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Create ResumeAn ATS friendly resume in Australia is a resume that can be read clearly by applicant tracking systems and understood quickly by recruiters. That means simple formatting, relevant keywords from the job ad, standard section headings, clear job titles, measurable achievements, and no design tricks that confuse the system. But here is the part many candidates miss: passing the ATS is not the same as getting shortlisted. The ATS may help organise, filter, or search applications, but a human still needs to trust what they are seeing. A strong Australian resume has to satisfy both: the software that parses it and the recruiter or hiring manager who decides whether you are worth interviewing.
An ATS friendly resume is not a plain, lifeless document with no personality. It is a resume that keeps the important information easy to find, easy to scan, and easy to match against the role.
In the Australian job market, applicant tracking systems are commonly used by larger employers, recruitment agencies, government organisations, universities, healthcare groups, banks, consultancies, and companies receiving high application volumes. The ATS helps store applications, manage candidates, track hiring stages, search resumes, and sometimes screen for role related criteria.
What it does not do, at least not in the magical way candidates often imagine, is sit there like a tiny recruitment robot making perfect hiring decisions. ATS technology can be useful, but it is not a substitute for judgement. I have seen candidates obsess over beating the ATS while ignoring the actual hiring logic behind the role. That is where things go wrong.
An ATS friendly resume needs to answer three questions clearly:
Can the system read the content correctly?
Can the recruiter quickly understand your fit?
Can the hiring manager see enough evidence to justify an interview?
If the answer to any of those is no, the resume is not doing its job.
The biggest misconception is that you need to “beat” the ATS.
That phrase has caused a lot of bad resumes.
Candidates start stuffing keywords into awkward sentences, copying half the job ad into their resume, hiding text in white font, using strange formatting hacks, or removing all useful detail because they think simplicity means emptiness. None of that helps. In fact, it often makes the resume look less credible when a recruiter opens it.
The real goal is not to beat the ATS. The real goal is to make your resume easy to match.
That means your resume should clearly connect your background to the role using the same language employers use, while still sounding like a real professional with actual experience. If the job ad says stakeholder management, your resume should not only say “people skills”. If the role asks for payroll, rostering, CRM systems, compliance, or procurement, those terms need to appear where they genuinely reflect your experience.
But keywords alone do not get you hired. Recruiters do not shortlist someone because they sprinkled the right nouns across a document. They shortlist because the resume shows relevant responsibility, impact, context, and credibility.
A keyword gets attention. Evidence earns trust.
Most ATS platforms scan resumes by identifying text and sorting information into fields such as name, contact details, work history, education, skills, job titles, employers, and dates. Problems happen when the system cannot properly read or classify your information.
This usually happens because the resume uses formatting that looks nice visually but creates confusion technically.
Common parsing issues include:
Important details placed inside headers or footers
Text boxes that do not read in the correct order
Tables that split information strangely
Icons used instead of words for contact details
Graphics used to show skills or experience
Columns that rearrange content incorrectly
Non standard section headings
PDF files created from design tools that turn text into image like content
When the ATS misreads your resume, your information may still be visible to a recruiter in the original file, but it may not appear properly in the system profile. That can affect searchability and screening, especially if recruiters are searching the database for specific skills, qualifications, licences, systems, or job titles.
I am not saying every ATS will reject you instantly because you used a column. That is too simplistic. Some systems are better than others. But when you are applying cold, you do not know which system is being used or how cleanly it will parse your document. So the safest strategy is simple: do not make the software work harder than necessary.
The best format for an ATS friendly resume in Australia is a clean reverse chronological format. That means your most recent role appears first, followed by previous roles in order.
This works because it matches how recruiters naturally assess candidates. We look first at what you are doing now or most recently, then we look backwards to understand progression, relevance, stability, and depth.
A strong ATS friendly Australian resume usually includes these sections:
Name and contact details
Professional summary
Key skills
Work experience
Education and qualifications
Licences, certifications, or registrations where relevant
Technical skills or systems experience where relevant
Volunteer work or additional experience only when useful
Use simple section headings. Do not get creative with labels such as “My Journey”, “Career Story”, “Where I Have Made Magic”, or “Professional Adventures”. Cute headings are for personal branding decks, not ATS parsing. Recruiters are scanning quickly. The ATS is parsing literally. Say what the section is.
