What is an ATS? How to prepare your resume for review

A lot of advice mixes different tasks under the label “ATS filter”. Separating them helps you see what depends on your document and what the employer decides.

• Application management: receiving applications, storing documents and moving each candidate through the stages of the process.
• Data import: some systems try to read the resume to fill in fields such as name, contact details or experience. If that fails, the document can remain attached and the details are completed another way.
• Search: recruiters can search applications by terms. The results depend on the available text and on how each person searches.
• Configured questions and criteria: the employer can add questions to the form, such as work authorisation or availability, and decide how to use them. That is each organisation's choice, not universal software behaviour.

Importing data from the document, searching for candidates and deciding whom to interview are different tasks. A problem extracting a phone number is not a rejection in itself. Greenhouse, an ATS provider, documents cases where a resume stays attached and its details must be entered manually when the import fails.

When you read a claim about “what ATSs do”, look for which provider it comes from. Nor can you infer an employer's configuration from an external checker. Prepare clear information and answer the form's questions accurately: the document is one part of the application.

Separate essential requirements, desirable skills and working conditions. Then match each one with evidence from your background. If a mandatory certification is missing, repeating its name does not replace it. If you know a tool but it does not appear in your resume, describe it within the task where you used it.

Posting: produce Excel reports and answer enquiries by email.
Candidate's evidence: prepared an order list with filters and answered delivery questions.
Wording: Organised order tracking in Excel and emailed customers about delivery status.
Pending: do not claim pivot tables if you have not used them yet.

Follow the portal's instructions on file type and size first. As a practical choice, use clear sections and a simple structure. Put contact details in visible text and check the reading order of the final document.

A correct extraction on your computer is a useful check, but it does not certify how each provider will process the file. If the form auto-fills details, review those fields before submitting.

• Open the final file and confirm no lines are missing.
• Select the text and paste it into an editor to spot breaks or jumbled words.
• Check that each role is linked to its employer and dates.
• Use understandable names for tools and qualifications, without hiding words in the document.

In Keyverta, the analysis compares your resume with the posting you provide and generates AI suggestions. The 0–100 score is the product's own guidance, not the mark an employer sees, nor its ATS's internal score, nor the probability of getting an interview.

Review the suggestions one by one. A skill flagged as missing may be phrased differently, or it may be something you do not have yet. Add truthful evidence and fix errors; do not invent content to reach a number.