What is an ATS-friendly CV and how do you make one? A checklist for internship and MT applications (2026)

The file you upload goes through three things in an ATS:

1. Parsing: the software extracts the text from the PDF or Word file. Text inside images, text boxes and complex tables can be lost or scrambled here.
2. Splitting into fields: the text is divided into fields such as experience, education and skills. Standard headings go to the right field; creative ones ("My journey", "What I've done") may not.
3. Search and filtering: recruiters search and filter candidates by keyword, degree, graduation year, language level. A phrase that isn't on your CV won't find you in a search.

So an ATS is usually not an "automatic rejection machine" but a database; a CV it can't read, or reads wrongly, becomes invisible in that database. Research by Harvard Business School and Accenture shows automated filters screening out qualified candidates too.

The last row matters: invisible keywords circulate as a "hack", but they show up the moment the text reaches a recruiter's screen and end the trust.

A keyword is a phrase that describes what the posting is looking for: a tool ("SQL", "Power BI"), a competency ("demand forecasting", "stakeholder management"), a certificate or a language level.

1. Read the posting and mark the concrete phrases in "requirements" and "responsibilities".
2. Pick the ones you actually did. Writing something you didn't do comes out in the interview.
3. Use the phrase in the posting's form: if it says "data visualisation", your CV says "data visualisation".
4. Put the keyword inside a result: "Built a weekly sales dashboard in Power BI" is stronger than a list.

Doing this for every posting explains why sending the same CV everywhere doesn't work: every posting's words are different.

There's no single universal ATS score. Companies use different systems (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle, Greenhouse and others), each configured differently, and in most cases a person makes the final decision. Online "ATS score" tools produce an estimate by their own method; it can be a useful check, but it isn't a score the company sees.

Likewise, "ATS-friendly" isn't a certification but a readability recipe: the checklist above. When we use "ATS-friendly" for Proyo, it means exactly that: one column, selectable text, standard headings and the posting's own wording.

When you pick a posting in Proyo, the AI reads it and your base CV and:

• Layout: produces a single-column PDF with selectable text and standard headings.
• Wording: uses the posting's key phrases in the same form, where your CV supports them.
• Order: moves your most relevant experience to the top.
• Language: writes the CV in the posting's language.
• Invents nothing: adds no employer, school, certificate or number that isn't in your CV; the result is an editable CV and you decide what stays.

All of it takes 15–20 seconds, separately for each posting. A cover letter for the same posting is ready in about 10 seconds.