What is an ATS?
An ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is the software that receives a company's applications. It files CVs, makes them searchable, and helps the recruiter sort through them when hundreds come in for one role.
Almost all large companies and job boards use one. Small businesses much less so: your CV therefore has to be readable by software AND pleasant for a person.
What the ATS does with your CV
It reads the file
It extracts the text from your PDF or Word file. If the text is an image, it reads nothing.
It breaks down your background
Name, contact details, experience, dates, education, skills: each part is filed into a record.
The recruiter searches and filters
They type keywords ("Figma", "apprenticeship", "Lyon") and see the CVs containing them first.
A person reads the shortlisted CVs
The software sorts, but a person decides. Your CV has to win them over too.
The targeted CV: one CV per job
The recruiter searches using the words of THEIR ad. A generic CV describes your background in your words; a targeted CV describes it in theirs. Same experience, but found in one case and not in the other.
Targeting is not making things up: it means choosing, from what you have really done, what answers this job, and writing it in the terms it uses.
Tailor your CV to a job in 5 steps
Ten minutes per application, once your base CV is ready.
Keep a complete base CV
All your experience, skills and projects. You never start from scratch, you take things out.
Reuse the job title
As your CV title, write the exact title from the ad: "Digital marketing officer apprenticeship", not "Marketing student".
Pick out the keywords from the ad
Tools, skills, tasks. Keep the ones you can back up, and place them in your experience, not in a separate list.
Move what matches to the top
The experience closest to the role goes first, and the skills asked for go at the top of the list.
Name the file properly
"Firstname-Surname-CV-Role.pdf" rather than "CV final v3.pdf". The file is often the first thing the recruiter sees.
The format rules that work everywhere
A text PDF, not an image
A simple test: open your PDF, select the text and paste it into a notepad. If nothing pastes, or it comes out jumbled, an ATS will have the same problem.
Standard section headings
"Experience", "Education", "Skills". An original heading like "My journey" is not recognised.
Readable dates
Month and year ("09/2025 to 06/2026") on every role. Without dates, the software cannot work out your experience.
Key information in the body of the CV
Don't put your name or phone number only in a header, an image or an icon: some software doesn't read them.
One page
For an apprenticeship or an internship, one page is always enough. The recruiter won't turn the page anyway.
The myths to forget
- "Hide keywords in white text": software spots them, and the recruiter sees them as soon as they copy your text. It gets you rejected.
- "There is a 100% ATS score": every company configures its own software. Nobody can guarantee you a score without knowing theirs.
- "The ATS rejects CVs on its own": most of the time it ranks them and the recruiter does the filtering. A well-targeted CV rises up the list, it is not "approved".
- "An ATS CV has to be ugly": no. It has to be machine-readable, which rules out neither colour nor a polished layout.
What about the cover letter?
The same software reads it. One example per job, with the keywords found in the ads.
Web developer
Prove you already code, with a real project.
UX/UI and graphic design
A portfolio, a process and the tools of the job.
Sales
Figures, customer contact and a taste for prospecting.
Human resources
Rigour, discretion and a clear area of work.
Digital marketing
A measured result and an idea for the brand.
Accounting
Reliability, tasks already practised and software.
What Joblio does for you
A real text PDF
Selectable text, clickable links, on one page.
The CV focused on the job
Target a job: Joblio moves up the experience and skills that match it. It reorders, it never makes things up.
The job imported from a link
Paste the link to an ad and Joblio fetches the description to target your CV and your letter.
One CV per application
Duplicate your base CV for each job, without overwriting the other versions.
Frequently asked
questions
Do ATSs read two-column CVs?
Most recent software does, but some mix up the column order. Do the copy-and-paste test: if the pasted text stays in a logical order, your CV gets through.
Does a CV made in Canva get past an ATS?
It depends on the export. If the PDF contains real text, yes. If it is exported as an image, no. The copy-and-paste test tells you in ten seconds.
Do I need a different CV for every application?
Not a CV redone from scratch: the same base CV, adapted. The title, the order of your experience and the keywords change, the rest stays put.
How many keywords should I include?
As many as you can back up, worked into your experience. A list of twenty tools with no context helps the software but puts the recruiter off.
See also
Create a free CV
Make a free CV online: what to include, mistakes to avoid, one-page templates that recruitment software can read. No sign-up needed to start.
AI CV
Upload your CV: artificial intelligence rewrites your experience, drafts your profile summary and suggests skills. It rephrases, it never makes things up.
Letter templates
Apprenticeship cover letter examples by job: web developer, UX/UI designer, sales, HR, marketing, accounting. With practical tips.
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