How to Pass ATS for Internship and Entry-Level Applications

Internship programmes and graduate schemes at large organisations receive thousands of applications and rely on ATS to manage the volume. If you are applying without significant professional experience, ATS optimisation is arguably even more important — because you have fewer natural keyword opportunities and every keyword you can include counts more.

The Entry-Level ATS Challenge

An experienced candidate has years of work history from which keywords naturally emerge. As a student or recent graduate, you have:

Academic experience
Part-time or casual work
Extracurricular activities
Personal projects
Internships or placements (if any)

These sources contain real, relevant keywords — but you need to extract and surface them deliberately.

Academic Keywords

Your degree subjects, modules, and projects can supply relevant keywords depending on the role:

For data-adjacent roles: statistics, quantitative analysis, SQL, Python, Excel, research methodology
For marketing: consumer behaviour, market research, brand analysis, digital marketing
For finance: financial modelling (if studied), accounting principles, economic analysis
For engineering: CAD software, MATLAB, thermodynamics, structural analysis

List relevant modules and skills in your education section rather than just degree title and grade.

Extracurricular Keywords

Society roles and activities generate real keywords:

"Treasurer" generates: budget management, financial reporting, forecasting
"Events Manager" generates: event coordination, supplier management, stakeholder communication, project management
"Team Captain" generates: leadership, performance management, strategy, team development

Frame these experiences with the professional vocabulary that matches the role you are targeting.

The Skills Section as a Graduate

Your skills section is particularly important when experience is limited. List:

Technical skills you genuinely have (specific software, coding languages, tools)
Languages (if any)
Relevant methodologies or tools from your academic work

Update this section for every application to match the job description.

Volume vs Quality

Entry-level applicants often apply to many roles simultaneously. For ATS purposes, a targeted application with a tailored CV is significantly more effective than a high-volume generic approach.

Running an ATS check takes five minutes per application. For entry-level roles where the competition is highest, those five minutes are a high-value investment.

Check your entry-level CV's ATS score free at CVCircuit before every application.