How to format a resume for applicant tracking systems (ATS)
Use 1 column, standard headings, a basic font, and plain bullets: no tables or text boxes, and nothing important in headers or footers. Steps from US guides.
At a glance
An ATS-friendly resume has 1 column, standard headings such as "Work experience," a basic font, and plain bullets. It has no tables, text boxes, or images, and nothing important in the header or footer. An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software many employers use to collect and screen applications. Send the file type the posting asks for: when it does not say, guides sponsored by the Department of Labor differ.
- Use 1 column and standard headings: CareerOneStop says an ATS scans left to right and may scramble tables, text boxes, columns, and images.
- Put the posting's terms in your bullets where they are true; CareerOneStop says white-font keywords will not trick an ATS.
- Send the format the posting names; with no instruction, CareerOneStop says PDF, and the Department of Labor's Resume Essentials guide weighs PDF against Word.
What an applicant tracking system does with your resume
Resume Essentials, a Department of Labor workshop guide for military spouses and caregivers, describes 3 jobs an ATS does. It collects and organizes resumes, searches them for keywords that match the job's requirements, and helps employers find qualified candidates faster.[4]
The same guide says employers program the system to search for the skills and qualifications in their posting. A resume without those keywords may be filtered out, even if the person is qualified. It names 3 reasons a system may reject a resume. They are missing keywords, formatting it cannot read (such as tables or columns), and terms that differ from the posting's.[4]
Format matters because of how the software reads the page. CareerOneStop, sponsored by the Department of Labor, says ATS scan resumes left to right, so a single-column layout is read accurately. It warns that an ATS may scramble the content of tables, text boxes, columns, and images.[1]
What you need before you format your resume
- The posting you are applying to, so you can copy its terms and its file instructions.
- Your current resume text, in any form you can copy from.
- A word processor such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
- The start and end dates of each job, by month and year at least.
The dates matter more than they seem. CareerOneStop says an ATS may assign a default length, such as 6 months, to a job with no dates. It also notes that some systems look for the month or even the day of each employment date.[1][3]
How to format an ATS-friendly resume, step by step
- Open a blank document with 1 column.
- Paste your resume's text into it.
- Set the margins at 1 inch.
- If the posting names no font, choose 1 basic font, such as Calibri, Arial, Georgia, Garamond, or Times New Roman.
- Set the body text at 10 to 12 points.
- Type your name and contact details at the top of the page body, not in the header.
- Use standard section headings: "Work experience," "Education," and "Skills."
- Choose a chronological format, which emphasizes your work history, or a combination format, which adds a summary and may add a skills section. Avoid a functional format, which lists skills with little detail on work history.
- Give each job its title, employer, city and state, and start and end dates.
- Write each date with at least the month and year, such as "June 2024," never as "'24."
- Use 1 plain bullet style throughout: solid dots, open circles, or solid squares.
- Mark the skills and terms the posting names.
- Use those exact terms in your bullets, where they describe work you did.
- Spell out each abbreviation once, with the short form after it, such as "certified nursing assistant (CNA)."
- Delete every table, text box, logo, image, and graphic.
- Save the file in the format the posting asks for (if it says nothing, see the file-type section below).
- Name the file with your full name and the job title.
The result: a 1-column document whose text an ATS can read in order. The posting's own terms sit in your bullets, where a keyword search will find them.
The Resume Essentials guide makes the same point. Repeat keywords in your achievement statements (the bullets under each job), not only in a skills section.[4]
For a federal job, the USAJOBS help text that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) quotes differs from these steps. It recommends 0.5-inch margins and a font such as Lato, Calibri, Helvetica, or Arial. It suggests 10 points for the main text.[5]
PDF or Word: which file type to send a resume in
CareerOneStop and the Resume Essentials guide both say to follow the posting first. OPM tells federal applicants to follow the job announcement. When the posting says nothing, guides sponsored by the Department of Labor give different advice, as the table shows.[4][1][5]
| Source | Advice | Reason it gives |
|---|---|---|
| CareerOneStop resume guide | Recommends PDF when the posting is silent | Preserves the formatting |
| Resume Essentials guide | Weighs PDF against Word when the posting is silent | PDF keeps formatting and blocks edits; Word is easier for some ATS to scan, but its formatting may shift |
| USAJOBS help text, as quoted by OPM | Recommends PDF for USAJOBS uploads | Keeps the formatting and the number of pages |
You may read that a Word file (.docx) is the safest choice when the posting is silent. Neither Department of Labor guide says that.[4][1]
ATS resume claims to check before you believe them
Advice about applicant tracking systems repeats a few claims with no evidence behind them in these sources. Here is what the sources say instead.
- The claim that 75% of resumes are never seen by a human: a National Institutes of Health (NIH) resume guide repeats it. That guide, updated in April 2026, credits the figure to Top Résumé and cites no study.
- The tip to hide keywords in white text: CareerOneStop says extra keywords in a white font will not trick an ATS.
- The claim that applicant tracking systems skip headers and footers: CareerOneStop says some ATS cannot read text placed there. Some, not all: treat it as a risk to avoid.
- The idea of a target ATS score: the Resume Essentials guide uses a resume-scanning site's match analysis only to revise against the posting. It gives no target percentage.
Can an AI chatbot such as ChatGPT make an ATS-friendly resume?
It can help, but it should not write the resume for you. The Resume Essentials guide says to use AI to draft ideas, tailor content to match a job description, and check formatting and readability. It says to avoid using AI to write your entire resume without personal input.[4]
For the format check, the guide suggests a 2-part review. First, go through a manual checklist, which includes keywords from the posting, a targeted summary, proofreading, the file format, and the file name. Then ask an AI chatbot to suggest formatting improvements for readability and ATS compatibility.[4]
The guide also says not to share sensitive personal or employer information with public AI tools. For writing and tailoring with AI, see how to use AI in your job search.[4]
Fixes when your resume does not fit the ATS formatting steps
If something in your resume does not fit the steps above, these fixes keep it readable:
- Your skills sit in 2 or 3 columns: put them on 1 line separated by bars ( | ), which CareerOneStop allows.
- Your template has lines or borders: CareerOneStop allows them if they touch no text, but NIH's guide says to leave borders out. The safe choice is none.
- The resume runs to 2 pages: the Resume Essentials guide says to put your name on page 2. It allows a header there.
- The site asks you to paste your resume into a text box: paste it, then check that the result looks clean before you submit.
For how many pages to use, see how long a resume should be. For annotated examples of headlines and bullets, see the annotated resume examples. Other guides are in resumes and cover letters.
Sources & approach
Drafted with AI assistance from the public sources cited below. Stan Sedberry checked every figure and citation against its source and edited this page on October 22, 2026.
- Formatting (Resume Guide)CareerOneStop, US Department of Labor · Accessed October 22, 2026
- Work experience (Resume Guide)CareerOneStop, US Department of Labor · Accessed October 22, 2026
- Special tips (Resume Guide)CareerOneStop, US Department of Labor · Accessed October 22, 2026
- Resume Essentials: participant guide (February 2026), a workshop for military spouses and caregiversVeterans' Employment and Training Service, US Department of Labor · Accessed October 22, 2026
- Agency guidance on the two-page limit on resume lengthUS Office of Personnel Management · Accessed October 22, 2026
- Guide for Résumés and Curricula Vitae (updated April 2026)Office of Intramural Training and Education, National Institutes of Health · Accessed October 22, 2026
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