How to Create an ATS-Friendly Resume in 2025 (Free Templates + Guide)

Did you know over 75% of resumes never reach a human recruiter?

If you’ve ever applied for a job online and never heard back, chances are your resume got stuck in an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). In 2025, virtually every large and mid-sized company uses ATS software to filter candidates long before a hiring manager sees your application.

Ashby’s data says – No of applications recieved per job post have increased 4-5X. To work with these many applications, recruiters use ATS to manage candidate pipeline, apply filters and get to managable no of resumes – like 10%.

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What Is an ATS and How It Works?

ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System – a specialized software platform employers use to collect, sort, filter, and manage job applications.

What does ATS mean?

Since recruiters can’t read through 300 – 500 candidate applications per job post, they use this software for initial screening of resumes.

As per a study published by Harvard Business School and Accenture – 90% of employers use their RMS or ATS to initially filter or rank potential middle-skills (94%) and high-skills (92%) candidates.

Instead of reading each resume by hand, hiring teams rely on ATS to:

• Parse the text from your resume (extracting your contact info, job titles, skills, and dates).
• Compare it to the job description using keyword matching and relevance scores.
• Filter out candidates who don’t meet basic criteria or lack important keywords.

These softwares are not limited to initial screening, they also help organisations manage hiring process end-to-end like job posting, candidate screening and communications etc.

How ATS scans and ranks resumes

When you click “Submit,” your resume goes through a multi-step process:

1. Parsing – The ATS reads your file to identify sections like Summary, Work Experience, Education, and Skills. Your resume content is converted to text and saved to database.
2. Keyword Matching – It cross-references your text with the target job description, looking for required terms. Advanced ATS systems can understand context, not just presence of keywords.
3. Scoring – Each resume is given a match score.
4. Ranking – Not all ATS system have this advance feature or use it, In this applications are sorted highest to lowest, and only the top-ranked resumes are shown to a human recruiter.

Every ATS has it’s own Parsing, matching and Scoring algorithms, so you can’t really optimize resume for a perticular ATS. But the common theme across all ATS is – If you’re missing the right keywords or your formatting confuses the ATS parser, you may be rejected.

Can ATS detect AI?

Modern ATS are using AI for parsing and gathering resume insights. AI detection can also be plugged into old systems as new feature – and it will be in near future. With this, recruiters will know if your resume is mostly written by AI and can’t be taken on face value.

Why ATS optimization is critical in your job search

Companies receive hundreds – even thousands – of applications for popular roles. An ATS helps them manage this flood of resumes efficiently.

As per JobScan 2025 State of Job Search report – 99.7% recruiters use ATS to filter resumes by applying keywords into ATS search bar. They narrow down candidate pool to a managable number of 30-50 resumes which they can manually review.

In 2025, AI-powered ATS platforms have become even more sophisticated. They can detect synonyms, preferred experience levels, and even estimate the seniority implied by your phrasing.

That means having the right keywords in your resume isn’t optional – it’s essential.

Learn more about ATS systems →

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Why You Need an ATS-Friendly Resume

How ATS filters applications automatically

Imagine a recruiter who wants candidates with:

• 3+ years of project management experience
• PMP certification
• Expertise in Agile methodologies

They create filters in the ATS to flag applications containing those keywords. If your resume doesn’t include them, you’re out – no matter how qualified you are.

What are these filters that recruiters use?

Most common filters are based on skills, title, experience, education, certification etc.

Recruiters also post questions along with Job Description that you need to answer while applying – you must have seen these questions on LinkedIn.

Example – “Do you have valid Visa or Work Permit?”

If your responses doesn’t align with pre-defined answers, you can instantly get rejected.

What happens if your resume isn’t ATS-optimized

Even strong candidates get overlooked if:

• Your resume is formatted in columns or tables the ATS can’t parse.
• You saved it in an incompatible file type (like an image-based PDF).
• You didn’t include enough keywords to match the job description.

Result? Your resume goes straight to the rejection pile – without a human ever seeing it.

