ATS resume checklist
Tick what your CV already does. You get a score and the fixes that matter most, starting with the ones that can make a CV unreadable to an applicant tracking system or invisible in a recruiter's search. Takes about two minutes.
Where this checklist comes from
The format checks are the problems we see most often when our own parser turns CVs into text: two-column layouts that interleave the sidebar with job history, information carried by icons and rating bars, symbol-font bullets and letter-spaced headings, contact details that only live in the page header, and scanned PDFs with no text at all.
The content checks reflect how recruiters actually use an ATS: they search with the job's own terms and filter by knockout questions such as location and work authorization. Read the full background in our ATS resume guide, which also covers the "75% of resumes are rejected" myth.
Frequently asked questions
What is an ATS-friendly resume?
One that applicant tracking systems can turn into clean text and fields: real text (not an image), a single-column layout, standard section headings, consistent dates and contact details in the body of the page, plus the job's must-have skills in the employer's own words.
Does this checklist look at my file?
No. You answer the questions yourself and the score is calculated in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored. To test a real CV against a real job, use the free CV score checker.
Is a PDF or a Word file better for ATS?
A text-based PDF exported from Word or Google Docs works in the common systems (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday). Send .docx when the employer asks for it. Scanned or image-only PDFs don't work anywhere.
What score should I aim for?
Fix every item marked critical first; those are the ones that can make a CV unreadable or invisible in search. After that, 85+ means the format is unlikely to hold you back, and the match with each job matters more.
Privacy: this checklist runs entirely in your browser. Your answers aren't uploaded, stored or tracked. See our privacy policy.