Minutes 0–5: extract the requirements
Paste the posting into a plain text editor. Mark every noun phrase that names a tool, method, certification, domain or deliverable. Separate the ones under "required" or in the first three bullets from the "nice to have" list — the first group carries the screening weight.
Minutes 5–10: rewrite the summary
Your summary is the highest-leverage three lines on the page, because both the matcher and the human read it first. Structure it as: target role, years, domain, two headline achievements with numbers.
- Mirror the posting's job title if your work honestly matches it.
- Include the three or four terms that define the role, verbatim.
- Cut anything about personality, passion or fast-paced environments.
Minutes 10–15: reorder and rewrite the top bullets
Under your most recent role, promote the bullets that map onto the required list and rewrite them to use the posting's terms. Each bullet: verb, what you did, the term they used, and a measurable outcome.
- Before: "Responsible for deployment automation across services."
- After: "Built CI/CD pipelines in GitHub Actions for 14 services, cutting release time from 3 hours to 20 minutes."
Minutes 15–18: reconcile the skills section
Your skills list is the flat inventory the matcher reads. Add every required term you truthfully hold and that appears somewhere in your experience. Remove terms irrelevant to this posting — they dilute the match and add nothing for the reader.
Minutes 18–20: score and stop
Run the resume and the posting through the free ATS check. Above roughly 75% coverage of meaningful terms you are competitive, and further additions start reading as stuffing. Fix only the missing required terms you can honestly support, then send it.