Guides
Resume and ATS guides
How applicant tracking systems actually read a resume, and what to do about it. Short, specific, and written from the way the software works rather than folklore.
How to tailor your resume to a job description, step by step
A practical way to tailor a resume to any job description in 30 minutes: find the keywords, mirror the title, rewrite bullets, check the ATS score.
8 min read
ATS-friendly resume format: what applicant tracking systems can and can't read
Which resume layouts, fonts, sections and file types parse correctly in applicant tracking systems, and the formatting that silently loses your content.
7 min read
Resume keywords: how to find the right ones and use them naturally
How to extract the keywords an ATS scores from any job description, which carry the most weight, and how to work them into your resume without stuffing.
7 min read
Why your resume gets rejected by applicant tracking systems, and how to fix each cause
The nine reasons applicant tracking systems filter out qualified candidates, from missing keywords to unreadable layouts, each with the fix.
6 min read
What is an ATS score, and how is it calculated?
What an ATS resume score measures, how keyword match, structure and parseability are weighted, and what score to aim for before you apply.
5 min read
How to write resume bullet points with numbers, even when you don't have the numbers
A formula for resume bullets that get read: action verb, what you did, the tool, the measured result. With before/after examples and ways to find numbers.
6 min read