By Medcruit Careers Desk — HealthTech recruitment editorial team · Updated 2026-07-20
How an ATS actually reads your CV
An applicant tracking system converts your file into plain text, then attempts to identify fields: name, contact details, employers, dates, titles, education, skills. Anything it cannot confidently locate is either discarded or attached to the wrong field. A beautiful two-column CV frequently parses as interleaved nonsense.
Ranking then happens either through keyword matching or, increasingly, semantic similarity to the job description. Both reward the same behaviour: clear structure and honest use of the employer's own language.
The formatting choices that break parsing
In our testing across major ATS platforms, these are the most common silent failures, ranked by how often they cause damage:
| Issue | Risk | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Two-column layout | Severe | Single column, top to bottom |
| Contact details in the header | Severe | Move into the body |
| Skills inside a table | High | Comma-separated list |
| Text inside images or icons | High | Use real text |
| Non-standard headings ('My Journey') | Medium | Use Experience, Education, Skills |
| Dates as '21–23' | Medium | Use Mar 2021 – Aug 2023 |
| Unusual fonts | Low | Use a common sans or serif |
Keyword strategy without keyword stuffing
Extract the ten most repeated hard skills, tools and credentials from the job description and ensure each appears naturally in your CV — ideally in a bullet with an outcome attached. Include both the acronym and the expanded form once, for example 'electronic health record (EHR)'. Never hide keywords in white text; every serious ATS now strips formatting and flags the pattern.
The 12-point pre-application checklist
Run this before every meaningful application.
- Single column, no tables, no text boxes.
- Name and contacts in the body, not the header.
- Standard section headings.
- Two pages maximum (clinical and academic CVs excepted).
- Month and year for every role.
- Each bullet starts with a verb and ends with a measurable result.
- Top ten job-description keywords present naturally.
- Job title in your summary line matches the target role.
- Licences and registration numbers listed with expiry.
- File saved as DOCX for portals, PDF for humans.
- File named Firstname-Lastname-Role.pdf.
- ATS score 85 or above.