Correction, 17 October 2026. Earlier versions of this article said most ATS completely ignore headers and footers, that ATS run anti-spam logic that demotes keyword stuffing, that Workday and Greenhouse run "volume-anomaly detection", that ATS down-weight photos and pre-filter resumes that mention salary, and that three fixes resolve "~70%" of parsing failures. None of those had a source, and the header claim contradicts our own parser benchmark, so we have removed or corrected them. The fixes are unchanged; the reasons now rest on how text extraction and recruiter search work, and on our own published tests.
Most resume rejection happens silently. You apply, you never hear back, and you have no idea why. Often no machine "rejected" you at all: the parser misread your file, or your resume never came up when the recruiter searched. The same 15 mistakes cause most of that, and many show up in the anonymous counts on our ATS data report, which come from files people chose to scan. Here's each one, and how to fix it.
1. Two-column layout
Why it hurts: Many text extractors read across the page line by line, so two columns can be merged into one scrambled stream. Your skills section can end up between bullets from the wrong job.
Fix: Single column. Always. See our format guide.
2. Tables for layout
Why it hurts: Even invisible tables (no borders) break parsing. Cells extract in order, but the order rarely matches reading order.
Fix: Use tab stops or simple paragraph alignment instead. Job title and date on the same line via tabs, not table cells.
3. Contact info in the document header
Why it hurts: Parsers handle the page header and footer differently. Some skip them as boilerplate, which can drop your contact details; others read them on every page. In our own parser benchmark, an email placed in a running header came out three times. Either way, the header is not a safe place for your name, phone and email.
Fix: Move contact info into the body of the document, on the very first line.
4. Custom or "modern" fonts
Why it hurts: The font name matters less than how the file was made. Design tools often export fonts with ligatures, icon fonts and letter-spaced headings, which can come out as broken words ("of?ce", "S O F T W A R E") in the extracted text.
Fix: Use Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Garamond, or Times New Roman. See font compatibility guide.
5. Image-based PDFs
Why it hurts: ATS engines without OCR see your scanned PDF as a single image. Your candidate profile is blank.
Fix: Always export as text-based PDF from Word ("Save As → PDF"). Test by opening the PDF and trying to highlight text with cursor.
6. Missing or wrong-format dates
Why it hurts: The ATS calculates "years of experience" from your dates. If dates are formatted unusually (apostrophe-shortened years, period separators), a parser may not read them, and your years of experience can come out wrong or empty.
Fix: Use one of: "January 2021 – Present" / "Jan 2021 – Present" / "01/2021 – Present". See date formatting guide.
7. Custom section headers
Why it hurts: "My Career Story" instead of "Experience." "What I'm Good At" instead of "Skills." The ATS doesn't recognize the section, fails to extract that data correctly.
Fix: Use conventional names exactly: PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION, SKILLS, CERTIFICATIONS.
8. Skills shown as graphics (progress bars / pie charts)
Why it hurts: Graphics aren't text. Your "Python ████████░░ 80%" looks beautiful in Word but parses as nothing.
Fix: Plain text comma-separated list. "Python (advanced), JavaScript, Go, SQL."
9. Keyword stuffing
Why it hurts: Repeating "project management" 10 times doesn't help a keyword search, because one mention matches as well as ten. And the recruiter who opens your resume sees padding, not experience.
Fix: Each important keyword 2-3 times max, spread across summary, job titles, bullets, and skills section. See keyword density guide.
10. Missing job titles
Why it hurts: Some templates put dates and job titles in formats the ATS can't parse correctly. Result: your work entry has a company name but no role.
Fix: Format: "Job Title, Company Name | City | Date Range" on a single line, with the title FIRST.
11. Acronyms without expansion
Why it hurts: JD says "Financial Planning & Analysis." Your resume only says "FP&A." A search or match check may not connect them, so you don't come up for the term the recruiter used.
Fix: Spell out the first occurrence: "Led FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) for the MEA region."
12. Special characters and Unicode bullets
Why it hurts: Custom bullets from symbol fonts (✔ ► ◆ ★) often come out as boxes (□) or meaningless characters, or get stripped entirely. Ordinary punctuation is less of a worry: in our parser benchmark, em-dashes and curly quotes came through cleanly.
Fix: Use a plain bullet (•) or a hyphen. Avoid symbol-font bullets and icons. If you want to remove every small risk, switch off Word's smart-quote autocorrect.
13. Photos / portraits in ATS-targeted resumes
Why it hurts: A photo is an image, so a parser gets no text from it, and the formatting around photos (sidebars, headers, complex layouts) often causes parsing problems. In markets where photos are not expected, such as the US and UK, recruiters may also see one as a sign you don't know local norms.
Fix: Maintain two versions. ATS-optimized (no photo) for online submissions. Personal version (with photo) for direct email or regional job boards in markets where photos are expected.
14. Salary history or expectations on resume
Why it hurts: Several US states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, bar employers from asking about salary history, and volunteering it only gives away negotiating room. In most markets, salary on a resume signals inexperience.
Fix: Never include salary on your resume. Discuss in interviews when asked.
15. Outdated or irrelevant content
Why it hurts: Listing roles from 20+ years ago, irrelevant hobbies, or skills you haven't used in a decade pushes your relevant experience down the page. A recruiter skimming for fit has to dig for it, and any match feature that compares your resume with the posting sees more unrelated text.
Fix: Keep recent 10-15 years prominent. Older roles in 1-2 line summaries. No hobbies unless directly relevant. No outdated tools you haven't touched in 5+ years.
The hidden 16th mistake: not testing your resume
The biggest mistake of all: sending out 50 applications without ever checking what the ATS actually extracts from your resume.
You can fix all 15 issues above and still have parsing problems you didn't anticipate, non-standard name formats, currency symbols that don't render, language characters, you name it.
Run your resume through a parser BEFORE you start applying, not after you've sent 100 applications without callbacks. ATS Verification shows you exactly what the parser extracted vs your original document. The mismatches are usually obvious, and fixing them is mechanical, not creative.
The fix list ranking
If you can only fix 3 issues, prioritize:
- Layout: single column, no tables, no header/footer for contact info
- Fonts: Arial / Calibri / Helvetica / Garamond / Times New Roman, 10-12pt
- Dates: consistent format across all roles, "Present" for current role
Start with these three. Layout problems, tables especially, are among the most common issues in the anonymous counts on our ATS data report.
One more mistake that isn't about formatting: application volume. AI job-search agents that auto-apply to large numbers of jobs send applications nobody has read, with whatever mistakes the tool made, and recruiters can often see every role you applied to at their company. The candidate sees only silence. Full analysis: Jobright AI Review 2026. And if a rejection lands within minutes of applying, that's a different mechanism again, usually a knockout screening question, not your resume: why you get rejected minutes after applying.
→ Run a free ATS scan, find out which of these 15 mistakes are affecting your resume