11/07/2022

10+ ATS-Friendly Resume Templates (Compliant & 2022 ready)

Learn what ATS resume is and how to write one. See our curated list of ATS friendly resume templates that will help you get past the scanning bots and land you a dream job.

Maciej Duszyński

Career Expert

11/07/2022

Copied successfully Something went wrong, try again.

It’s the 21st century—recruiters don’t have time to read all the resumes that candidates send. They only scan the ones that best fit the job description. How do they know which ones these are? Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) help them.

If you want your application to end up in front of the recruiter’s eyes, you must know how to write an ATS friendly resume. And that’s what you’re about to learn.

In this article, you’ll see:

What an ATS resume is.
How to write an ATS-friendly resume and what to pay attention to.
List of best ATS resume templates.
What Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) is and how to make ATS compliant resume.

Save hours of work and get a job-winning resume like this. Try our resume builder with 20+ resume templates and create your resume now.

Create your resume now

What users say about ResumeLab:

I had an interview yesterday and the first thing they said on the phone was: “Wow! I love your resume.”
Patrick

I love the variety of templates. Good job guys, keep up the good work!
Dylan

My previous resume was really weak and I used to spend hours adjusting it in Word. Now, I can introduce any changes within minutes. Absolutely wonderful!
George

Create your resume now

Looking for different resume tempaltes?

Need help with a specific kind of resume? Explore our resume examples:

Couldn't find your occupation? Check our list of professional resume examples.

1. What is an ATS-Friendly Resume?

An ATS-friendly resume goal is to pass through applicant tracking systems.

To make your resume ATS-friendly, you should use easy-to-scan and simple formatting and include resume keywords from the job ad.

You should also remove any images and tables, as they might confuse the applicant tracking system.

Having an ATS resume is important. If your resume doesn't pass the ATS test, it'll never reach a human recruiter.

So how does the ATS work?

It's pretty straightforward. The applicant tracking system scans your resume for job-related keywords and determines if you are a good match for the position.

That means you're doomed to fail if you're not using any ATS resume template.

Don't worry, we've got you covered.

Below you'll find ATS-optimized and ATS-friendly resume templates that will help you to pass the test.

Expert Hint: According to a recent study, a whopping 99% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS software. This is representative of a more general trend among more and more companies automating and streamlining their recruitment processes.

2. ATS-Friendly Resume Templates

Have a look at a selection of our ATS resume templates. Each of them has been designed by a team of certified professional resume writers (CPRW), HR experts, and graphic designers. They’ve been specifically created to be both ATS optimized and reader-friendly.

1. ATS-Friendly Resume—Cubic

This ATS friendly resume template gives you a lot of space for the experience section. It also includes a visual scale for grading your skills.

2. ATS Resume Template—Diamond

Diamond is a ATS friendly resume that has an infographic-like timeline, which gives the document a nice flow and directs the reader’s eye from top to bottom.

3. ATS-Compliant Resume—Newcast

This simple ATS resume follows a single-column layout. Each section heading includes a resume icon for easy navigation.

4. ATS Resume Template—Cascade

This ATS friendly resume template has a two-column resume layout and bar graphs that represent your level of proficiency.

5. ATS Resume Template—Muse

This ATS optimized resume template uses subtle lines to separate resume sections from each other. The ribbons next to each section’s title make it super easy to navigate through.

6. ATS Resume Template—Crisp

This ATS friendly resume incorporates resume icons that help the reader quickly locate each section.

7. ATS-Friendly Resume—Initials

Initials is a ATS compliant resume that gives you a lot of room for your professional accomplishments. It also has a graphical element with your initials.

8. ATS Resume Template—Modern

This ATS resume template makes great use of subtle graphical elements next to each section heading, and large accent bars at the top and bottom of each column. Also, you get a visual scale for the skills section.

9. ATS-Friendly Resume Template—Concept

In this ATS friendly resume, we have a sidebar that’s been specifically designed to make all the dates stand out.

10. ATS Friendly Resume—Influx

This ATS resume has a prominent header for your contact details, social media handles, or address.

Expert Hint: Not all Free Resume Builders are ATS friendly. To make sure your creative resume reaches a human reader, send it directly to the recruiter's inbox.

11. ATS Resume—Nanica

Nanica, a ATS friendly resume template, represents simplicity at its best. It’s an entirely distraction-free ATS resume format.

The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your resume in our resume builder now.

CREATE YOUR RESUME NOW

Nail it all with a splash of color, choose a clean font, and highlight your skills in just a few clicks. You’re the perfect candidate, and we’ll prove it. Use our resume builder now.

