Your resume could tick every box, right experience, right keywords, right length, and still get rejected before a recruiter ever opens it. Applicant tracking systems parse resumes automatically, and when the parser hits a formatting problem it cannot process, it either scrambles your content or drops it entirely. The system moves on. You never hear back.
The frustrating part is that these are predictable mistakes. They show up in the same five places, across thousands of applications, every week. Understanding the ATS requirements around resume structure is the difference between getting parsed correctly and getting filtered out silently.
Here are the five most common ATS parsing errors, what they look like, why they fail, and exactly how to fix each one.
TL;DR: Five formatting choices cause most silent ATS rejections: multi-column layouts, text hidden in headers or footers, tables used for skills or dates, vague section headings, and icons replacing contact details. Every fix takes under five minutes and none of them require a design degree.
Table of Contents
- Multi-Column Layouts
- Text in Headers, Footers, or Text Boxes
- Tables Used for Skills or Dates
- Non-Standard Section Headings
- Icons and Images Replacing Contact Text
- Common Mistakes at a Glance
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Key Takeaways
1. Multi-Column Layouts
What It Looks Like
A two-column resume is visually appealing. Left column holds skills, certifications, and contact details. Right column holds work experience and education. It looks structured and modern, particularly with a template from Canva, Adobe Express, or a Google Docs design gallery.
Why the Parser Fails
Most ATS software reads a document left to right, line by line, the same way a screen reader does. When your resume has two columns, the parser does not see two neat sections, it reads straight across the page and blends both columns together. A skill from your left column ends up mid-sentence inside a job description on the right. Dates get misplaced. Job titles get orphaned from the companies they belong to.
The result is a scrambled profile that the system either misclassifies or rejects outright, even though all your information was there.
The Fix
Use a single-column layout for any resume going to an employer with an ATS, which covers most companies with more than 50 staff. Move skills, certifications, and contact information into their own clearly labelled sections at the top or bottom of a single flow. If you want a multi-column version for humans to read at a later stage, keep it as a separate file. Our pre-formatted ATS-safe templates give you single-column layouts that still look professional without the parsing risk.
2. Text in Headers, Footers, or Text Boxes
What It Looks Like
Many Word and Google Docs templates use the document header to display your name, phone number, email, and LinkedIn URL. It looks clean and stays visible across every page. Some templates also use floating text boxes to position content precisely, a sidebar for certifications, a callout for a headline statement.
Why the Parser Fails
ATS parsers treat document headers and footers as metadata, not content. The text is there visually, but the parser skips it entirely or reads it in a separate pass that never connects back to your main profile. Your name and contact details, arguably the two most critical pieces of information on a resume, may be completely invisible to the system.
Text boxes cause the same problem. The content sits outside the main document flow, so the parser either misses it or drops it into a random position in the parsed output. A recruiter searching the ATS for your name may get no result at all.
The Fix
Put your name, phone number, email, and LinkedIn URL in the main body of the document. The very first line of your resume should be your name, formatted as a large heading using normal document heading styles, not a header element. Delete any text boxes and paste their content directly into the body. The visual result is almost identical to what you had. The parser reliability is completely different.
3. Tables Used for Skills or Dates
What It Looks Like
Tables are a popular way to display skills in a tidy grid, or to align job titles neatly opposite dates on the same line. It looks organised, and it is easy to build in Word or Google Docs with a few clicks.
Why the Parser Fails
ATS parsers have inconsistent support for tables. Some read cells in the wrong order. Others read each row as a single continuous string, turning Python | SQL | Excel | Tableau into one merged token the system cannot match against job description keywords. Dates placed in table cells are frequently misread or dropped entirely, which means your total years of experience may not calculate correctly when the recruiter filters by experience level.
A skills table that looks neat to a human can become an unreadable block of merged text inside the ATS, and mismatched keywords mean your resume scores lower on match ranking even when you have the relevant skills.
The Fix
Replace skill tables with a simple bullet list or a comma-separated line under a plain Skills heading. For job dates, place them on the same line as the job title, separated by normal spacing. Plain text is the only format every ATS handles correctly. It is not glamorous, but it works across every system without exception.
4. Non-Standard Section Headings
What It Looks Like
Creative section headings feel like a way to stand out. Instead of Work Experience, you write My Journey. Instead of Skills, you write What I Bring to the Table. Some candidates omit headings entirely and rely on context to make sections obvious to anyone reading the document.
Why the Parser Fails
ATS software identifies resume sections by matching heading text against a built-in dictionary of standard labels. When it does not recognise a heading, it either skips the section entirely or dumps the content into a miscellaneous field where it carries no weight in keyword matching. A recruiter filtering for candidates with five years of project management experience will not find you if your experience section was parsed as an unknown block with no classification.
This is one of the most underestimated ATS requirements. Custom headings look creative in a PDF and function as blank space inside the system.
The Fix
Use the standard labels that parsers are built to recognise:
- Work Experience or Experience
- Education
- Skills
- Summary or Professional Summary
- Certifications
- Volunteer Experience
If the role is in a creative field, a portfolio review still matters at the human stage, but the ATS comes first, and it has no interest in personality. Get past the parser, then let your work speak.
