How to create an ATS-friendly resume

Start with a simple structure

• Use familiar headings such as Summary, Experience, Education, Skills and Projects.
• Keep dates, job titles and employer names easy to identify.
• Prefer a single-column layout and avoid placing essential information in headers, footers, icons or text boxes.
• Use a readable font and export to the file format requested in the job post.

Match the role without copying the job post

Read the responsibilities and required skills, then identify terms that genuinely describe your experience. Use those terms naturally in your summary, skills and achievement bullets. If a tool is required but you have never used it, do not add it.

• Prioritise repeated skills that are central to the role.
• Include common expansions where helpful, such as search engine optimisation (SEO).
• Tailor the top third of the resume to the role while keeping all claims accurate.

Write evidence-led bullet points

A useful bullet explains what you did, how you did it and what changed. For example: ‘Built a weekly sales dashboard in Excel, reducing manual reporting time by 3 hours’ is clearer than ‘Responsible for reports’. Freshers can use projects, internships, volunteering and college responsibilities as evidence.

• Begin with a specific action verb.
• Add numbers only when you can defend them.
• Explain the context when a result would otherwise be unclear.

Final ATS resume checklist

• Contact details are current and selectable as text.
• The resume uses consistent dates and formatting.
• Every important skill is supported by experience, education or projects.
• Spelling, grammar and links have been checked.
• The filename is professional, for example Priya-Sharma-Resume.pdf.