How to make an ATS-friendly resume in Canada

What an ATS actually does with your resume

An ATS is a database with a form in front of it. When you upload a resume it tries to parse the file into fields: name, contact details, job titles, employers, dates, education and skills. A recruiter then searches and filters those fields, or reads the parsed profile next to your original file.

That means there are two different ways a resume can fail. It can parse badly, so your job titles land in the wrong fields or disappear. Or it can parse fine but not match, because the words a recruiter searches for (for example "accounts payable" or "Kotlin") are not on the page. Almost all "ATS-friendly" advice is about fixing one of those two problems.

File type and layout

Unless the posting asks for something else, upload a text-based PDF or a DOCX. A text-based PDF is one where you can select and copy the words; a scanned image or a PDF exported from a design tool as flattened artwork gives the parser nothing to read.

• One column for the main content. Two-column layouts often get read left-to-right across both columns, mixing lines together.
• Contact details in the body of the page, not in the header or footer area, which some parsers skip.
• No text inside images, icons, charts, text boxes or tables used for layout.
• Standard fonts at 10 to 12 pt, with enough spacing that a human can scan it.
• Dates in one consistent format, such as Mar 2023 – Present or 2023-03 – Present.
• A file name a recruiter can find later: Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf.

Skill bars, star ratings and percentage charts are the most common problem we see. They cannot be parsed and they do not tell an employer anything verifiable. Replace them with a plain list of tools and a sentence of evidence in your experience section.

Use headings the system recognizes

Parsers look for familiar section names to decide where one block ends and the next begins. Creative headings like "Where I've Made an Impact" or "My Toolbox" can cause whole sections to be dropped or mislabelled.

Find the right keywords without stuffing

The keywords that matter are the ones in the posting you are applying to. A simple way to find them:

1. Copy the job description into a document and highlight every tool, certification, method and domain term (for example Power BI, month-end close, WHMIS, Jetpack Compose, Tier 2 support).
2. Mark which ones appear more than once or sit in the "requirements" list. Those are the priorities.
3. For each priority term you genuinely have, make sure it appears in your resume in the same form the employer uses. If they say "customer relationship management (CRM)", write both the phrase and the acronym once.
4. Put the term where it has evidence: in a bullet that shows you used it, not only in a skills list.

Write bullets that parse and persuade

Each experience bullet should say what you did, with what, and what changed. Start with a strong verb, name the relevant tool or context, and finish with a result or scope. Numbers help when you actually have them; scope (team size, volume, number of locations) works when you do not.

Canadian details that affect screening

• Do not include a photo, date of birth, age, marital status, religion or Social Insurance Number (SIN). Canadian employers generally avoid collecting this information at the resume stage.
• City and province are enough for your address (for example Surrey, BC). A full street address is not needed.
• If a role requires eligibility to work in Canada, answer the application question directly. You may add a short line such as Work authorization: open work permit if it helps, but you do not have to explain your status on the resume.
• Two pages is normal for experienced candidates; one page is common for students and early-career roles.
• Canadian or American spelling are both accepted. Pick one and stay consistent.

Test your file before you send it

• Open the PDF, select all text and paste it into a plain text editor. If the order is scrambled or words are missing, the ATS will likely see the same thing.
• Search the pasted text for your top five keywords from the posting.
• Check that every job has a title, employer, city and dates on their own lines.
• Read it once on a phone screen. Recruiters increasingly review applications on mobile.