Good section headings include:
Professional Summary
Key Skills
Work Experience
Education
Certifications
Technical Skills
Licences
Referees
For Australian resumes, you do not need to include a photo, age, marital status, nationality, religion, full address, or personal identification details. A suburb and state can be enough if location is relevant. Your mobile number, email, LinkedIn profile, and city or region are usually sufficient.
For most Australian job applications, a Word document or a clean text based PDF is usually safest. If the employer or recruiter specifically requests one format, follow that instruction.
Word documents are often easier for older ATS platforms to parse. PDFs can also work well if they are created properly and contain selectable text. The issue is not PDF itself. The issue is badly generated PDFs, especially those exported from heavy design tools where the resume behaves more like an image than a normal document.
My practical advice is simple. Keep both versions ready:
A clean Word version for online applications and recruitment agencies
A clean PDF version for direct emails, networking, and situations where you want formatting preserved
Before submitting a PDF, open it and try selecting the text. If you cannot highlight your words properly, the ATS may struggle too.
Do not send image files, Canva heavy resumes, scanned documents, or resumes where the design matters more than the content. They may look polished to you, but they can create unnecessary risk.
A resume is not a poster. It is an evidence document.
ATS friendly resume keywords matter, but they need to be used with judgement. The best keywords come from the job ad, position description, industry language, and role requirements.
Look for repeated or important terms related to:
Job title
Core responsibilities
Technical skills
Software systems
Qualifications
Industry knowledge
Compliance requirements
Stakeholder groups
Leadership scope
Certifications or licences
Tools, methods, or frameworks
For example, if you are applying for an Australian payroll role and the job ad mentions awards, enterprise agreements, payroll tax, superannuation, Single Touch Payroll, and Chris21, your resume should reflect those terms if you genuinely have that experience.
A weak keyword approach looks like this:
Weak Example
Experienced professional with excellent communication, leadership, teamwork, problem solving, payroll, awards, compliance, reporting, systems, stakeholders, customer service, and administration skills.
This is just a keyword pile. It does not tell me what you have done, where you have done it, how deeply you understand it, or whether I should trust you with the role.
A better approach looks like this:
Good Example
Managed end to end fortnightly payroll for 450 employees across multiple awards and enterprise agreements, using Chris21 to process payroll, maintain employee records, resolve discrepancies, and support Single Touch Payroll reporting.
That sentence does more than include keywords. It gives context, scale, tools, responsibility, and relevance. That is what recruiters want.
The best ATS friendly resumes use keywords inside meaningful evidence. The system sees the terms. The recruiter sees the proof.
Once a resume reaches a recruiter, the real screening begins. This is where many candidates misunderstand the process.
A recruiter is usually not reading your resume slowly from top to bottom at first. They are scanning for match signals. Those signals tell us whether to keep reading, pause, shortlist, reject, or come back later.
The first things I usually look for are:
Current or most recent role
Industry relevance
Job title alignment
Scope of responsibility
Length of experience
Key achievements
Required qualifications
Location and work rights where relevant
Systems or technical skills
Career progression
Gaps or unusual movement patterns
This does not mean candidates from different industries cannot be shortlisted. They absolutely can. But if your relevance is not obvious, your resume needs to work harder to explain the transfer.
For example, if a candidate is moving from retail management into office administration, I do not want vague claims about being “highly organised”. I want to see rostering, reporting, customer issue resolution, stock control, cash handling, staff supervision, scheduling, supplier communication, and system use. That gives me something to translate.
The ATS may pick up keywords, but recruiters interpret patterns. We notice whether your resume feels targeted, credible, inflated, under explained, or mismatched.
A strong ATS friendly resume should be easy to scan in under 20 seconds and still hold up under deeper review. The structure matters because it controls what the recruiter sees first.
Put your name at the top in plain text. Then include your phone number, professional email address, LinkedIn URL if useful, and location.
Avoid icons for phone or email unless the word itself is also written. Some systems do not interpret icons properly.
Good contact section:
Simar Malhi
Melbourne, VIC
0400 000 000
linkedin.com/in/simarmalhi
Do not bury contact details in a header or footer. Keep them in the body of the document.
Your summary should be short, specific, and role aligned. It should not be a paragraph of personality traits.
A weak summary says:
Weak Example
Hardworking and motivated professional with excellent communication skills and a passion for delivering results. I work well independently and as part of a team.
