ATS and Digital Formatting

Many large architecture and engineering firms. Including Gensler, HOK, Perkins&Will, AECOM, and others. Use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter and organize incoming resumes. If your resume cannot be parsed by these systems, it may never reach a human reader.

What ATS Cannot Read

Applicant tracking systems work by extracting text from your document and mapping it into database fields. The following formatting elements break this process:

• Multi-column layouts and text boxes
• Headers and footers (text in these areas is often skipped)
• Embedded images, icons, or graphic elements
• Tables (some systems can parse simple tables, but many cannot)
• Unusual or decorative fonts
• Skill-level bars, pie charts, or infographic elements

File Format and Naming

Save your resume as a PDF unless the job posting specifically requests a .docx file. PDFs preserve formatting across devices and operating systems. Name your file using a clear, professional convention:

Avoid names like "Resume_Final_v3.pdf" or "MyResume.pdf." Your file name is the first thing a hiring manager sees in their downloads folder. Make it professional and instantly identifiable.

Testing Your Resume

Before submitting, test your resume's ATS compatibility. Open your PDF and select all text (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A), then copy and paste it into a plain text editor like Notepad. If the text appears in the correct order with no garbled characters or missing sections, your resume will parse correctly. If the text is scrambled, out of order, or missing entirely, the ATS will misread it.

Standard Section Headings

ATS systems look for recognized section headings to categorize your information. Use standard labels: