7 reasons an ATS cannot read your CV, and how to fix each

October 25, 20263 min read

You send your CV to dozens of jobs and hear nothing back. Sometimes the problem is not your experience: the recruiting system read your file incomplete or scrambled, so your CV never came up when the recruiter searched. Here are seven common reasons, each with a simple fix.

1. Two columns side by side

Two-column CVs, with skills on one side and experience on the other, look tidy on screen. A system may read a line from the first column and continue it from the second, mixing your skills into your experience.

Fix: one column, read top to bottom.

2. Headings you invented

The system splits your CV by its headings and looks for the ones it knows: Experience, Education, Skills. A heading like 'My Journey' may not be recognised, and the whole section is lost or merged into another.

Fix: standard headings.

3. A CV saved as an image

Some design tools save the page as an image inside a PDF, and so does a scanned or photographed CV. You see all of it; the system opens it and finds no text.

Test it: if you cannot select and copy the words in the file, the system cannot read them either.

Fix: a file with real text, Word or a PDF exported from a text editor.

4. Contact details in the page header or inside icons

Some systems ignore what is in the page header and footer, and stumble on tables. If your phone and email live there, your CV may arrive with no way to reach you. Icons next to the number are sometimes read as odd symbols.

Fix: name, phone and email at the top of the page body, as plain text.

5. The advert's words are missing

Recruiters search with the advert's own words. If the advert asks for 'General Accountant' and 'SAP' and you wrote 'accounts officer' and 'accounting system', you may not show up even though you fit.

Read the advert and use the words that are true of you, in the same form. Do not add what you cannot back up; the interview will find out.

Fix: the advert's own words, where they are true.

6. Dates in mixed or missing formats

The system works out your years of experience from the dates. 'Since 2019' in one job, 'Jan 21 – now' in another and 'two years' in a third can get your experience counted wrong or ignored.

Fix: one format for every date, such as 2021 – 2024, and 'Present' for the current job.

7. Acronyms without their full names

SOCPA, PMP and HSE are obvious to you, but a recruiter may search for the full name and the system matches literally. Write both once: 'Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA)'.

Fix: the full name and the acronym together, the first time.

Before you send it: check it

Do not guess what the system reads. Upload your CV to the free ATS checker, as a PDF, a Word file or even a photo, and it shows what a system extracts, the score, and which of these seven reasons apply.

If the fix means rebuilding the layout, the faster route is a template designed for these systems: one column, standard headings, real text in both PDF and Word.

Most CVs an ATS 'rejects' were never judged on their owner; the file was simply not read. One column, known headings, real text, contact details in the body, the advert's words, one date format and acronyms spelled out. Seven fixes, most of them minutes of work.

Check your CV for free and see what the system reads