ATS Resume Format (2026): A Practical Checklist
Use this checklist to make your resume easy for ATS to parse and compelling for humans to read.
Published: 2025-12-29
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6 min read
Quick answer
An ATS-friendly resume is plain-text readable, uses standard section headings, avoids tables/columns, keeps dates consistent, and mirrors job keywords naturally inside impact bullets.
Checklist
1) Use ATS-readable structure
- Single column layout (no sidebars, no tables).
- Standard headings: SUMMARY, EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION, SKILLS.
- Bullet points using or hyphens, consistently.
2) Keep formatting simple
- Avoid text boxes, icons-as-text, and multi-column section grids.
- Use a common font (Inter, Calibri, Arial) at 10.5–12pt for body.
- Export to PDF only if your PDF preserves selectable text.
3) Write bullets that scan for keywords
ATS doesn’t hire you—humans do. Your bullets should include the keywords, but also prove outcomes.
- Action + scope + tools + result.
- Add numbers: latency, revenue, cost, time, accuracy, users.
- Mirror the job description wording where truthful.
4) Dates + titles must be consistent
- Use one date format everywhere (e.g., Jan 2023 – Dec 2024).
- Use the “Title | Company | Date” format (simple and modern).
5) Common fails to avoid
- Headers/footers containing your contact info (some ATS miss it).
- Keyword dumping (hurts human readability).
- Images of text (ATS can’t parse it reliably).
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