What Is an ATS and How Does It Screen Your CV?
If you have been applying for jobs at larger companies and getting no response, an Applicant Tracking System — ATS — is likely involved in the filtering process. Understanding how ATS works is the first step to writing CVs that actually get read by a human.
What Is an ATS?
An Applicant Tracking System is software that employers use to manage job applications. It stores, sorts, and filters CVs based on criteria set by the recruiter. Most large employers — and many medium-sized ones — use ATS software. Popular platforms include Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, Taleo, and SmartRecruiters.
When you submit your CV through an online job portal, it almost certainly goes into an ATS before a human sees it.
How Does ATS Screen CVs?
The specifics vary by platform and configuration, but most ATS systems do some combination of the following:
Parsing: The ATS reads your CV and extracts structured data — your name, contact details, employment history, education, and skills. This is why formatting matters. Badly formatted CVs can fail to parse correctly, causing your experience to appear scrambled or missing.
Keyword matching: The ATS compares your CV against the job description (or a set of keywords the recruiter has defined) and scores your application based on how well it matches. CVs that do not contain the right keywords may be automatically deprioritised or filtered out before a human ever sees them.
Ranking: Applications are often sorted by match score, so recruiters see the highest-scoring CVs first. Even if your CV is not automatically rejected, a low score means it may never be reviewed.
What ATS Cannot Read Well
ATS systems struggle with certain formatting:
- Tables and columns (data often appears in the wrong place when parsed)
- Headers and footers (content may be ignored)
- Text in images or graphics (invisible to the parser)
- Non-standard fonts and symbols
- Unusual section headings (ATS may not recognise a "Career Journey" section as work experience)
This is why simple, clean formatting consistently outperforms heavily designed CV templates when it comes to ATS.
The Human Review
Passing ATS does not mean you have the job — or even an interview. It means your CV will be seen by a recruiter. At that point, it needs to be readable, well-structured, and compelling to a human as well as an algorithm.
The best CVs work for both audiences: they pass the ATS filter and read well to the recruiter who then shortlists for interview.
How to Check Your ATS Score
CVCircuit's free ATS checker analyses your CV against a job description and gives you a score based on keyword matching and formatting compatibility. It shows you exactly which keywords are missing and what to fix.
Check your CV's ATS score free at CVCircuit — no account required.