The CV mistakes that kill your ATS score

Roughly half of all CVs submitted to mid-to-large companies never reach a human. They're screened out by an Applicant Tracking System — usually not because the candidate is unqualified, but because the file confused the parser or the content missed the keywords the recruiter searched for.

The fixes are unglamorous but decisive. Here are the five mistakes that cost people the most interviews, in the order we see them break CVs.

Mistake 1 — Tables, columns, and graphics

Two-column templates look sharp in a PDF viewer. Then the ATS runs them through a text extractor and the output reads:

Sections collide, headings vanish, dates attach to the wrong role. Charts, skill bars, and logos get dropped entirely. If you take one thing from this list: one column, left-aligned, no tables.

Mistake 2 — Keyword mismatch

The job posting says "Python". Your CV says "8 years coding in Python" — but it's buried in a paragraph about early-career work. The ATS sees the word, but weights it low. A recruiter filter set to "Python + 5 years + last 3 years" doesn't return you.

Fix it by:

• Putting the exact phrase in your Skills section and one recent bullet.
• Using the JD's phrasing, not a synonym. "Machine learning" ≠ "ML/AI".
• Front-loading recent roles with the most relevant keywords first.

Mistake 3 — Non-standard section headings

Creative headings are the second-most-common reason content goes missing. The ATS looks for a fixed set of labels: Experience, Education, Skills, Projects, Certifications. Anything else — "My journey", "The toolbelt", "What I've built" — risks the whole section being treated as freeform text and unindexed.

Mistake 4 — "Responsible for" bullets

A CV full of "Responsible for X" and "Worked on Y" tells a recruiter nothing. Every bullet should follow the same pattern:

Numbers are the most compressible way to signal seniority. Use them — even rough estimates ("~10 engineers", "double-digit growth") — wherever you can defend them.

Mistake 5 — Missing keywords from the JD

The most common miss isn't a formatting bug. It's a keyword the candidate has, but never bothered to surface. The JD asks for "SQL" and the CV mentions "queried Snowflake" — technically true, but a keyword-based filter catches neither. Read the JD once for keywords, once for tone. Then edit your bullets to include the vocabulary the recruiter is searching for.

How to fix a CV before applying

• Paste your CV into a plain-text file. If it doesn't read cleanly, the ATS won't parse it cleanly.
• Standardize headings and date formats across every role.
• Compare your Skills section against the JD, one bullet at a time.
• Kill the passive verbs. If a bullet doesn't start with an action verb, rewrite it.
• Save as PDF, then run it through a preview tool to check what a recruiter will see.