I built a free ATS resume checker after seeing too many friends get ghosted on Easy Apply.
Most people think ATS means “add more keywords.” In practice, a lot of resumes fail earlier — on parsing.
The 5 blockers I see most
Columns / two-column layouts Nice for humans. Bad for many parsers. Contact info or skills in a sidebar often get read in the wrong order (or skipped). Fix: one-column layout. Standard section titles: Experience, Education, Skills.
Icons instead of text Phone / email / LinkedIn as icons only = empty fields for the ATS. Fix: real text next to icons (or drop the icons).
Text in images / fancy graphics If you can’t Ctrl+A → copy readable text from your PDF, neither can the ATS. Fix: real text PDF/DOCX, not a designed image export.
Tables for experience Tables often scramble dates and bullets. Fix: simple headings + bullet points.
Keyword stuffing Repeating “Python Python Python” can look spammy and still miss role-specific terms from the job post. Fix: mirror the job’s real skills in your bullets with proof (tools + outcomes).
Quick self-test
Open your PDF
Select all → paste into a blank doc
If the order is messy or text is missing, fix the format before you apply again
Free checker I use for this I shipped a free diagnosis that flags these blockers first (full score/keywords optional): https://myatscheck.com/free-ats-resume-checker
If you’re job hunting through Workday / Greenhouse / Easy Apply, fix parsing before you rewrite every bullet.
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