Format a Resume for an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
With the continued progression of computers, more and more processes are becoming automated. If you are looking for a job, you can format your resume to use that to your benefit.
Steps
- For the heading, Enter in your name and the targeted job title. if the position has an identification number, add it as well. For example:
- Your Name - Executive Director (#1234AB56)
- Remove any unique headings. Stick with the more conventional ones. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) are three that you should definitely use. Others are Summary, Work Experience, and Education.
- Don't add any fancy editing tricks. Just remember, if it doesn't show up in a Change Word to Txt, then you don't need it. Things like, columns, tables, text boxes, and other formatting help that a regular word processor can insert into the document.
- Remove any special characters or fancy bullets. They will just confuse the system.
- Stick with the basics. Don't use any of the fancier fonts. Some good ones to use are Arial, Georgia, Impact, Courier, Lucinda, Tahoma or Trebuchet.
- Make sure the paper or background is white and the print is black.
- Don't underline words. It can affect the legibility of letters that drop down, like g, j, y, p, etc.
- Check your resume for spelling errors. Once you have checked it, have a couple of friends proof it. Maybe even a frenemy or two.
- Put in the contact information in the body of your resume, not the header or footer.
- While you may save it in your current version of Windows, also make sure to save it in a *.doc or *.txt format, as well.
- Don't use templates. They tend to have all kinds of markup behind the scenes that you can't see, but the ATS can.
- Don't use page numbers.
- Write your employment history in the same format. Be sure to list it in reverse chronological order. Last job first.
- When writing your employment history, present the information for each employer in the same order, i.e., company name, title, city, state, and date, and in reverse chronological order.
