ATS-friendly CV: how recruitment systems read your CV

What is an ATS?

ATS stands for applicant tracking system, often simply called a recruitment system. It is the software employers use to receive applications, keep track of candidates and decide together who to invite to interview.

In Norway you will come across systems such as Webcruiter, Jobylon, ReachMee and Easycruit, and there are others like them. When you click the apply button in an ad on finn.no or arbeidsplassen.no, you are often taken to one of these systems at the employer. There you fill in a form and upload your CV and cover letter.

How employers in Norway use the recruitment system

It is a common myth that a robot rejects most applicants before a human sees them. In many Norwegian hiring processes, a recruiter or manager reads the applications themselves. But the system still shapes what they see and how easy you are to find.

Many systems read your CV and fill in fields such as job title, employer, dates and education automatically. Recruiters can filter on your answers in the application form, for example whether you have a driving licence or the right qualification, and search candidates for words such as “regnskap” (accounting) or “Visma”. Some systems also rank applicants by how closely they match the ad. If the system misreads your CV, your experience can look thinner than it really is.

So answer the questions in the application form honestly and accurately. They are often used for the first round of sorting.

Use the keywords from the ad

Keywords are the words that describe what the job requires: job titles, fields, tools, certificates and languages. An ATS-friendly CV uses the same words as the ad, where they match what you have done. The system and the recruiter look for “Excel”, not “spreadsheets”.

Go through the ad and list the words that come up repeatedly. Then check whether each one appears in your CV, ideally in a context that shows you have used it. Our guide on how to read a job ad helps you find the key requirements.

• Write both the abbreviation and the full term the first time, for example “SEO (search engine optimisation)” or “HSE (health, safety and environment)”.
• Use the same job title as the ad if it fits what you actually did. If your title was “customer adviser” and the ad says “customer service representative”, you can write “Customer adviser (customer service)”.
• Name tools and systems, such as Visma, SAP, Tripletex, Salesforce or Excel.
• Work keywords into the bullet points under each job, not just into a long skills list.
• If the ad is in Norwegian, use the Norwegian professional terms. Those are the words the recruiter will search for.
• Do not fill your CV with words you cannot back up, and do not hide words in white text. Recruiters notice, and it damages trust.

Use standard headings and a fixed order

The system uses headings to work out where each part of your CV starts. Standard headings such as “Work experience”, “Education”, “Courses and certificates”, “Skills” and “Languages” are read correctly. Creative headings such as “My journey” or “What I have been up to” can send content to the wrong place.

Write every job the same way: job title, employer, location and dates. Use the same date format throughout, for example month and year as “03.2021”. If some dates say “March 2021” and others just “2021”, it is harder for the system to work out how much experience you have.

Layout pitfalls

Much of what makes a CV look nice in a design program makes it hard for a system to read. A simple one column layout is the safest choice, and you can still use colour in the headings and a tidy font.

These are the most common pitfalls:

• Tables and text boxes. Content can be read in the wrong order or skipped.
• Two or more columns. The system may read line by line across the page, mixing text from the left and right columns.
• Text in images, icons and graphics. A phone icon instead of the word “Phone”, or skills shown as bars and stars, is not read as text.
• Contact details in the header or footer. Some systems ignore these areas, so put your name, phone and email in the body of the document.
• Unusual fonts and special characters. Stick to common fonts and simple bullet points.
• A scanned CV or a CV saved as an image. Then there is no text for the system to read.

Which file format is best for an ATS CV?

Most recruitment systems read both Word files (.docx) and PDF. What matters is that the PDF contains real text. A PDF created from Word, Google Docs or a CV tool is fine. A scanned CV or a PDF made from an image is not.

Always follow what the ad or the form asks for. If it says to upload Word, do that. Avoid formats such as .pages, .odt or image files, and give the file a clear name with your full name and “CV”.

Fill in the fields in the application form too, even if it feels like repeating your CV. Some recruiters look at the form first, and empty fields can give the impression that you lack experience.

How to check whether your CV is ATS-friendly

A simple test you can do yourself: open the PDF, select all the text, copy it and paste it into Notepad or another plain text program. If the content appears in the right order, with your name, headings and dates where they should be, there is a good chance the system will read it correctly. If the text is jumbled or missing, simplify the layout.

Then compare the CV with the ad. With ATS score in Selja you can see whether your CV gets through applicant tracking systems and which keywords from the ad are missing. Your first check is free. If you want a CV that is ATS-friendly from the start, Selja can also write a professional CV and cover letter tailored to the job in under a minute, using only your own details.

If you want to work more on the content itself, you will find the basics in our guide on how to write a CV.