An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that parses, scores and ranks CVs before a human recruiter sees them. Every major Nigerian employer - from banks to telcos to the big-four consultancies - uses one. If your CV cannot be parsed cleanly it never reaches a human.
The 10 features of an ATS-compliant CV
- Standard fonts. Calibri, Arial, Helvetica or Georgia at 10-12pt body. Decorative fonts render as garbled text in the parser.
- Standard section headings. "Work Experience", "Education", "Skills", "Certifications". Not "My Journey" or "Who I Am". The parser matches heading text to its vocabulary.
- No images, no icons, no logos. The parser extracts text only. Any content inside an image is invisible to it.
- No tables or multi-column layouts. Tables scramble the reading order. Use single-column, top-to-bottom layout.
- No text boxes or sidebars. Same reason - the parser reads left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
- No headers or footers. Many parsers skip these entirely. Keep your contact info in the main body.
- PDF or DOCX only. Not .pages, not .odt, not JPG screenshots of a CV. PDF generated from Word (not scanned from print).
- Keyword density. Mirror the exact phrasing in the job advert. If the ad says "Python" use "Python", not "snake-case programming".
- Spelled-out acronyms on first use. "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" scores for both terms.
- Dates in MM/YYYY format. "January 2023 - Present" works better than "Jan '23 - now".
How ATS scoring actually works
Every ATS compares your CV to the job description and generates a match score. The scoring factors are:
- Keyword match - how many of the job-description keywords appear in your CV. Usually 60-80% of the score.
- Experience years - total years in roles matching the title / function requested.
- Education match - degree level and field vs the requirement.
- Location proximity - some ATS boost local candidates automatically.
The ATS test
Before you submit, do this: copy your CV, paste it into a plain text editor. If the result is readable, well-ordered, and includes every date and achievement from the formatted version, your CV is ATS-safe. If text comes out jumbled or sections appear in the wrong order, your layout is breaking the parser - rebuild it in single-column format.
Keyword matching: the one trick
Save the job advert. Highlight every noun and verb that describes a skill, tool or responsibility. Those are the keywords. Rewrite your CV so each of those words appears at least once, phrased in context. Do not keyword-stuff - the human recruiter sees the result too.
Browse live openings on Openings - every listing has a parseable job description you can mirror in your CV.