ATS CV Format: What a Parser Can and Cannot Read

An ATS doesn't see your CV the way you do. It reads the text inside the file, in order, and builds a profile from it, so the format that works is the one where that text comes out clean.

Everything below comes from ATS vendors' own documentation, plus what our parser does with real files. Where a source says nothing, we say so.

What Does an ATS Actually Read?

A parser takes the text layer of your file and tries to sort it into fields: name, contact details, jobs, dates, education, skills. Textkernel, which sells parsing software, explains the weak point for layouts with columns: a parser that reads left to right and top to bottom mixes content from different columns, which corrupts the text and carries errors into everything extracted after it. Textkernel estimates that at least 15% of CVs use columns, and reports improving its own results on them, which says nothing about the parser at the company you are applying to.

Which Layout Features Cause Parsing Failures?

Greenhouse names them in its support pages. A resume can fail to parse if it has a columned layout, tables, headers and footers, a name and contact details placed in the header, footer or a text box, graphics, photos or word art, spaces between the letters of words, or no clear sections. It also fails if it is uploaded as an image instead of a document such as a .docx or .pdf, and Greenhouse says it can't parse resumes larger than 2.5MB. Oracle Taleo says separately that a resume in an image format, which it lists as PNG or JPEG, is not parsed.

Does It Matter Whether You Send Word or PDF?

Greenhouse treats .docx and .pdf as documents and an image as the problem. Neither Greenhouse nor Taleo, in the pages we read, says one document format reads better than the other. What matters is that the PDF holds real text and not a picture of text: if you can't select and copy words from it, a parser can't either. A flattened export, such as the Flatten PDF option in Canva, turns the design into exactly that picture.

What About a Canva or Designer Template?

The same list applies, because it is about what is in the file and not about the tool. A sidebar, a photo, icons or contact details in a text box sit on those lists whichever tool made the file. We tested two Canva exports and wrote up the results in Are Canva CVs ATS Friendly?

How Can You Check Your Own File?

1. Open the file, select all the text with your cursor and paste it into a plain text editor.
2. Read what comes out. Words in the wrong order point to columns or a text box, and missing words point to an image or a graphic.
3. Check that your name and contact details appear in the pasted text and not only in a header or footer.
4. Run the file through the CV Score tool for the layout check and the other seven criteria.

What Does CV Score Check About Format?

It checks columns and no other layout feature. For a PDF, it looks at how the text is laid out on the page and gives full marks for a single column and half the 20 points of the format criterion when it finds columns. It doesn't check tables, text boxes or headers, and it doesn't detect columns in a Word file, so for those, use the paste test above. If it can't extract enough readable text from a file, it tells you so instead of giving a score.

Related Guides

• Are Canva CVs ATS Friendly? What We Tested and What the Sources Say
• How to Improve Your CV ATS Score: The Five Changes That Matter Most
• How Is My ATS Score Calculated? The 8 Factors, Explained