What actually gets your CV rejected by applicant tracking systems in India

We cannot see inside any company's hiring software. No honest article can. What we can tell you is what makes a CV hard for software to read, and hard for a recruiter to find.

Those are two separate failures. This post covers both.

Failure 1: the system cannot read your CV

Applicant tracking systems pull text out of your file and store it in fields: name, employer, dates, skills. If the text does not come out cleanly, the record is messy or empty. A recruiter who opens it sees a muddle.

These layouts cause trouble.

1. Tables. Text in a grid can come out in the wrong order.
2. Two columns. The reader may run across both columns line by line, mixing them.
3. Text boxes and shapes. Text inside a box can be skipped.
4. Headers and footers. Contact details placed there can be dropped.
5. Images. A photo of text, a logo with your name, icons for phone and email. The software reads none of it.
6. Scanned PDFs. A scan is a picture. There is no text to read.
7. Fancy fonts and symbols. Odd bullets can turn into boxes or strange characters.

The fix for failure 1

• Use one column.
• Use plain headings: "Experience", "Education", "Skills".
• Put your name, phone and email in the main body, at the top.
• Use standard bullets.
• Save as a PDF made from a Word or Google Docs file, with real text. Or use a Word file if the form asks for it.
• Test it. Open the file, select all, copy, paste into a plain text editor. If the text comes out in a sensible order, a machine can read it.

Failure 2: the recruiter's search does not find you

Even if the system reads your CV, a recruiter finds people by searching words. If your CV lacks the words in the job, it does not appear.

Common causes:

• You describe a skill in your own words, not the job's.
• You hide key tools in a paragraph of prose.
• Your headline or summary names a different role.
• The CV is long and the key terms sit on page two.

The fix for failure 2

Open the job. Note the repeated terms. See how to read a job description. Check each against your CV. Where you have the skill, use the job's phrase. Where you do not, leave it out.

Put a short skills line near the top with the tools you use. The rules for doing this honestly are in how to tailor your CV without making anything up.

Habits that look like keyword stuffing

Do not paste the job description into white text at the bottom. Do not repeat a word fifteen times. A person will read your CV after the search. It has to make sense to them.

Small file habits that help

• Name the file with your name and role: "Your-Name-Brand-Manager.pdf".
• Keep the file small enough to email without trouble.
• Do not password-protect it.
• Keep the same facts as your online profile. See seven profile changes that make recruiters message you first.

What not to worry about

You do not need a "special ATS template" from a paid site. A plain, one-column CV with true, specific lines is enough. Many fancy templates cause the problems above.

Applying through portals

Many portals ask you to upload a CV and then retype the same details in a form. Do both. The form fields feed the recruiter's search. A blank field is a missed match.

• Fill every field you can: skills, current employer, notice period, location.
• Paste your skills as a plain list, using the job's words where they are true.
• Check the preview if the portal shows one. If the parsed text looks scrambled, fix your file.

If the portal lets you pick a file type, choose the one you tested.

A three-minute test

1. Save your CV as PDF.
2. Open it, select all, copy.
3. Paste into a plain text editor.
4. Read the result top to bottom.

If you see your name, your jobs and dates in order, a machine can read it. If lines are jumbled, rebuild the CV in one column.

Do not hide text

Some people add white text or tiny text with keywords. Do not. Many systems and recruiters spot it, and it looks like a trick. Put your real skills in visible lines.

Check the small things

• Use the same spelling of your employer's name on the CV and the form.
• Write dates as month and year.
• Use "Mumbai, Maharashtra" style for places, so a city search matches.
• Keep the phone number and email in the body of the page.

Where Jobsift fits

Jobsift writes the CV it produces in a plain, one-column layout that keeps text as real text. It rewrites your CV for one job from your ten, using only what is already in your CV, so the job's words appear where they are true for you. Looking at jobs is free.

It cannot promise any system or any recruiter will shortlist you. It removes layout problems and word gaps.