3. How to Write an ATS-Friendly Resume

Now that you know how ATSs work and how ATS resumes look, let’s have a look at how you can make a job-winning ATS compliant resume.

Use an ATS-friendly resume template

There are several things you should keep in mind when choosing an ATS-friendly resume template.

First, see if it’s readable to a machine. How?

Copy and paste the content of the resume into a simple text file.

If the text is readable and more or less follows its original structure, the template should be ATS friendly. If you can’t select or copy the text at all, no ATS will be able to parse it either—that’s why your safest bet is to send your resume as a Word or PDF file.

Expert Hint: The so-called infographic resumes are certainly good-looking. But unfortunately, most of them will fail any ATS check—that’s because they are often sent as image files.

Reply to a Specific Job Offer

Remember that ATSs will be comparing the content of your resume to the original job posting. To qualify as a match, an ATS compliant resume must contain the right number of words and phrases from the offer. If you don’t know how to get this right, read our guide on how to make a targeted resume.

Put Your Contact Details in the Header

The key to passing an ATS resume test is structuring your document in a way that’s easy to navigate for both software bots and human readers.

That’s why your resume header shouldn’t be a place for your favorite motivational quote, it’s where you should put your contact details.

Expert Hint: If the job ad says you should add your home address, do it to stay on the safe side—the ATS may require such info. If you’re not sure how detailed your address has to be, have a look at our dedicated guide on how to put your address on a resume.

Choose the Best Resume Format

There are three main resume formats:

Out of those three, the chronological resume style has the most ATS friendly structure as it’s clearly divided into easily navigable resume sections.

Expert Hint: Don’t get too creative with naming the sections on your resume—clarity trumps creativity in the context of an ATS friendly resume. So let your experience section be labeled Experience, rather than This Is What I’m Proud Of.

Put Your Relevant Experience

When drafting your resume job descriptions, see to it that your most recent job comes up top and it’s followed by the ones you held previously. Plus, make sure you include all the dates and give proper visibility to your resume job titles (e.g. by putting them in bold).

Also, present your experience in terms of achievements on a resume. Don’t just list your responsibilities.

Why? Remember that ATS isn’t the only obstacle on your way to your dream job.

There are other candidates you have to beat and the recruiter you need to impress. For maximum impact, use the relevant resume power words.

Expert Hint: Eye-tracking studies show that recruiters spend about 7 seconds skimming your resume. One of the things they look for immediately are your job titles. That’s exactly why they should be easy to find. This also applies to resume ATS checks, if the scanning bot can’t find your job titles, you’ll lose some precious points.

Highlight Your Professional Skills

Make sure the skills you put on a resume are in line with what’s outlined in the job offer. Sprinkle them throughout the entire document, rather than just put them on a list.

During the ATS resume scanning, the system will extract the skills from your resume to see how much they fit the job description.

Include Your Relevant Education

The education section on your resume should reflect the employer’s expectations. If the job offer states that you should include information on your relevant coursework on a resume, do put this by all means—the ATS they use may need this.

If there are no guidelines as to what to include, it’s usually enough to list the school’s name, graduation date, and degree earned.

Boost Your Chances by Including Extra Sections

Don’t forget to include additional sections on your ATS resume to boost your chances. If the employer is looking for a specific skill set, the job offer may also ask you to include information on:

Accomplishments
Awards and Honors
Certifications
Conferences
Extra-Curricular Activities
Hobbies and Interests
Languages
Projects
Publications
References
Volunteer Experience

Expert Hint: Embellishments aren’t your friends when making an ATS friendly resume. Keep the number of graphical elements to the absolute minimum, and see to it that the resume fonts you go for are easy to read.

Run a Free ATS Resume Scan

The Internet is full of free goodies. And if you’re determined enough, you can find almost anything. If you want to be sure that your resume is 100% ATS compliant, you can use an ATS resume checker for free online.

Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.

CREATE YOUR COVER LETTER NOW

Want to try a different look? There’s 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.

Key Points

An ATS-friendly resume is one that will safely get you through the initial automated scanning stage of the recruitment process.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when making an ATS resume is to target it at a particular job offer.
It’s also crucial to use relevant resume keywords. If you don’t, the ATS resume checker will deem you unqualified even if your experience and skills are perfectly in line with the employer’s expectations.
Last but not least, you must use an ATS compilant resume template that will be parsable for the scanner (here you can find a list of free resume templates for MS Word and a list of free resume templates for Google Docs.

How did you like our article on the ATS resume? Do you have any helpful tips you’d like to share? Let’s talk about it in the comments below, and, as always, thanks for reading!

Cookie settings