How to Format a Resume for Workday ATS

Short answer

For Workday applications, use a one-column, text-based PDF or DOCX with standard headings, clear job titles and consistent dates. Avoid tables, columns, icons and graphics.

Workday portals commonly try to fill in your experience and education from the uploaded file, so a cleaner structure usually means fewer fields to correct by hand.

How Workday applications typically use your resume

Many companies use Workday to run their careers site. After you upload your resume, the portal usually attempts to extract details such as contact information, work history and education into a form.

Each employer configures its own portal, so the exact behaviour varies. What stays consistent is that clearly structured text is easier for software to map into the right fields.

Common mistakes that cause problems

• Two-column or sidebar layouts that scramble the reading order.
• Tables and text boxes used to align dates, skills or contact details.
• Contact details placed only in the header or footer.
• Icons instead of words for phone, email, location or LinkedIn.
• Skill bars, charts, photos and decorative graphics.
• Scanned or image-based PDFs with no selectable text.

Workday-specific tips

• Keep each role in the same order: job title, company, location, dates.
• Write dates as month and year so they can be mapped to start and end fields.
• List education with degree, institution and graduation year on separate, clear lines.
• Expect to review the pre-filled form: check every job entry before you click submit.
• Create one clean master resume so repeated Workday applications take less time.

Recommended format checklist

• One-column layout, top to bottom.
• Standard headings: Summary, Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications.
• Job title, company, location and dates on clear lines for each role.
• Consistent date format, for example 03/2022 – 05/2024.
• Plain bullet points with concrete results.
• Common fonts such as Arial, Calibri or Georgia, 10–12 pt.
• Contact details as plain text in the body of the page.
• Text-based PDF or DOCX, unless the job post asks for a specific format.

How to check your resume before applying

• Open your PDF and try to select and copy all the text. If you can't, it is probably image-based.
• Paste the copied text into a plain text editor and check that it reads in a logical order.
• Make sure your name, email, phone, job titles and dates appear correctly.
• If the portal pre-fills a form from your resume, review every field before submitting and fix what was misread.