5. Icons and Images Replacing Contact Text
What It Looks Like
A phone icon next to your number. A LinkedIn logo next to your profile URL. An envelope symbol where the word "Email" would otherwise be. These are standard in modern resume templates, particularly those downloaded from visual design platforms or shared on social media as resume inspiration.
Why the Parser Fails
Icons are images. ATS parsers read text. The parser sees an icon as a picture file and ignores it, then reads only what follows. If your phone number appears directly after a phone icon with no text label, the parser may have no context for what that number is, and some systems fail to extract it as contact information at all.
Profile photos carry the same parsing problem at a larger scale. Beyond the ATS issue, many UK and US employers now actively discourage profile photos to reduce unconscious bias during screening. A photo on your resume can work against you before a human has read a single word.
The Fix
Replace every icon with plain text. Write Phone: before your number. Write Email: before your address. Write LinkedIn: before your URL. It takes 30 seconds and guarantees the parser extracts your contact details correctly. Remove profile photos unless you are applying for a role where appearance is a stated professional requirement, such as acting or modelling.
Common ATS Resume Formatting Mistakes at a Glance
| Formatting Choice | What Goes Wrong | Safe Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Two-column layout | Content from separate sections merges when parsed | Single-column structure throughout |
| Name and contact in document header | Skipped entirely by the parser | Place in main document body, first lines |
| Skills or dates inside tables | Cells merged into unreadable strings | Bullet list or comma-separated plain text |
| Creative section headings | Sections not recognised or misclassified | Standard labels: Experience, Skills, Education |
| Phone and email icons | Contact details missing from parsed output | Plain text labels: Phone:, Email:, LinkedIn: |
| Profile photo or decorative images | Treated as unreadable image file | Remove entirely from the document |
| Text boxes for sidebar content | Content outside document flow, dropped or misplaced | Paste content directly into main body |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all ATS systems reject multi-column resumes?
Not all, but enough that it is not worth the risk. Older platforms like Taleo, iCIMS, and Greenhouse have well-documented problems with multi-column parsing. Newer systems have improved slightly, but there is no universal standard and no way to know which system a given employer uses before you apply. A single-column resume parses correctly across every platform. A two-column resume is a gamble you are taking with your application.
Can I still use a designed template if I find the right one?
Yes, if the template was built specifically with ATS compatibility in mind. The problem is that most visually impressive templates on Canva, Etsy, or general template marketplaces are designed for human eyes only. If you want a resume that looks clean and also parses correctly, use templates tested against ATS requirements from the start. Our ATS-safe resume templates are built with these constraints in mind so you do not have to choose between the two.
Will saving my resume as a PDF always cause parsing problems?
Not necessarily. Modern ATS platforms can read most text-based PDFs without issue. The risk comes from PDFs created in design tools like Canva or Illustrator, or from scanned documents, those are effectively image files that parsers cannot extract text from. If you export a clean, single-column, text-only resume as a PDF from Word or Google Docs, it will generally parse correctly. When in doubt, check the job listing, it sometimes specifies a preferred format, and you should always follow it.
Does adding more keywords fix an ATS rejection caused by formatting?
No. Keywords and formatting are two separate problems. If the parser has already scrambled or dropped your sections because of formatting errors, adding more keywords to broken content does not help. The structure needs to be correct first. Once the parser can read your resume accurately, keyword optimisation becomes meaningful. Run a free parsing check to see what the ATS actually extracts from your current resume before you spend time rewriting it.
How do I know whether my resume has parsing errors right now?
The clearest signal is no response from applications where you clearly meet the stated requirements. A quick manual check: copy and paste the full text of your resume into a plain text editor like Notepad. What you see is roughly what an ATS parser sees. If sections appear out of order, content is scrambled across columns, or your contact details are missing entirely, those are live parsing errors on your current resume. Fix those before your next application.
Key Takeaways
- ATS rejections are silent. The system filters you out with no explanation and no feedback.
- Multi-column layouts cause content from separate sections to merge into unreadable text when parsed.
- Text in headers, footers, and text boxes is frequently skipped by the parser entirely, including your name and contact details.
- Tables used for skills or dates produce merged strings that ATS keyword matching cannot process correctly.
- Custom section headings that the parser does not recognise get dropped or dumped into unclassified fields.
- Icons and images are invisible to the parser, replace them with plain text labels.
- A single-column, text-only resume with standard section headings satisfies ATS requirements across every major platform.
- Fix formatting before you optimise keywords. A well-keyworded resume inside a broken structure still fails.
Wrapping Up
The ATS requirements that eliminate most candidates have nothing to do with their qualifications. They are formatting decisions that look fine on screen and break silently at the parsing stage. A two-column layout, a header with contact details, a skills table, a creative section title, a phone icon, any one of these can cost you an interview you were qualified for.
None of this requires a complete resume overhaul. Fix the structure, use standard section headings, replace icons with text, and move everything into the main document body. Then check what the ATS actually sees before you submit your next application.
For a full breakdown of every element the parser checks, work through the ATS resume checklist before your next round of applications.
Not sure what an ATS sees when it reads your resume? Run a free parsing check on JD2CV and find out exactly what is getting through, and what is not, before your next application goes out.