ATS-friendly resume
A resume formatted to be parsed correctly by Applicant Tracking Systems.
Definition
An ATS-friendly resume is one that's formatted so an Applicant Tracking System can parse it correctly. The biggest failure modes: multi-column layouts (parsed in unpredictable order), graphic icons + skill-bar visualizations (invisible to the parser), text in Word headers (literally not read), non-standard fonts (OCR errors), creative section names like "Where I've Been" instead of "Experience" (parser can't categorize).
Example
A "designer-friendly" Canva resume with a left sidebar listing skills + a right column with experience: the parser reads top-to-bottom, so it interleaves skills with experience bullets and garbles both. The same content in a single-column Word doc with conventional headers parses correctly.
Why it matters
Pretty resumes don't help if they get filtered before a human sees them. Format issues alone account for ~25% of ATS rejections. Single column + plain fonts + standard section names + PDF + no graphics covers every major parser (Workday / Greenhouse / Lever / iCIMS / Taleo / BambooHR / SmartRecruiters).