ATS-Friendly CV Guide: Resume Keywords, Formatting, and a Customization Checklist

Overview

An applicant tracking system (ATS) may be used to collect, organise, or search applications. Its exact settings vary by employer and platform, so no formatting choice can guarantee that an application will pass every system. You can, however, make your CV easier to read by using straightforward structure, relevant language, and consistent formatting.

The strongest approach is not to fill your CV with repeated phrases. Instead, identify the requirements that genuinely match your experience, then describe that experience using language from the vacancy where it is accurate. Your CV should remain natural and useful to the hiring manager who reads it after any initial screening.

Use this workflow for each important application:

1. Read the complete job description, including duties, requirements, and preferred skills.
2. Separate essential requirements from desirable extras.
3. Collect repeated terms, role-specific tools, qualifications, and action verbs.
4. Match those terms to evidence in your work, study, volunteering, or project history.
5. Update the relevant sections without changing facts or overstating your ability.
6. Check the finished document for clarity, consistency, and accurate contact details.

For a more detailed keyword-focused process, see the ATS Resume Keyword Checklist. You can also use a CV optimizer as a review aid, but treat its suggestions as prompts rather than automatic instructions.

Checklist by scenario

For an entry-level job or first application

If you have limited paid experience, focus on evidence rather than apologising for what you have not done. Review your CV against the vacancy and check the following:

• Does the opening summary state the type of role you want and the strengths you can offer?
• Have you included relevant coursework, practical assignments, placements, volunteering, societies, or personal projects?
• Do your examples show transferable skills such as organisation, communication, problem-solving, accuracy, or teamwork?
• Have you described what you did and the result, rather than listing only general qualities?
• Are education dates, qualifications, and grades presented consistently and accurately?

For example, “Supported a three-person student project by organising weekly tasks and checking the final presentation” gives more useful evidence than “good team player.” Use the terminology of the target role when it truthfully describes the activity.

For retail, hospitality, or customer service work

These applications often benefit from concrete descriptions of customers, transactions, service standards, stock, schedules, or complaints. Check whether your CV includes relevant terms only where they reflect your experience, such as customer service, cash handling, stock control, point-of-sale systems, order processing, queue management, food preparation, or rota coordination.

• Describe the setting, such as a shop, café, call centre, event, or reception desk.
• Show the type of customer or operational responsibility you handled.
• Include availability or shift information only if the application requests it, and keep it current.
• Use short achievement or responsibility bullets instead of a dense paragraph.

Before an interview, connect your revised examples to likely questions. The guides to customer service interview questions and retail interview questions can help you turn CV evidence into prepared examples.

For internships, graduate roles, or career changes

Start with the skills the employer needs, then decide which experiences best demonstrate them. A university project, freelance task, caring responsibility, or previous role may be relevant if you explain the connection clearly.

• Compare the job description with your modules, projects, placements, and previous responsibilities.
• Translate specialist academic language into terms a non-specialist recruiter can understand.
• Place the most relevant skills and evidence where they can be found quickly.
• Explain a career change briefly in your summary or cover letter rather than forcing unrelated keywords into every section.
• Use the same accurate name for a skill throughout the document where possible.

For role-specific ideas, the guide to ATS resume keywords for entry-level jobs can help you compare common wording by role type.

For remote jobs

Remote work applications should show how you operate independently, communicate across channels, manage priorities, and document progress. Do not simply add “remote” to your CV. Provide evidence of the working habits the role requires.

• Mention relevant collaboration tools only if you have used them.
• Describe distributed teamwork, online customer support, virtual presentations, or independent project delivery.
• Show how you handled deadlines, handovers, written updates, or competing priorities.
• Keep location, work authorisation, and availability information accurate when requested.

What to double-check

Keywords and evidence

Make a two-column review. In the first column, list the vacancy’s important terms. In the second, note where your CV proves each relevant term. If a requirement is genuinely relevant but missing, add a concise example. If you cannot support it, do not insert it merely to improve a perceived keyword match.

Check variations carefully. A job description may use both an abbreviation and its full form, or refer to a skill using several common names. Where useful and accurate, include both forms once, such as “search engine optimisation (SEO).” Avoid creating a separate keyword block that adds no context.

Formatting and file quality

• Use familiar headings such as Summary, Experience, Education, Skills, and Certifications.
• Keep dates, job titles, locations, and bullet formatting consistent.
• Use a readable font, sensible spacing, and clear hierarchy.
• Avoid placing essential information in images, text boxes, decorative headers, footers, or complex tables.
• Use standard section order unless a different structure clearly serves your experience.
• Save the file in the format requested by the employer and check that the text remains selectable.
• Open the final file on another device to check page breaks, spacing, and missing characters.

Length should reflect your experience and the relevance of the content, not an arbitrary target. The guide How Long Should a Resume Be? offers a useful review framework.

Accuracy and application consistency

Compare your CV with the application form and online profile before submitting. Job titles, employment dates, qualifications, and contact details should not conflict without an explanation. Confirm that links work, references are handled as requested, and the file name is professional, such as “FirstName-LastName-CV.pdf.”

Finally, verify the vacancy itself before sharing personal information. Use the job posting scam-check checklist and research the employer with a company screening checklist.

Common mistakes

• Keyword stuffing: Repeating a phrase without evidence makes the CV harder to read and can create an inaccurate impression.
• Using a graphic template: Attractive design elements may interfere with text extraction. Prioritise structure and readability for applications processed digitally.
• Writing one generic CV: A strong general base is useful, but the summary, skills, and most relevant evidence should reflect the specific vacancy.
• Listing skills without proof: Add a brief example in your experience, education, or project section.
• Copying the job description: Mirror relevant terminology, but write original descriptions of what you actually did.
• Hiding important information: Do not rely on colour, icons, charts, or a separate visual skills scale to communicate essential qualifications.
• Ignoring plain-language review: A document can contain the right terms and still be unclear. Read every bullet for specific action, context, and result.
• Submitting an outdated version: Old availability, software knowledge, contact details, or notice information can undermine an otherwise suitable application.

When to revisit

Keep a master CV with your complete, accurate history, then create a tailored copy for each serious application. Revisit the master version after finishing a course, project, placement, volunteer activity, or job. Add the new evidence while the details are still fresh.

Review the tailored version before every submission, especially when the role, sector, location, or working pattern changes. Seasonal hiring periods can also change the types of jobs you target, such as internships, graduate roles, retail work, or temporary shifts. Your CV should reflect the current search rather than last season’s priorities.

After several applications, look for patterns. Are you repeatedly missing a requirement because your evidence is unclear? Are recruiters asking about a skill that your CV does not explain? Are you applying for roles that do not match your current qualifications? Record these observations and make one controlled improvement at a time so you can judge what helped.

Use this final five-minute check before you apply:

1. Confirm the job title and employer name.
2. Underline the three to five most important requirements.
3. Find accurate evidence for each requirement in your CV.
4. Remove irrelevant detail that hides your strongest evidence.
5. Proofread, open the final file, and submit the requested version.

A clear CV cannot replace relevant experience or a complete application, but it can make your evidence easier to find. Treat optimization as an ongoing review process: update it when your experience changes, tailor it when the vacancy changes, and keep the final document truthful throughout.