Use a single-column layout
Two-column resumes look designed, but many parsers read a page left-to-right line by line. A sidebar of skills gets interleaved into your job bullets and the result is unreadable text. Keep one column from top to bottom.
- No text boxes, no tables for layout, no headers or footers holding contact details.
- Put your name, phone, email, city and LinkedIn URL as plain lines at the top of the body.
- Avoid icons in place of labels — a phone glyph is not extractable text.
Name your sections the way the parser expects
Parsers map sections by matching headings against a known list. Creative labels break that mapping and your experience ends up in an unclassified blob.
- Use: Summary, Skills, Experience (or Work Experience), Education, Certifications, Projects.
- Avoid: "Where I've Made Impact", "My Toolkit", "Chapters".
- Keep headings on their own line, in the same case, larger or bolder than body text.
Write dates in one consistent format
Date ranges drive the tenure and gap calculations recruiters filter on. Mixed formats often parse as missing dates, which quietly drops you out of experience filters.
- Use "Mar 2023 – Present" or "03/2023 – Present" — pick one and repeat it.
- Always include the year. Month-only or year-only ranges cause tenure errors.
- Put the date on the same line as the role or immediately below it, never in a margin.
Fonts, bullets and file type
- Stick to Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia or Times New Roman at 10–12pt.
- Use standard round bullets. Wingdings, emoji and custom glyphs can parse as junk characters.
- Export PDF from a text-based document. A scanned or image-based PDF contains no text at all.
- If a portal explicitly asks for .docx, send .docx — do not out-think the instructions.
Length and density
- One page for under 8 years of experience, two pages beyond that.
- 400–800 words is the sweet spot; under 300 words usually scores poorly on completeness.
- 3–6 bullets per role, each starting with a verb and containing one measurable outcome.