is a good sign. It is not a guarantee, since every system differs, but a scrambled paste is a strong warning.

Paste-in boxes and plain text

Many application portals ask you to paste your CV into a text box, or re-type it into form fields. Formatting is lost either way. Keep a plain-text version ready: the builder exports one, ready to paste.

A safe default

If you want to avoid all of this without thinking about it:

  • one column;
  • contact details as plain text at the top of the page body;
  • standard headings;
  • dates on the same line as each job;
  • no images, icons, skill bars or text boxes;
  • a common font;
  • export as a text-based PDF.

The Clarity template is built as this safe default. Two-column templates such as Sidebar and Split are fine for many applications, especially smaller employers and those who read CVs directly, but run the copy-and-paste test on them before applying through a large employer’s portal.

Next: make sure the text itself matches what recruiters search for with the job ad keywords guide.