The Best ATS-Friendly Resume Format
A practical checklist for an ATS-friendly resume: single column, standard fonts, clear sections, no tables and no text boxes.
Published 12 May 2026 · 6 min read
Structure
- Use a single column from top to bottom.
- Use clear sections such as Contact, Summary, Experience, Education, Skills and Certifications.
- Use one clear heading per section, written in plain text.
- Keep job titles, companies, locations and dates close together.
Typography
- Use standard fonts such as Arial, Calibri, Helvetica or Inter.
- Use readable body text, usually around 10–12pt.
- Use bold headings rather than decorative fonts.
- Avoid font sizes below 9pt.
Content
- Use real bullet points, not images of bullets.
- Keep dates in a consistent format.
- Spell out important acronyms the first time you use them.
- Use keywords naturally where they match your real experience.
What to avoid
- Tables.
- Text boxes.
- Side columns.
- Icons carrying important meaning.
- Images containing text.
- Headers and footers with critical contact information.
Related guides
- Guides
ATS Cannot Read My Resume: What Should I Fix?
If an ATS cannot read your resume, the issue is often formatting, file structure or scanned text rather than your experience.
Read guide - Best Practices
How to Test If Your Resume Is ATS-Friendly
You can test ATS readability with simple checks: selectable text, copy-paste order, section headings, layout and file structure.
Read guide - Resume Formats
How to Test If Your Resume Passes ATS (The Autofill Check)
When a job portal fills in the wrong dates or job titles from your resume, that's a strong clue the file is hard for software to read.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
- What font size should an ATS resume use?
- Use 10–12pt for body text and a slightly larger bold size for headings. Very small text is harder to read and does not help ATS parsing.
- Should I include a photo on my resume?
- For ATS submissions, it is usually safer not to include a photo. Photos add no parseable information and can interfere with layout.
- Are headers and footers ATS-friendly?
- Some parsers ignore headers and footers. Keep critical information such as name, email and phone number in the main body.
- Does file naming matter?
- It does not usually affect parsing, but a clear filename like FirstName-LastName-Resume.pdf is easier for recruiters to identify.
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Guide written with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team