Hiring teams may love your experience—but an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) might never show it to them if your resume isn’t structured and keyword-aligned. Here’s a practical, 30-minute tune-up you can do today.

1) Fix the “invisible” formatting issues (10 minutes)

ATS software can struggle with design-heavy resumes. Keep it clean and predictable.

Do:

• Use a single-column layout
• Stick to standard headings: Summary, Experience, Education, Skills
• Use common fonts (Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman) at 10–12 pt
• Save as .pdf or .docx (if a portal recommends one, follow that)

Avoid:

• Tables, text boxes, sidebars, icons, and graphics
• Headers/footers for critical content (name/contact is often okay, but play it safe)
• Over-stylized section titles (e.g., “Where I’ve Been” instead of “Experience”)

2) Upgrade your bullet points from “tasks” to “proof” (10 minutes)

Recruiters scan fast. Your bullets should show impact, scope, and outcomes.

Try this simple formula:

• Action verb + what you did + how + measurable result

Examples:

• Before: “Responsible for monthly reporting.”
• After: “Built monthly KPI reporting in Excel/Power BI, reducing manual prep time by 35% and improving stakeholder visibility.”

If you don’t have numbers, use proxies:

• volume (tickets/week, users supported)
• time (cycle time, turnaround)
• quality (error reduction, SLA improvement)
• scale (regions, accounts, budget size)

3) Match keywords without “keyword stuffing” (10 minutes)

ATS often ranks resumes by how closely they match the job description.

Here’s a quick method:

1. Highlight 10–15 keywords from the posting (tools, skills, role-specific terms)
2. Add the most relevant ones to:
   • your Summary (2–3 keywords)
   • your Skills section (a clean, scannable list)
   • your Experience bullets (where you prove you’ve used them)

Pro tip: Use the same phrasing as the job post when it’s accurate (e.g., “stakeholder management,” “SQL,” “customer lifecycle,” “Agile”).

4) Make your top third irresistible (bonus tip)

The top third of your resume should answer: Who are you, what do you do, and why should we care?

A strong structure:

• 1–2 line Summary tailored to the role
• Core Skills (8–12 items max)
• Your most impressive, recent experience first

If you’re comfortable, share one bullet point from your resume + the job title you’re targeting, and the community can help rewrite it for clarity and ATS alignment.

What’s the one part of your resume you suspect is getting you filtered out—formatting, keywords, or impact?