The ATS Resume Checklist: 18 Checks Before You Apply

This is the checklist to run immediately before you submit. It assumes the content is already written; what it catches is the structural and formatting problems that stop a well-written resume from being read correctly by the system that stores it.

File and format

1. The file is a text-based PDF, not a scan or an exported image. Open it and try to select your name with the cursor — if you cannot, no parser can read it.
2. The filename is firstname-lastname-resume.pdf.
3. The document is under 1 MB. Large files fail some upload validators silently.
4. You submitted .docx only where the posting explicitly asked for it.

Structure

1. Contact details are in the body of the first page, not in a Word header or footer.
2. Section headings use standard names: Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications, Summary.
3. The main content is a single column. A skills sidebar is usually safe; a two-column work history is not.
4. No tables or text boxes are used to position content.
5. No critical information appears only inside an image, an icon, or a chart.
6. Reading order top to bottom matches the visual order — check by copying the whole document into a plain text editor.

Content and dates

1. Every role has an employer, a job title, a location, and a start and end date.
2. Date formats are identical throughout, including for your current role ("March 2021 – Present").
3. Job titles are recognisable. Where an internal title is unusual, add the standard equivalent in parentheses.
4. Gaps longer than three months carry a short, honest explanation.
5. Bullets begin with a verb and end with a result.

Keywords

1. The eight to ten core requirements from the posting appear somewhere in the resume, in your own honest phrasing.
2. The exact job title from the posting appears at least once, if it is accurate for you.
3. Acronyms are given in both forms on first use — "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" — because a recruiter may search for either.
4. The skills section contains only things you would be comfortable being questioned on.

The final pass

Read only the first line of every bullet, in order. If those lines alone do not make the case for hiring you, the resume needs another editing pass — because that is very close to what a thirty-second skim actually delivers to the reader.