ATS tips

Some employers run applications through software that reads the file before a person does. People call that an applicant tracking system (ATS). You cannot see their software. You can still make the file easy to read.

JobSeek's ATS Classic design is the one marked as recommended for online applications: one column, no tables, no images, ordinary headings. Use it when you are uploading to a portal. Pick another design when a person will read a PDF you email.

Make the text selectable

• Send a PDF or Word file with real text. A photo of a CV, or a scan, is a picture. Many systems cannot read it.
• Keep to one column. Text boxes, tables, and sidebars often come out in the wrong order.
• Put your name, phone, email, and city in the body of the first page, not only in a header or footer. Some readers skip headers.
• Use headings a person would expect: Profile, Skills, Experience, Education, Certificates.
• Skip icons for your phone number or email. Type the words.

Use the words the advert uses, if they are true

• If the advert says "debtors clerk" and that is the work you did, write debtors clerk, not only "finance duties".
• If you used MS Excel, write MS Excel. "Computer literate" does not tell a system, or a person, which program you know.
• List the licence code the advert asks for if you hold it, such as code B. Do not write a code you do not hold.
• Put the NQF level next to the qualification when you know it. Matric is NQF 4. The DPSA guide has the other labels, and SAQA can confirm a named qualification.

The tailor tool can only reorder skills and bullets you already entered, and show which advert words are missing. It does not add a job, a date, or a skill. If a keyword is missing because you have not done that work, leave it out.

File name and length

• Use a clear file name with your name and the role, which is how JobSeek names the download.
• Two pages is the limit for a first job or a learnership. Three pages is the limit once you have more to show. See CV basics.
• Do not hide keywords in white text. Recruiters notice, and it can get the application thrown out.

Before you upload

Open the PDF and try to select a sentence with the mouse or your finger. If you cannot select it, the file is probably an image. Export again from JobSeek rather than scanning a printout.