How to Prepare an ATS Friendly Resume (Fresher or Experienced)

To prepare an ATS friendly resume, write it as plain text in a single column, pull the exact words from the job ad into your summary, skills and work bullets, and save it as a normal .docx or text-based PDF. An ATS is software that reads your file and pulls out your details before a recruiter sees it, so the goal is a resume a machine can read cleanly and a person can scan in seconds.

Start with a format the software can read

Use one column, top to bottom. Skip tables, text boxes, headers and footers, photos, icons and coloured blocks. Put your name, phone, email, city and LinkedIn link in plain lines at the very top of the page.

A simple font like Arial or Calibri at a normal reading size is fine. Save as .docx unless the job post asks for PDF, and if you do send a PDF, make sure it is a text PDF and not a scan or an image exported from a design app.

You can build it in Google Docs, Microsoft Word on a phone, or any free editor. The tool doesn't matter; the layout does. If you copy your finished resume into a plain notepad and the text comes out jumbled, the layout is the problem, not your experience.

Use the job ad as your word list

Open the job description and underline the skills, tools and duties it repeats. If it says project management, stakeholder communication and Excel, those exact words should appear in your resume, spelled the same way.

Put the most important ones in your summary line and in a short skills list, then repeat a few inside your work bullets where they are true. Write Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in full once before you use the short form, because the software may not know your acronym.

Don't stuff. If a word doesn't describe something you actually did, leave it out. A recruiter still reads the shortlist, and a resume full of words you can't explain in the interview gets dropped there instead.

Structure and bullets that parse cleanly

Stick to headings the software expects: Summary, Skills, Work Experience, Education, Certifications. Label your experience section Work Experience, not Career Journey or My Story.

List jobs newest first with the job title, company, city and months and years. Keep the date format the same throughout, for example Jan 2022 to Mar 2024, not a mix of styles.

Under each job, write three to five bullets that start with a verb and end with a result. For a fresher with no job yet, use internships, college projects, freelance work or volunteering in the same format. Numbers help when they are real: how many people, how much money, how much time saved.

Check it before you hit apply

Run these checks every time you tailor the resume to a new posting:

• Copy the full text into a plain notepad and read it. Sections should appear in order, with nothing missing or scrambled.
• Search the file for each key word from the job ad and confirm it appears in the summary, skills or a bullet.
• Check that your phone number and email are typed as text, not inside an image.
• Name the file clearly, like Firstname_Lastname_Resume.docx, so it is easy to find in a recruiter's folder.
• Read it once on your phone screen, since many people apply from mobile and the layout should still hold.

Keep one master resume with everything, then make a trimmed copy for each application. Fifteen minutes of matching words to the ad is worth more than a fancy template.

If you want the matching and formatting handled for you, Destava's AI career manager can build and fix your resume, then find jobs and apply to them for you.