An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that companies use to filter incoming CVs before a human ever reads them. Around 75% of large employers use one. If your CV doesn't parse cleanly, it gets silently rejected — no matter how qualified you are.
How ATS reads your CV
The system extracts text from your PDF, scores it against the job description, and either passes it to a recruiter or buries it. The simpler and more standard your formatting, the better it parses.
Five rules for an ATS-friendly CV
- Use standard section headings. "Work Experience", "Education", "Skills". Don't get creative with "Where I've Played" — the parser won't know what that is.
- Avoid tables and columns in your text sections. Decorative layouts can break parsing.
- Stick to common fonts. Inter, Arial, Calibri, Roboto. Skip novelty fonts.
- Mirror keywords from the job description. If the role asks for "Kubernetes", and you've used Kubernetes, write "Kubernetes" — not "container orchestration tools".
- Save as PDF (text-based, not scanned). Avoid image-only PDFs.
Every ApplyRaft template carries an ATS rating on its page, from safest (one plain column) to fair (two columns and decoration some older systems read out of order). If you are applying through screening software, pick one marked ATS-friendly.