Myths about ATS

Some common myths still persist:

• Myth 1: ATS automatically rejects all creative designs.
  • Reality: You can use subtle design elements, but the content must be machine-readable. For example – infographics to show level of skills will not be read by an ATS. Using colors and backgrounds does’t cause problem for ATS but ensure they are not impacting readability.
• Myth 2: Using more keywords guarantees a higher score.
  • Reality: Overstuffing keywords can trigger spam filters or make your resume look unnatural. Even if you get pass ATS somehow, overuse of keywords impacts readability and will be caught in human (recruiter, hiring manager) review.
• Myth 3: ATS only cares about keywords, not qualifications.
  • Reality: Most ATS also parse dates, titles, and seniority. Missing data can hurt your ranking.

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How to Make Your Resume ATS-Friendly (Step by Step)

Below is a proven process to ensure your resume passes the filters:

Step 1 – Review the job description carefully

Print the job description or paste it into a document. Read through it and highlight:

• Job titles
• Core responsibilities
• Must-have skills and certifications
• Preferred qualifications

These keywords and phrases will form the backbone of your resume optimization.

Examples of keywords extracted for resume targeting:

• Java, Spring Boot, Hibernate, J2EE, JAX, Kafka
• Cloud Development, RESTFUL Web Services, Service Oriented Architecture
• CI/CD, Monitoring, Log aggregation
• Full Stack Developer, Agile, Scalable Applications
• Algorithms, Data Structures, SQL, Database Concepts
• Elastic Search, Cosmos DB, Cassandra, Hadoop, Hive
• React, Redux, GraphQL, HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3, Node
• Production Support, Root Cause Analysis, Distributed Systems

Finding this difficult?

Use an Online tool to find Keywords

1MillionResume’s AI Resume Builder shows you what keywords should you include in your resume based on JD. What keywords are essential, what are desirable and what are optional to cover – to give you more clarity.

You can include them in your resume as per suggestions provided.

Step 2 – Choose ATS-friendly template

Below is an example of ATS friendly resume template that 4500+ professionals have used on 1MIllionResume including job seekers from top tech companies like Google, Apple, Adobe, Microsoft etc.

This template is tested with Zoho’s Application Tracking System and 100% parsed and understood.

Use Free ATS resume templates →

Step 3 – Add the right keywords naturally

Include keywords in:

• Your professional summary
• Job titles
• Bullet points describing achievements
• Skills section

Example:
If the job asks for “Salesforce CRM implementation,” don’t just say “CRM experience.” Be specific:

“Led Salesforce CRM implementation across 5 business units, improving pipeline visibility by 35%.”

Use the words from job description as is.

Sprinkle keywords throughout your bullet points and summary without repeating them verbatim too many times.

Example:
Instead of listing “project management” 10 times, show variations like “project leadership,” “program oversight,” or “Agile project execution.”

Also covering all keywords you found is not mandatory, it’s okay if you don’t have experience in few of those. You should not lie on your resume.

Step 4 – Essential sections every ATS expects

Always include these:

• Contact Information
• Professional Summary
• Work Experience
• Education
• Skills

If you omit sections, your resume may parse incorrectly.

It’s important that you cover employment dates in well known format like (MM YYYY) and not leave it out because ATS may try to calculate your experience.
And in Skills – simple comma separated list works best.

Step 5 – The right file types to use

The safest formats are:

• .docx (Microsoft Word)
• PDF (only if it’s text-based, not scanned)

Typically PDF works best because it presenves the formatting across windows, mac or mobile.

Tip: Before you apply, use our Free ATS Resume Checker to see how your file performs

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Choosing the Best ATS Resume Format

Chronological vs Functional vs Hybrid

• Chronological: Lists your work history from most recent to oldest. Best for most professionals.
• Functional: Focuses on skills rather than work history. Risky—many ATS have trouble parsing.
• Hybrid: Combines both. Acceptable if designed cleanly.

Which format passes ATS scans better

Reverse-chronological resumes remain the most reliable for ATS compatibility. It is the safest choice that focuses on your employment history from your latest to oldest job. You can also use Hybrid format where skills section appears before your employment history in reverse chronological order.

Avoid:

• Tables and text boxes
• Headers/footers with critical information
• Multi-column layouts

Also functional resume format focuses on skills only and doesn’t work well with ATS – so avoid them.

Pro Tip: If you want to stand out visually, you can still use subtle color accents – but ensure the text itself is plain and linear.

