How to make an ATS-friendly resume

How an ATS reads a résumé

Most companies that get many applications use an ATS. When you upload a résumé, the system does roughly four things:

1. It pulls the text out of your file.
2. It looks for headings such as Experience and Education.
3. It splits the text under each heading into entries: a job, a degree, a certificate.
4. It lets a recruiter search and filter the result, often by words from the job ad.

If step 1 or 2 goes wrong, the rest goes wrong with it. A job title can land in the wrong field, or a whole section can go missing. No tool can promise that a résumé gets through, because each company sets up its system its own way. What you can control is the file: real text, in a clear order, under headings a system knows.

Step 1: Use one column and standard headings

Start from a single-column layout. Text that sits side by side, in two columns or in a table, can come out of a parser as one mixed line.

Use the headings a system expects: Summary, Experience, Education, Skills, and, if you have them, Certifications, Projects, and Languages. Keep the section titles short and plain.

Step 2: Write the header as plain text

Put your name on the first line, then the job title you want. Under it, write your phone number, email, city, and links such as LinkedIn or a portfolio. Write each one out in full. An icon next to a contact is fine, but the text must be there too.

Leave out your full street address, date of birth, and ID numbers. A city is enough.

Step 3: Describe each job with what you did

For every job, give the title, the company, the location, and the dates in one format, such as “Mar 2022 – Present”. Then add three to six short lines. Start each with a verb and give a number where you can:

• “Led the migration of a 200k-line codebase, cutting production incidents by 40%.”
• “Handled 120 customer requests a week with a 95% same-day reply rate.”

Numbers help a person see the size of your work, and they make each line specific enough to match a search.

Step 4: Use the words of the job ad

Read the job ad and note the skills and tools it names. If you have them, write them the same way in your résumé. If the ad says “Microsoft Excel”, write “Microsoft Excel”, not only “spreadsheets”.

Do not paste in a list of words you do not have. A recruiter reads the résumé after the system does, and every line has to hold up.

Step 5: Export a PDF, and keep a Word copy

Send a PDF to most upload forms and by email. A PDF made from text keeps your layout and your text. Keep a Word file (.docx) for the portals or recruiters that ask for one. Some forms also ask you to paste your résumé as plain text, so a .txt copy saves time.

Never send a scan or a photo of a printed résumé. A scan is an image, so there is no text in it for a system to read.

Step 6: Check the text before you send it

This takes two minutes. Open your PDF, select all the text, copy it, and paste it into a plain text editor. Then read it:

• Is your name the first line?
• Does each heading come before its own entries?
• Are the dates next to the right jobs?
• Is anything missing or in the wrong order?

If the pasted text reads cleanly, a parser can read it too. If it comes out jumbled, the layout is the problem, not the words.

A quick checklist

• One column, read from top to bottom
• Standard section headings
• Real text, not images or text boxes
• Name, job title, and contact details as text in the header
• One date format everywhere
• Lines that start with a verb, with numbers where you have them
• Skills written the way the job ad writes them
• A PDF to send, a .docx copy for when it is asked for

Make one in Lanjut

Lanjut is built around these rules, so you can focus on what you write:

1. Open the editor and start from a template, the sample, a blank page, or your old résumé as a PDF.
2. Fill in each section. Every template is one column with standard headings, in English or Indonesian.
3. Follow the readiness meter. It shows what is still missing and counts only your own words.
4. Download a PDF, a .docx, or a .txt file.

It is free, needs no account, and your résumé stays in your browser. The home page shows the text a parser reads back from a real PDF of the sample, so you can see the check from step 6 in action.