ATS-friendly resume format: the rules that matter

What makes a resume format ATS-friendly?

An ATS-friendly resume format is one that parsing software can copy into the right fields without guessing. In practice that means a single column, plain section headings, contact details in the body of the page, full job titles, and a .docx or text-based PDF file. The rules below come from vendor and government pages, checked November 3, 2026.

The main source is Greenhouse's page on unsuccessful resume parsing, last updated March 2, 2026. It is one of the few places an applicant tracking system vendor lists, item by item, what breaks its parser. The other sources are the US Office of Personnel Management, Alberta's career site and Canada's Job Bank.

None of these rules changes what your resume says. Format decides whether the software can read your facts. Whether those facts answer the job is a separate question, covered in the guide to resume keywords.

Which file type should you use for an ATS?

Use a .docx or a PDF that holds real text, and keep it under any size limit the employer gives. Greenhouse names ".docx or .pdf" as document formats and lists a resume "uploaded as an image" as a cause of failure. USAJOBS recommends PDF for federal jobs and caps uploads at 5MB.

The OPM's agency guidance on the two-page resume limit gives the wording USAJOBS shows applicants: "Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages." It also accepts Word (DOC or DOCX), RTF, TXT and ODT, and does not accept PDF portfolio files.

A scanned resume is an image even when the file ends in .pdf. Open your file and try to select a sentence. If the text won't highlight, export it again from your word processor.

Should a resume use one column or two?

Use one column. Greenhouse lists "Resumes that have a columned layout" as a parsing problem, and Alberta's career site says plainly, "Don't use columns." If a parser reads a two-column page in the wrong order, a skills list can land inside a job description.

Alberta's page on how to avoid common resume mistakes also says "Keep your layout simple" and warns against "visuals of any kind, like graphs, charts, pictures, animations, or infographics." Greenhouse's list agrees, naming "graphics, photos, or word art" and "Complex resumes with tables, headers, and footers."

Skill bars and rating dots fall under the same rule. A bar or a row of dots is a graphic, and a graphic carries no words for a parser to copy. Write the skill as a word, and put the evidence for it in a bullet under the job where you used it.

Where should your contact details go?

Put your name, phone, email and city at the top of the page, in the main body. Greenhouse lists "Resumes with the name and contact information in the header, footer, or text box" as a parsing problem. A plain line of text at the top of page one avoids that risk, and a recruiter sees it first too.

Here is an example of a contact block that parses cleanly. The person is made up for this page.

• Line 1: Priya Raman
• Line 2: Toronto, ON | 416-555-0148 | priya.raman@example.com | linkedin.com/in/priyaraman

Keep each item as plain text. Icons in place of the words "phone" or "email" are images, and the parser has nothing to read.

Which fonts and sizes are safe for an ATS?

Any common font at a readable size. Alberta's career site suggests "a readable font like Arial, Georgia, or Times New Roman in 10- or 12-point black." OPM recommends a sans-serif font such as Lato, with Calibri, Helvetica, Arial and Verdana among widely available options. Greenhouse's parsing list names no font at all.

What Greenhouse does name is "A resume with spaces between the letters." Some designs space out a name or heading letter by letter for effect, and the parser reads each letter as a word. Use normal spacing everywhere.

OPM's guidance adds layout figures for federal resumes: margins of 0.5 inches, 14-point titles and 10-point main text. Those are suggestions to keep two pages legible. Outside federal jobs, treat them as a guide to what stays readable.

Which section headings should you use?

Use plain, standard headings such as Experience, Education, Skills and Certifications, and format every section the same way. Greenhouse lists "Resumes without clear sections and differing formats throughout each section" as a parsing problem. A creative heading like "Where I've made an impact" gives the parser no label to work with.

OPM's guidance suggests a similar set of sections for federal resumes: contact information, relevant work experience, education, certifications and licences, and optional details such as job-related training and language skills. It asks that each job list the job title and employer and start and end dates with month and year. For federal jobs, it also asks for the hours you worked per week.

Keep one pattern for every job. For example: job title, then employer, then city, then dates, each on its own line or separated the same way each time.

How should you write job titles, employers and dates?

Write job titles in full, name each employer clearly, and give dates as month and year. Greenhouse lists "Resumes with incomplete job titles" and "Company names that don't include identifying words such as Inc., Co., LTD, or LLC" as parsing problems. A spelled-out title also matches what recruiters type when they search.

Here is an example of one job entry before and after, made up for this page.

• Before: "Sr. Acct Exec, Northwind, 2021 to now"
• After: "Senior Account Executive, Northwind Traders Inc., Toronto, ON, 03/2021 to present"

The facts did not change. The title is spelled out, the company carries its legal ending, and the start date gained a month. OPM's guidance uses the same month and year pattern, giving 05/2019 to 08/2022 as its example.

How long should an ATS-friendly resume be?

Two pages at most for most experienced applicants, unless the posting says otherwise. Canada's Job Bank says "Limit your resume to two pages." For US federal jobs under Title 5, OPM's two-page limit is a rule, and a resume over two pages makes an applicant ineligible when it is the only one submitted.

Job Bank's guide on how to write a good resume, modified May 30, 2024, also says experience more than 15 years old should be "either cut out or minimized." OPM's helpful hints for a two-page resume say to prioritize the most relevant and recent experience and remove outdated or unrelated experience.

Length is one of the few format choices that can end an application by rule. Check the posting's "How to apply" or document requirements before you upload.

Which ATS format rules matter most?

The rules that come from a published source, listed together in the table below. Each one points to the page that states it, as checked November 3, 2026. Anything else you read about ATS formatting, such as a list of banned fonts, needs a named source before you spend time on it.

How do you check your format before you apply?

Test the file, then check what the employer's system did with it. Select the text in your PDF to confirm it is real text, paste the whole resume into a plain text editor to see the reading order, and review every field the application form fills from your resume before you submit.

The Colorado School of Mines guide to applying through its Workday site says of its resume autofill: "Note that this process isn't perfect and you will want to review the autofilled information to ensure it's correct." If the form shows jumbled jobs or blank dates, the parser struggled, and the page on Workday resume tips covers that system in detail.

The free ATS checker shows which of a posting's requirements it finds on your resume. The free resume optimizer checks every line against a posting. For what the software does after parsing, see how applicant tracking systems work, and for claims you can drop, see common ATS myths.