What is an ATS? The guide for your CV
An ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is recruiting software that companies use to automatically sort, filter and score incoming CVs. Around 75 percent of all CVs are never read by a human because the ATS filters them out first.
How an ATS reads your CV
The ATS scans your CV for keywords, job titles, skills and years of experience. The better your CV matches the job posting, the higher you rank in the system.
The three most common ATS mistakes
- Graphic layouts with tables or text boxes. Many ATS cannot extract the text they contain.
- Wrong job titles. If the posting looks for a "Frontend Developer" and your CV says "UI Engineer", the ATS often finds no match.
- Missing keywords. Every industry has fixed terms. If you don't use them, you fall through the cracks.
How to make your CV ATS-safe
Use a simple, single-column layout. Write job titles and skills exactly as they appear in the job posting. Avoid headers, footers and graphics that carry important information. Save as a PDF with searchable text.
With Civly you can check your existing CV for ATS compatibility directly and get concrete fixes.