How to write an ATS-friendly resume
Use a clear structure, give evidence for your skills and check the file the employer receives.
Free toolResume BuilderBuild a clear resume with a live page preview. Download PDF or editable Word, keep job-specific versions and check your wording.Build your resumeStart with the role, then choose your evidence
Build the resume around the job’s actual requirements. Choose relevant examples before choosing a visual template.
- Read the responsibilities and separate essential requirements from preferences.
- List work, projects or study that demonstrates the essential skills.
- Choose your strongest examples and describe your contribution.
- Put recent, relevant information first within each section.
- Check the requested file format and application instructions.
A resume needs enough context for a person to understand your work. A collection of keywords without examples does not provide that context.
What ATS-friendly actually means
ATS-friendly means making your wording and structure easier for an applicant tracking system to read. It does not mean bypassing screening or securing an interview.
Greenhouse documents parsing problems with image-only resumes and complex formatting. Contact information in headers, footers or text boxes can also cause trouble. This is evidence from one vendor, not a test of every ATS.
| Choice | Why it helps | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| One reading column | Reduces ambiguity about which text comes next. | Copy the exported text into a plain-text editor and read the order. |
| Familiar section names | Experience, Education and Skills make the content easy to recognise. | Use an accurate heading rather than a decorative phrase. |
| Contact details in the body | Avoids relying on a header or text box being parsed. | Confirm your email and phone in the application’s filled fields. |
| Selectable text | The document contains text rather than only a picture. | Select a sentence in the PDF and copy it. |
| Truthful role-specific language | Connects your evidence to what the employer needs. | Be able to explain every skill and result in an interview. |
Turn responsibilities into evidence
Say what you did, the context and what changed. A useful result can be a deliverable or an observed improvement.
Harvard’s resume guidance recommends specific, active language and fact-based results. The examples below are fictional writing exercises. Their numbers are not results you should copy.
| Vague draft | More useful version | What improved |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible for onboarding. | Redesigned onboarding with engineers and researchers, reducing setup time from 12 minutes to 7. | Names the work, collaborators and measured outcome. |
| Helped with a university project. | Tested a journey-planning prototype with eight participants and revised confusing navigation labels. | Describes a specific contribution and resulting action. |
| Excellent customer service. | Created a handover checklist so the next shift could follow up unresolved customer requests. | Shows practical work without inventing a numerical improvement. |
If you cannot verify a number, leave it out. Name the outcome you can defend, such as a delivered prototype or clearer documentation.
Write a first-job resume without pretending
Put relevant education and projects near the top when paid experience is limited. Volunteer work and part-time jobs can still show useful skills.
Education
Name your qualification, institution and dates. Add coursework or a final project when it supports the role.
Projects
Describe the problem, your contribution and the finished work. A team project needs to distinguish what you did.
Other experience
Show relevant examples of organisation, communication or practical responsibility. Use the real role title.
In floi, Start with education starts a blank version ordered Education, Projects, Experience. You can rename or reorder these sections.
Tailor one copy for each application
Duplicate your base resume, then select the evidence that suits the role. Keep the original as your complete working draft.
Suppose an advert asks for SQL, stakeholder communication and data visualisation. Show a project where you used those skills, if you have one. Do not add SQL just to make a term counter increase.
floi’s local comparison finds frequently occurring terms and lets you add exact phrases. It reports whether wording appears. It does not check proficiency, understand synonyms or provide an employer’s score.
Should you send PDF or Word?
Send the format the employer requests. If both are accepted, PDF preserves your chosen appearance and Word remains editable.
- Open the exported PDF and confirm its text can be selected.
- Check every page for clipped text, unexpected gaps and stranded headings.
- Open a Word export separately. floi exports Word in one column for editing; it does not reproduce the selected PDF template.
- Review any application fields filled automatically from your file.
- Use a recognisable filename, such as
Alex-Taylor-resume.pdf.
An image of a resume in a PDF wrapper is still an image. Export a text document instead of taking a screenshot.
What we checked in the floi export
On 3 October 2026, we generated the synthetic designer example in all 744 combinations of 31 templates, 12 typefaces and two paper sizes.
We changed the name to Zoë García and extracted text from each PDF with Poppler. All 744 retained that name and the example’s achievement wording. We also checked that text stayed inside its column and page bounds. The email and website had PDF link annotations. All 496 layout and colour combinations passed our text contrast check. Each example used one page.
A separate 100-bullet fixture in Studio produced six pages. We also tested long experience and education entries in every layout. Their final bullets remained in extracted text, and all text positions stayed within the page bounds. These checks test document output. They do not establish compatibility with every ATS or a hiring outcome.
Repeat the visual check
You can repeat the visual example with Load example, change its name and switch the Design controls. Open the exported files before submitting your own application.
Choose a builder for the work you need
A focused builder helps you finish a document. A broader application service may be better when you need coaching or job tracking.
This comparison was checked on 3 October 2026 using vendor pages and signed-out browser paths. Account-gated editing and exports were not tested behind the gate.
| Option | Useful for | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| floi | Free PDF and Word, 31 layouts, 16 colours and local writing checks. | No existing-resume import, AI rewriting or application tracker. Optional photos appear in PDF only and stay in the current tab. |
| FlowCV | A broad template collection. Its first resume is advertised as free with unlimited PDF downloads. | Our blank-editor test reached a create-account screen at download. Extra versions and some features are paid. |
| Reactive Resume | An open-source builder advertising PDF and Word with a larger template collection. | Get Started led to account login in our test. Editing after login was not tested. |
| Teal | Job tracking alongside a resume builder, with free downloads and paid analysis. | The builder opened sign-up. It covers a broader workflow than finishing a single document. |
| Word or Google Docs | Detailed editing and a document you can maintain yourself. | You manage layout, page breaks and version naming yourself. Account and licence requirements depend on your setup. |
A final check before you apply
Read the finished document as a recruiter would. The strongest resume is one you can explain honestly.
- Confirm your name, contact details and target role.
- Check dates, qualification names and links.
- Make every bullet say something specific.
- Remove less relevant details before shrinking the font.
- Open the actual downloaded file, then check the application’s parsed fields.