> ATS CV Builder

An applicant tracking system is the software an employer uses to collect applications. It reads your file, pulls out your name, your roles, your dates and your skills, and stores them as fields a recruiter can search. An ATS CV is simply one that survives that step intact.

Most CVs that fail do so for dull reasons: the text lives inside an image, the layout is two columns and the parser interleaves them, or the contact details sit in a header the parser never reads. Nothing about the writing matters if the file cannot be read, which is why the builder above exports real selectable text in a single column.

The readiness panel beside the preview scores ten things it can actually see in your CV. They are the same ten things a parser looks for:

• •Contact block with name, email, phone and city as plain text.
• •A professional title under your name, matching the role you are applying for.
• •A short summary — two or three lines, not a paragraph.
• •At least one experience entry, with the employer and the role both named.
• •Complete start and end dates on every role, in one consistent format.
• •Two or three achievement bullets under each role rather than a duty list.
• •Measurable results in some of those bullets: numbers, percentages, timeframes.
• •An education entry, however brief.
• •Six or more relevant skills written as plain text, not a rating graphic.
• •Links and email in a valid format, so they are not mangled on import.

The score is a checklist, not a prediction — no tool can tell you what a particular employer's system will do. It is useful because each missing point names something concrete to fix.

1. Fill in the contact block and a professional title that matches the job you want, not the job you currently hold.
2. Add each role newest first, with complete dates. Write two or three bullets per role about what changed because of you, not what you were responsible for.
3. Put a number in the bullets that have one — how much, how many, how long. They are the lines a recruiter stops on.
4. List skills as plain comma-separated terms, using the words the industry uses rather than your employer's internal names for things.
5. Paste the job description into the keyword matcher and add any terms it flags that genuinely apply to you. Do not add ones that do not.
6. Watch the readiness score, clear the warnings, then export.

Both exports here contain real text you can select and search — neither is an image, and neither uses layout tables that scramble the reading order.

Send the PDF by default. It renders the same on every machine, and modern tracking systems parse it without trouble.

Send the DOCX when the application asks for Word specifically, when a recruitment agency needs to add its own header, or when an older upload form refuses PDFs.

• •Putting contact details in the page header or footer, where many parsers never look.
• •Two-column layouts, sidebars and text boxes, which get read out of order.
• •Skill bars, rating dots and logos — a parser sees an image and records nothing.
• •Exporting a scan or a screenshot instead of a text file.
• •Inconsistent dates: 2021–2023 in one role and Mar 2021 in the next.
• •Renaming standard sections to things like "My Journey" instead of Experience.
• •Padding the skills list with keywords you cannot talk about in an interview.
• •A four-line paragraph where a summary should be two or three lines.

Is this CV builder free?

Yes. Every part of it is free and there is no account to create. The builder runs in your browser, your CV is saved to that browser's local storage, and nothing is uploaded to a server.

What is an ATS-friendly CV?

One that a parser can read without guessing: a single column of text, standard section headings, real text rather than images, and dates in a consistent format. The exports here are built that way — the PDF and DOCX both contain selectable text, not a picture of a CV.

Should I send a PDF or a DOCX?

Send the PDF unless the application explicitly asks for Word. The PDF keeps its layout everywhere. Use the DOCX when an employer or an agency asks for an editable file, or when an older upload form rejects PDFs.

How does the ATS score work?

It is a checklist, not a prediction. The builder scores ten things it can actually see: contact details, professional title, summary length, experience entries, complete dates, achievement bullets, measurable results, education, skills and link formatting. A missing item tells you exactly what to add.

Can I match my CV to a job description?

Yes. Paste the job posting into the keyword matcher and it lists the terms from the posting that do not appear anywhere in your CV, so you can add the ones that genuinely apply to you.

How long should a CV be?

One page for most people, two once you have several relevant roles to describe. The preview shows real A4 pages as you type, so you can see where the second page starts.