You've put real effort into your resume. It looks professional. The design is clean. The fonts are consistent. You're proud of it. And it's still not getting responses.
Here's something most people don't realize: a resume that looks great to a human can be completely unreadable to the software that processes it first.
This is one of the most frustrating resume problems because it's invisible. The rejection isn't about your experience. It's not about your skills. It's about how your resume is structured — and the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) simply can't parse it correctly.
Let's go through the most common formatting mistakes and how to fix them.
Mistake 1: Using a Multi-Column Layout
Two-column resumes look sleek. They save space. They're popular in resume templates you find online. They're also one of the most common reasons resumes get rejected before anyone reads them.
Most ATS software reads a resume the same way you'd read a book: top to bottom, left to right, treating the whole page as one column. When it encounters a two-column layout, it often reads across both columns simultaneously, mixing up your skills section with your contact details or jumbling your work history into a confusing block of text.
The result is a resume that looks like nonsense to the software — and gets scored poorly or rejected as a result.
Fix: Use a single-column layout for any resume you're submitting through an online application system. You can have a well-designed resume and keep it single-column. Many highly effective resumes are simple documents with clear sections, no decorative columns, and consistent formatting throughout.
Mistake 2: Using Text Boxes
Text boxes are a formatting tool in Word and design software that let you place text anywhere on the page. They're great for print layouts. For ATS, they're a problem.
Many ATS systems either ignore text boxes completely or scramble their content. If you've put key information — your name, your contact details, your summary — inside a text box, there's a real chance the system doesn't see it at all.
Fix: Remove all text boxes. Everything on your resume should be in the main body of the document, formatted as regular text with standard paragraph and heading styles.
Mistake 3: Using Tables
Tables have the same problem as text boxes. They're designed for human visual reading, not for software parsing. ATS systems often can't read the cells of a table correctly — they either collapse the table into a mess of text or skip the content entirely.
Some people use tables to create the appearance of a two-column layout (skills on the left, details on the right, for example). It looks fine on screen and on paper. It can be invisible to an ATS.
Fix: Don't use tables anywhere in your resume. If you want a skills section, list your skills as simple text — either comma-separated or as individual lines, with no table formatting underneath.
Mistake 4: Using Headers and Footers for Contact Information
Headers and footers in Word documents are sometimes used to keep contact information neatly at the top or bottom of every page. Some ATS systems don't read the header and footer areas of a document — they only process the main body.
If your name and email address are in a header, the ATS might not capture them at all. Your resume gets processed without your contact details, which can cause issues in how it's stored and displayed in the recruiter's system.
Fix: Put your name, email, phone number, and LinkedIn URL in the main body of the first page, above your summary. Don't rely on headers or footers to carry important information.
Mistake 5: Using Non-Standard Section Headings
ATS systems are trained to look for certain section headings. Standard headings like "Work Experience," "Education," "Skills," and "Summary" are widely recognized. Creative alternatives — like "Where I've Been" instead of "Work Experience," or "Things I'm Good At" instead of "Skills" — can confuse the software.
The ATS assigns information to categories based on section headings. If it doesn't recognize your heading, it might misfile your content or not categorize it at all.
Fix: Use plain, standard section headings. Clarity beats creativity when it comes to ATS.
Mistake 6: Using Unusual Fonts or Icons
Decorative fonts, icon bullets, star ratings for skills, and progress bar graphics look impressive in design portfolios. In standard job applications, they create two problems.
First, the ATS often can't read icon-based elements — a star rating for your Excel skills gets read as a symbol the system doesn't understand, not as a skill rating.
Second, even if a human reviewer sees your resume, unusual fonts and decorative elements can make your resume feel informal or gimmicky for roles that expect professional presentation.
Fix: Use standard, readable fonts — Arial, Calibri, Garamond, or Georgia are all solid choices. Use standard bullet points rather than custom icons. Remove skill rating bars and decorative graphic elements.
Mistake 7: Saving in the Wrong File Format
If a job posting doesn't specify a format, you might wonder whether to send a PDF or a Word document. Both have valid uses, but they affect ATS reading in different ways.
PDFs preserve your formatting perfectly for human readers, but some older ATS systems have difficulty parsing PDF text accurately. Word documents are generally more reliably parsed by ATS, but they're vulnerable to formatting changes when opened on a different computer.
Fix: Read the job posting carefully. If it specifies a format, use that. If it doesn't, a PDF is generally the safer modern choice since most current ATS systems handle PDF text well — but if you're applying to a company or industry known for older hiring systems, Word (.docx) is the safer bet.
The Quick Checklist
Before submitting any resume, run through this:
- Single-column layout? ✓
- No text boxes? ✓
- No tables? ✓
- Contact info in the main body, not a header? ✓
- Standard section headings? ✓
- Standard fonts, no icon graphics? ✓
- Saved in the right file format? ✓
These are small changes that take almost no time to make. But they can be the difference between your resume being read and your resume being rejected by software before a human ever sees it.
Once your formatting is clean, understanding what your ATS score means helps you focus on the next layer — keyword coverage. And if you want to see how all five evaluation signals fit together, our breakdown of the AI scoring pipeline covers it end-to-end.
Run your resume through Resuma to see whether the structure is parsing cleanly before you apply.