Updated October 2026
An ATS-friendly resume is a single-column document in .docx or text-based PDF, with standard section headings, your contact details in the body rather than the header, and the exact skills and job titles from the job ad written out in full. Get those basics right and the applicant tracking system will parse your resume correctly; get the content right and the recruiter searching that system will actually find you.
What an ATS really does with your resume
An applicant tracking system (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, SAP SuccessFactors, Taleo, iCIMS and many others) stores applications and lets recruiters search, filter and rank them. Three things happen to your file:
- Parsing. The software reads your document and fills fields such as name, email, employers, job titles, dates, education and skills.
- Screening. Many employers add “knockout” questions to the application form: work authorization, minimum years of experience, a required license or language. A wrong answer here can remove you before any human reads your resume.
- Searching and ranking. Recruiters type keywords (“HSE”, “SAP FICO”, “Portuguese”) or use matching features to sort candidates. If your resume does not contain the term, you do not appear.
You will often read that ATS software “rejects 75% of resumes automatically.” We could not find a credible original study behind that figure. The real risk is less dramatic but just as costly: a badly parsed resume shows up with empty fields or garbled text, and a resume without the right keywords never shows up in a search.
Formatting rules that keep parsing clean
Greenhouse’s own support documentation lists the layouts that cause its parser to fail or partly fail. They match what recruiters see across most systems.
| Do | Avoid | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Single column, top to bottom | Two or three columns, sidebars | Columns can be read across, mixing lines from different sections |
| Name and contact details in the main body | Contact details in the header, footer or a text box | Greenhouse names this as a cause of failed parsing |
| Plain bullet points | Tables, graphics, icons, skill bars, word art | Graphics and tables are listed parsing problems |
| .docx or a PDF exported from Word or Google Docs | Scanned PDFs or photos of a paper CV | An image contains no readable text |
| Small file, a few hundred KB | Files with large images | Greenhouse does not parse resumes above 2.5 MB |
| Standard fonts (Calibri, Arial, Georgia), 10–12 pt | Letter-spaced headings like “E X P E R I E N C E” | Spaced letters break word recognition |
| Consistent date format, such as “Mar 2022 – Present” | Mixed formats or years only for some roles | Parsers calculate experience from dates |
Greenhouse accepts .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf and .txt uploads. When a portal accepts both, a clean .docx is the safest choice for parsing; a text-based PDF keeps your layout fixed and works well in most modern systems.
Tip: Test your file before you send it. Open the PDF, press Ctrl+A, copy and paste into a plain text editor. If the text comes out in the right order with nothing missing, a parser will read it too.
The structure recruiters and parsers expect
Use these headings, in roughly this order. Creative labels such as “Where I’ve Been” confuse parsers.
- Name and contact: full name, city and country, phone with country code (for example +244 for Angola), professional email, LinkedIn URL.
- Professional Summary: three lines with your title, years of experience, core specialisms and one proof point.
- Skills: a plain list of hard skills, tools and certifications, grouped if you have many.
- Work Experience: job title, employer, city, dates, then three to six bullets per role.
- Education: degree, institution, country, year.
- Certifications and Languages: with levels, for example “Portuguese (native), English (C1), French (B1)”.
Example summary
Logistics coordinator with 6 years in oil and gas supply bases in Luanda and Soyo. Manages customs clearance, vendor contracts and SAP MM inventory for offshore campaigns. Reduced urgent air freight costs by 18% in 2025 by consolidating shipments.
Keywords: how to match the job ad without stuffing
This is where most of the effort should go. Follow these steps for every application:
- Copy the job ad into a document and highlight every hard skill, tool, certification, qualification and job title.
- Mark the terms that appear more than once or sit under “required.” Those are the likely search terms.
- For each one you genuinely have, make sure it appears in your Skills section and in at least one experience bullet that shows you using it.
- Use the employer’s wording. If the ad says “Health, Safety and Environment (HSE)”, write it that way once, then “HSE” afterwards.
- Mirror the job title where honest. If your title was “Analyst II” and the role is “Financial Analyst”, write “Financial Analyst (Analyst II)”.
Never paste keywords in white text or list skills you do not have. Recruiters see the parsed text, hidden words included, and an interview will expose gaps fast.
Bullets that pass the ATS and impress the human
The ATS gets you into the shortlist; a recruiter skimming dozens of resumes decides the rest. Write each bullet as action, scope and result.
| Weak bullet | Strong bullet |
|---|---|
| Responsible for payroll | Ran monthly payroll for 240 employees in Primavera, including IRT and INSS filings, with zero penalties in 2024–2025 |
| Helped with social media | Planned and wrote 3 posts a week for LinkedIn and Instagram, growing followers from 4,000 to 11,500 in 12 months |
| Worked on projects | Coordinated a 9-month ERP rollout across 4 sites, delivered one week early and 6% under a USD 310,000 budget |
| Good communication skills | Presented weekly safety performance to client and contractor managers in Portuguese and English |
If you do not have exact figures, use honest approximations (“about 30 suppliers”, “cut processing time from days to hours”). Avoid tables for this content in the real resume; they are shown here only for comparison.
Country differences and final checks
- United States and Canada: one page for early career, two pages for experienced candidates. No photo, date of birth, marital status or nationality; the US EEOC advises employers not to request photographs before a job offer, and recruiters often discard resumes that include them.
- United Kingdom and Ireland: the document is called a CV, usually two pages, no photo.
- Angola, Portugal and Lusophone employers: a photo and nationality are still common and often expected. If you apply to an international company in Luanda through Workday or a similar portal, follow the international format unless the ad asks otherwise.
- EU institutions and some European employers: may require the Europass format. Use it only when requested.
- UN agencies: often use their own online profile or a personal history form in place of a resume. See our guide to UN and NGO jobs in Angola.
Our free CV builder (gerar CV, in Portuguese) produces a single-column layout that parses cleanly. Pair it with a targeted letter from our cover letter examples.
Final checklist before you click submit
- File name: “Firstname-Lastname-Resume.docx” or “.pdf”, not “CV final v3”.
- Contact details in the body, phone with country code, email works.
- Top five required skills from the ad appear in Skills and in experience bullets.
- Job titles, employers and dates are consistent and in the same format.
- No columns, tables, text boxes, icons or images.
- Copy-paste test passed.
- Knockout questions on the form answered accurately.
Frequently asked questions
Can an ATS read a PDF?
Most modern systems read text-based PDFs well. Problems arise with scanned PDFs, image-heavy designs and PDFs exported from graphic tools. If the employer states a preferred format, use it.
Should I use an AI tool to rewrite my resume?
It can help with wording, but check every line. Generic phrasing and invented achievements are easy for recruiters to spot, and you must be able to defend every claim in an interview.
How long should an ATS resume be?
Length does not matter much to the software. It matters to the recruiter: one to two pages for most candidates, more only for academic or senior technical roles where the employer expects it.
Do I need a different resume for each job?
Keep one master version and adjust the summary, skills and top bullets for each application. Ten minutes of tailoring usually beats sending the same file to fifty employers.
Sources: Greenhouse Support: Unsuccessful resume parse; Greenhouse Support: Supported formats for candidate uploads; US EEOC: Prohibited employment policies and practices; UK National Careers Service: How to write a CV; Europass.
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