Part 1 was how parsing works. This is the checklist.
Keywords:
- Pull the JD's required skills, the ones listed first, not the "nice to haves." Those are your keyword set for this role.
- Use their exact phrasing. "Stakeholder management," not "working with people." "Net retention," not "keeping customers." Same meaning, different score.
- Place keywords where they count: skills section and your recent role's bullets. Don't keyword-stuff a hidden white-text block, modern systems flag it and humans hate it.
Format:
- Single column, top to bottom. Two columns scramble the parse.
- Standard section names: Experience, Education, Skills. Not "My Journey."
- No tables, text boxes, images, or text-as-graphics. The parser drops them.
- Standard fonts, standard bullets, consistent date format.
- Keep contact info in the body, not the header, some systems strip headers.
The 2-minute test: copy your resume, paste into a plain text editor. If it reads cleanly in order, the ATS reads it cleanly. If it's scrambled, fix the layout before you send another application.
Relevance gets you ranked. Clean format gets you parsed. You need both.
— Dr. Hosney Adel