75% of resumes never pass the automated filters.
Discover how to bypass this invisible barrier.
Complete guide: how they work, limitations, and optimization strategies for 2025
An Applicant Tracking System (application tracking system) is software used by recruiters to automate resume screening before a human even sees them.
Resume Submission
You apply
ATS Analysis
Automatic scan
Recruiter
Human review
Crucial point:
The ATS decides whether your resume deserves to be read by a human. If your resume is not optimized for the ATS, it will be automatically rejected, regardless of your experience or skills.
The ATS reads and breaks down your resume to extract:
The ATS compares your resume with the job posting:
The ATS assigns a score based on:
The ATS ranks applications:
Although powerful, ATS systems have many flaws and limitations that can reject excellent candidates.
ATS systems hate creativity: tables, columns, images, graphics, or complex designs are often misinterpreted or completely ignored.
❌ A resume in 2 columns can make the ATS think you worked at 2 companies simultaneously
Some file formats (PDF with embedded images, .pages, .odt) can be unreadable or poorly parsed by older ATS systems.
⚠️ Even PDFs can cause problems if they contain custom fonts or graphic elements
The ATS looks for exact keywords. If the job posting asks for "JavaScript" and you write "JS", the ATS may not make the connection and penalize you.
⚠️ Synonyms or abbreviations are not always recognized by all ATS systems
The ATS doesn't understand context. It counts keywords without grasping the quality or depth of your experience.
❌ A junior who lists 50 technologies will score better than an expert with 10 relevant technologies
Non-standard date formats (e.g., "Spring 2020" or "Q2 2021") can confuse the ATS which expects "MM/YYYY" or "YYYY-YYYY".
⚠️ The ATS may miscalculate your total experience duration due to poorly formatted dates
Accents, special characters and multilingual content can be misinterpreted, causing parsing errors.
⚠️ "François" may become "Francois" and no longer match your name in other documents
ATS systems are supposed to save time for recruiters, but they often reject qualified candidates simply because their resume is not "ATS-friendly". This is why ATS optimization has become essential.
Discover best practices →Follow these best practices to maximize your chances of passing automated filters
Use a clean design with a clear and linear structure.
Integrate the exact terms from the job posting naturally.
Use a standardized format for dates.
Choose the right format to maximize readability.
Create a section easily scannable by the ATS.
Write impactful bullet points with powerful verbs.
All these criteria are automatically applied with JobAlign
Why spend hours manually optimizing your resume when JobAlign can do it in 3 minutes?
2-3 hours per resume
Reading the posting, manual adaptation, formatting
Risk of errors
Missing keywords, incompatible format, inconsistencies
No ATS guarantee
Impossible to know if your resume will pass filters
Same resume everywhere
Too time-consuming to create a unique resume per posting
Less than 3 minutes per resume
AI does everything: analysis, selection, optimization, generation
Zero errors
Keywords extracted automatically, guaranteed compatible format
87% ATS pass rate
Maximum optimization tested on thousands of resumes
Unique resume per posting
Unlimited generation, each resume is 100% personalized
Join the 2,500+ candidates optimizing their job search with JobAlign
Start for free →Don't let automated filters unfairly eliminate you anymore
Create my optimized resume now