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Free ATS check: how to test your CV before you hit send

Before a human sees your application, many companies run it through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that reads and scores your CV automatically. You don't have to spend money to find the worst mistakes, though. These free methods let you check for yourself whether your CV gets through.

The copy-paste test (30 seconds, free)

The fastest free test: open your CV PDF, select all of its content and paste it into an empty text document. What you see now is roughly what the ATS sees.

  • Does the text arrive complete and in a sensible order? Good.
  • Are parts missing, is everything scrambled, or does nothing come through? Then your layout is a problem for the machine, usually because of columns, text boxes, or because the PDF is just an image.

The free ATS checklist

Go through your CV against these points:

  1. Single-column layout, no nested columns or box design.
  2. Standard German section headings if you apply in German: "Berufserfahrung", "Ausbildung", "Kenntnisse".
  3. Job titles and keywords taken word for word from the posting, as long as they apply to you.
  4. No important text in the header/footer or inside the photo.
  5. PDF with a searchable text layer, no scan, no graphic.
  6. A standard font like Arial or Calibri.

If all six points check out, you have already removed the most common reasons for getting filtered out.

Where the free self-test hits its limits

The copy-paste test shows you whether your CV is readable. It doesn't tell you whether it fits the specific role, meaning whether the required keywords and qualifications are actually covered. But that is exactly what decides your ranking in the system. Doing this comparison by hand for every application is tedious and error-prone.

A targeted check is faster

The Civly ATS check does exactly this comparison: it checks your CV against a specific job posting, gives you a score and shows which terms and points are missing. Civly is built for the German job market, not for US resume logic. You get a free preview with your score and the first issues right away: check your CV now.

If you want to understand how these systems work in detail, read What is an ATS? and the guide Optimizing your CV for ATS.