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How to Test If Your Resume Will Pass an ATS

Free online tools to scan your resume

Use our ATS Resume Checker tool to validate your resume on 18+ parameters for common mistakes that impact ATS readability. You just import your resume then this tool will scan your resume and show feedback in multiple steps.

One of those step will ask you for JD or Job Role, tool will match your resume against the job role or JD requirements and will show you missing keywords.

Resume scanner tool helps you improve your resume before you apply by checking for grammetical mistakes, essential ATS sections, Contact Information Checks, ATS keyword targetting, quantifying opportunities and content quality etc.

What your ATS score means

Most checkers will give you a match percentage (e.g., 78%). Usually, this score is mix of Keyword matching, mistakes and other quality related parameters.

Know that these systems have their own logic to mimic ATS behaviour, actual ATS behaviour will be different and you can’t predict it.

Aim for 80%+ Score before you apply.

How to fix issues after scanning

• Low keyword match? Add more relevant terms.
• Formatting or Parsing Issues? Simplify layout to plain text sections or use ATS friendly resume template.

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Most Common ATS Resume Mistakes

We looked at 5000+ resumes from our database of 16000+ resumes and found candidates are making below mistakes frequently that may be costing them interviews.

Formatting mistakes

• Using tables or text boxes
• Including images or graphics
• Headers and footers with critical information
• Columns that confuse parsing

ATS doesn’t understand them well so using these can cause you interview opportunity.

Overusing or underusing keywords

• Repeating keywords excessively = penalized / Spammed
• Too few keywords = low relevance score

Aim for 2–3% keyword density – enough to rank but not so much that it looks forced.

Avoid:

• Keyword stuffing blocks (e.g., “Project Management Project Management Project Management”)
• Repeating identical phrases in every bullet
• Hiding keywords in white text (some ATS flag this as manipulation)

Tip Box: Use our Resume Checker to preview your score and keyword usage.

Using incompatible file types

• JPG and PNG = immediate rejection
• Non-searchable PDFs = fail to parse

Ignoring essential sections

• Missing job titles
• Omitting education or Experience dates
• No skills list

Also use standard section names and not be creative – Use section name “Skills” and not “Things I am good at”. ATS expects standard section names to understand your resume.

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ATS Resume Examples by Profession

Below are examples of ATS-friendly resumes tailored to different industries:

Software Developer resume example

Highlights:

• Emphasis on programming languages and certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Developer)
• Specific project metrics (“Reduced downtime by 45%”)

Program Manager resume example

Highlights:

• Experience – enterprise product and consumer product teams
• Certifications like PMP, SAFe

Sales Manager resume example

Highlights:

• Accomplished & Result Oriented Leader
• Software Sales across USA & Canada

View all examples →

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FAQs

Can I use a PDF resume with ATS?

Yes, you can PDF from Word or Google Docs and it will work with ATS. PDF are great because they preserve the formatting across MAc, Windows and Mobile devices. Just make sure PDF is text based and not a scanned image.

How many keywords do I need?

Aim for 10-15 keywords naturally covered across your resume. Our resume builder can read job description and provide you category wise keywords – essential, desirable and optional.

Essential are must have and should be covered more (across multiple jobs).

Desirable keywords are good to have and they help you standout and covering them 1-2 times is fine.

Optional keywords are optional, if you don’t have them, don’t worry about them.

So categorising really helps you understand which keywords are more important and you can cover them accordingly.

Which resume format is best?

Reverse-chronological o Hybrid is safest and most universally accepted by ATS.

This has skills section before Employment history or after and your employment history is ordered from most recent to oldest.

This works best for ATS and also helps recruiters have sense of your career timeline.

How do I know if an ATS rejected my resume?

You may get notification saying that “you were not selected” or “you don’t match the criteria” – this may be sign of ATS rejection.

A lot of times, you won’t get notified. So check ATS compatibility before applying:

• Use a resume scanner before applying.
• Follow up with the recruiter to confirm receipt.

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Final Checklist & Next Steps

Before you submit your application:

• Use a clean, reverse-chronological format
• Include the right keywords (2–3% density)
• Save as .docx or text-based PDF
• Run it through an ATS checker
• Customize for each job description

Ready to give your resume the best chance?

✅ Use our Free Resume Checker
✅ Download ATS-friendly templates
✅ Build your resume with our AI Resume Builder