Few topics in CV writing generate more anxiety than applicant tracking systems.

Candidates are frequently told that:

their CV must "beat the ATS";
certain fonts will cause automatic rejection;
every job description must be copied into the CV;
a secret ATS score determines whether a human ever sees the application.

The reality is more nuanced.

An Applicant Tracking System, or ATS, is primarily a system organisations use to manage recruitment activity. Different systems work differently. There is no single universal robot sitting between every candidate and every recruiter.

So what should ATS optimisation actually mean?

Start with readability

Your CV should be structurally easy to process. That generally means:

clear headings;
recognisable sections;
sensible formatting;
readable fonts;
straightforward dates;
logical chronology;
limited reliance on decorative elements.

A beautiful document that is difficult to parse is not helpful. But that does not mean every CV needs to look like plain text. Good design and machine readability can coexist.

Use terminology employers actually use

Suppose the market consistently describes your expertise as: Product Management, but your CV uses only an internal title such as: Customer Proposition Owner. A recruiter searching the database may not immediately connect the two.

Where appropriate, use recognisable terminology alongside accurate job titles. For example: Customer Proposition Owner | Product Management, if that genuinely reflects the work. The purpose is not manipulating the system. It is reducing ambiguity.

Keywords should represent real experience

If a vacancy repeatedly refers to:

stakeholder management;
regulatory reporting;
Python;
SaaS;
financial modelling;

and you genuinely have those capabilities, your CV should probably say so somewhere. But copying every phrase from the vacancy into the document does not create relevant experience.

Keywords work best when they appear naturally within evidence. For example: Led regulatory reporting transformation across X markets... is far more credible than adding: Regulatory reporting | Transformation | Leadership to a large keyword box with no supporting evidence.

Your job titles matter

Recruiters frequently search by titles. If your official title is unusual, clarify the function without misrepresenting it.

Do not change: Customer Service Manager to: Chief Customer Officer because you believe the second title will rank better. Accuracy matters.

But if the official title was: Customer Happiness Ninja and you were effectively a Customer Success Manager, adding context is sensible.

Skills sections can help, but should not become keyword storage

A focused skills or expertise section can be useful. A list of 45 terms is usually not. Choose areas that genuinely represent your professional capability and are relevant to your positioning. The CV should still demonstrate those capabilities through the experience section.

Tailoring does not mean rewriting everything

Different roles may require different emphasis. Suppose your background includes both business development and operations. For one role, the commercial experience may deserve greater prominence. For another, operational transformation may matter more.

That is legitimate tailoring. You are not inventing new experience. You are deciding which evidence is most relevant to the opportunity.

Formatting myths can distract from bigger problems

Candidates sometimes obsess over whether an icon or line will upset the ATS while ignoring the fact that their CV never clearly explains what they achieved.

Technology matters. But the primary audience is still ultimately a person making a recruitment decision. Do not optimise a document so aggressively for a system that it becomes worse for the human reader.

There is no universal ATS score

Be cautious with tools promising an objective score such as: Your CV is 78% ATS compatible. Such tools can be useful for identifying missing terminology or formatting problems. But they do not have access to every employer's recruitment process, recruiter behaviour or hiring criteria. Treat the score as one signal, not a verdict.

The best ATS strategy is still relevance

If your experience genuinely matches the role, your CV should make that match easy to recognise. That means:

Use clear structure.
Use terminology the market recognises.
Include relevant genuine skills.
Provide evidence.
Emphasise the experience that matters.
Keep the document easy for both systems and humans to read.

There is no trick. And there should not need to be.

What ATS Optimisation Really Means for a Professional CV