How to Optimise Your Resume
for ATS — Step-by-Step
Optimising for ATS doesn't mean stuffing your resume with keywords until it reads like a robot wrote it. It means strategic alignment — making sure the skills and experience you already have are expressed in language the system can find and rank. Here's exactly how to do it.
Step 1 — Start with the job description, not your resume
Analyse the JD before you touch your resume
Before editing anything, read the full job description and highlight: the job title, every required hard skill, every preferred skill, tools and platforms mentioned, the key action verbs in the responsibilities section, and any certifications or qualifications listed.
Make a simple two-column list — "JD requires" vs "I have." The gaps are your optimisation targets.
Step 2 — Fix your formatting first
ATS can't score what it can't read
Before any keyword work, confirm your resume uses a single-column layout, standard section headers, no tables or text boxes, and was saved as a clean .pdf or .docx. If content is trapped in a column, table, or text box, the ATS may skip entire sections of your resume.
Rebuild in a simple word processor if needed. The goal is plain, parseable text — not a design showcase.
Step 3 — Tailor your summary to the role
The summary is your highest-impact real estate
Your professional summary appears at the top of your resume — exactly where ATS systems and human recruiters look first. For each application, rewrite 2–3 sentences to include: the job title you're applying for, 2–3 core skills or qualifications from the JD, and your years of relevant experience.
"Experienced professional with a background in project delivery and stakeholder communication, seeking a new challenge."
"Technical Program Manager with 8 years delivering enterprise software initiatives. Specialises in cross-functional stakeholder management, Agile delivery, and SAP S/4HANA implementations."
Step 4 — Build or expand your Skills section
The easiest keyword wins come from your Skills section
A dedicated Skills section lets you include hard skills, tools, platforms, and certifications without having to restructure your bullet points. List them as simple comma-separated items or short chips — most ATS systems parse this reliably.
Cross-reference your gap list from Step 1. Every skill you genuinely have that appeared in the JD should appear here.
After adding these to your Skills section, they'd switch to green ✓ in the ATSCheck report
Step 5 — Rewrite bullet points using JD language
Mirror the vocabulary, not just the concept
ATS systems often match exact phrases. If the job says "cross-functional collaboration" and your resume says "working across teams," you may miss the match. Go through your most recent 2–3 roles and update bullet points to reflect the terminology used in the JD.
This doesn't mean rewriting everything — even changing 3–5 bullet points to match the JD's language can move your score by 10–20 points.
"Worked with different teams to deliver the product on time and within budget."
"Led cross-functional delivery across engineering, design, and commercial stakeholders, completing the programme on time and 12% under budget."
Step 6 — Spell out acronyms and use both forms
Write "Project Management Professional (PMP)" — not just "PMP"
Some ATS systems search for the full term, some for the acronym. Using both ensures you match either variation. This applies to certifications, technologies, and job titles. Once you've written the full form, you can use the acronym alone for the rest of the document.
Quick win: Run your updated resume through ATSCheck after each round of edits. Most users gain 15–25 ATS score points after applying Steps 4 and 5 alone. Target 75+ before submitting any application.
Step 7 — Add quantified results to your bullet points
Numbers signal seniority and scale to both ATS and humans
ATS systems aren't just keyword matchers — they also evaluate the quality signals in your bullet points. Numbers like percentages, dollar amounts, team sizes, and timeframes help the AI understand the scope of your experience. They also make you far more compelling to the human recruiter who reads your resume after it passes the filter.
Convert vague bullets to quantified ones: "improved efficiency" → "reduced processing time by 34% across a team of 12."
Step 8 — Run the checker, then repeat
Iterate until you hit 75+
Paste your updated resume into ATSCheck, compare the new score to your starting point, and look at which keywords are still missing. A second round of targeted edits typically gets most resumes above 75. Once you're there, submit — and move on to the next application.
Important: Tailor your resume for every single application. A version optimised for a Senior Product Manager role at a tech company will score poorly against a Programme Director role at a healthcare organisation — even if the underlying skills are similar. Five minutes of tailoring per application is one of the highest-ROI activities in any job search.
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