Is your CV
even getting
seen by humans?
Most CVs never reach a recruiter. They're rejected in seconds by software called an ATS — before anyone reads a single line. Check yours for free.
The software
reading your
CV first.
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that companies use to receive, sort, and rank job applications automatically. When you click "Apply", your CV goes into an ATS — not a recruiter's inbox.
The ATS extracts your contact info, work history, skills, and education into a structured database. If it can't parse your CV — because of tables, images, or unusual formatting — your application is marked incomplete and rejected.
Even if it parses correctly, the ATS then scores your CV against the job description using keyword matching. Low score = no human ever sees it.
Unreadable formatting
Tables, text boxes, columns, and headers/footers are often completely invisible to ATS parsers. The system sees blank space where your experience should be.
Missing keywords
ATS systems match your CV against the job description. If the exact skill words are absent, your CV is auto-rejected even if you're qualified.
Wrong file format
Image-based PDFs, scanned documents, or heavily designed templates are unreadable by most ATS. Use text-based PDF or DOCX.
Non-standard section headings
ATS looks for "Work Experience", "Education", "Skills". Creative headings like "My Journey" or "What I Bring" confuse the parser.
No quantified results
Vague statements like "responsible for sales" score lower than "grew sales by 34% in Q3". Numbers signal impact.
Missing contact info
Email and phone must be in plain text — not inside a header image or table — so ATS can extract and store them correctly.
ATS-failing vs
ATS-passing CV.
Same candidate. The left CV scores ~28/100. The right scores ~84/100. Only one gets a call.
JANE LIM [Table: Contact | [email protected] | +60 12-345 6789] MY JOURNEY Passionate about making a difference in tech industry with various responsibilities in my previous roles. WHAT I BRING • Microsoft Office • Communication EDUCATION • Computer Science Degree
- ✗ Contact in table — ATS can't read it
- ✗ No standard section headings
- ✗ No action verbs or numbers
- ✗ Skills too vague for keyword match
- ✗ Only 28 words — too thin
JANE LIM [email protected] | +60 12-345 6789 | linkedin.com/in/janelim PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY Results-driven software engineer with 4 years of experience delivering scalable web applications across fintech and e-commerce. WORK EXPERIENCE Senior Software Engineer — TechCorp Malaysia (2021–2024) • Reduced API response time by 40% through query optimisation • Led migration of 3 legacy services to microservices architecture • Mentored 4 junior engineers; 2 promoted within 12 months EDUCATION Bachelor of Computer Science — Universiti Malaya (2020) SKILLS Python, Java, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS, Docker, Agile/Scrum
- ✓ Plain-text contact info ATS can parse
- ✓ Standard section headings
- ✓ Action verbs: Reduced, Led, Mentored
- ✓ Quantified: 40%, 3 services, 4 engineers
- ✓ Relevant tech keywords in Skills section
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