What is an ATS?

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software companies use to receive, parse, and rank job applications. Up to 75% of CVs are filtered before a human recruiter ever opens them.

How it works

When you apply through a job portal, the ATS extracts text from your CV, slots it into structured fields (name, experience, education, skills), and scores it against the job description. Recruiters then review the highest-scoring candidates first.

How to write an ATS-friendly CV

• Use a single-column layout
• Use standard fonts (Calibri, Arial, Georgia)
• Use plain section headings: Experience, Education, Skills
• Avoid text boxes, tables, images, and icons
• Mirror keywords from the job description
• Submit as .docx (most reliably parsed) or text-based PDF

For the safest format, start from our ATS-friendly templates.