That could belong to almost anyone. It gives me no useful hiring information.
A stronger summary says:
Good Example
Operations Coordinator with five years of experience supporting logistics, scheduling, supplier communication, inventory control, and reporting across fast paced distribution environments. Strong background using Excel, SAP, and internal warehouse systems to improve workflow visibility, reduce processing errors, and support daily operational decision making.
This works because it tells me role type, experience level, industry context, systems, responsibilities, and value.
The key skills section should reflect the role you are targeting. It should not be a random list of every skill you have ever touched.
For an ATS friendly resume, this section helps with searchability. For a recruiter, it creates a quick relevance map.
Use skills such as:
Stakeholder management
Project coordination
Payroll processing
Financial reporting
Customer service
Case management
Data analysis
Inventory control
Recruitment coordination
Contract administration
Only include skills you can actually discuss in an interview. If you list advanced Excel and then cannot explain pivot tables, lookups, or reporting examples, the issue is not the ATS. The issue is trust.
This is the most important section. Your work experience should show what you did, where you did it, and why it matters.
For each role, include:
Job title
Company name
Location
Employment dates
Brief context if the company or role is not obvious
Responsibilities
Achievements or outcomes
A practical format looks like this:
Job Title
Company Name, Location
Month Year to Month Year
Then include concise bullets under the role.
Good work experience bullets should show responsibility and evidence. They should not read like a copied job description.
Weak Example
Responsible for customer service and administration.
Good Example
Managed daily customer enquiries across phone and email channels, resolving order issues, updating CRM records, coordinating with warehouse teams, and reducing repeat follow ups through clearer case notes.
The good version gives me context. It tells me what kind of customer service, what systems or processes were involved, and what value was created.
For most candidates, education should sit below work experience unless you are a recent graduate or the qualification is the main requirement for the role.
Include:
Qualification name
Institution
Year completed or expected completion
Relevant licences or accreditations
In Australia, some roles require very specific qualifications, checks, or registrations. Examples include Working With Children Check, White Card, RSA, First Aid, CPA, CA, AHPRA registration, forklift licence, security licence, trade certificates, or tertiary qualifications.
If the job ad lists a mandatory qualification, do not hide it. Put it where it can be found quickly.
The best ATS resume formatting is boring in the right way. Not ugly. Not careless. Just clean.
Use:
Standard fonts such as Calibri, Arial, Aptos, Helvetica, or Times New Roman
Font size around 10.5 to 12 for body text
Clear headings
Normal margins
Consistent spacing
Round bullet points
Left aligned text
Simple bolding for job titles, employers, and section headings
Avoid:
Text boxes
Heavy tables
Multiple columns
Icons replacing words
Photos
Skill bars
Infographics
Decorative graphics
Unusual fonts
Headers and footers for important details
The problem with visual templates is that they often prioritise appearance over readability. A two column design might look modern, but it can cause the ATS to read your skills before your name, your dates after your education, or your job history in the wrong order.
Recruiters do not reward fancy formatting if it slows down understanding. Hiring managers rarely say, “This candidate has the best sidebar.” They care whether you can do the work.
For most Australian professionals, a resume should usually be two to four pages, depending on experience level and complexity.
One page can work for students, graduates, early career candidates, or very simple work histories. But for experienced professionals, forcing everything onto one page often removes the evidence recruiters need.
The problem is not length by itself. The problem is wasted space.
A three page resume with clear, relevant evidence is better than a one page resume full of vague claims. A five page resume repeating every task from every job since 2009 is not helpful either.
Use this as a practical guide:
One page for students, graduates, and very early career candidates
Two pages for early to mid career professionals
Three to four pages for experienced professionals, managers, technical specialists, and candidates with complex project or compliance backgrounds
More than four pages only when genuinely justified by seniority, technical detail, academic work, government selection criteria, or project based experience
In Australia, the strict one page resume rule is often overstated. What matters more is whether every section earns its space.
A strong ATS friendly resume is not just about what you include. It is also about what you remove.
Leave out anything that distracts, dates you unnecessarily, creates bias, or adds no hiring value.
Usually leave out:
Full street address
Date of birth
Marital status
Nationality unless legally relevant
Photo
Personal identification numbers
Unrelated hobbies
Referee contact details on the first application
Salary expectations unless requested
Overly personal career objective statements
Generic soft skills with no evidence
You can include “Referees available upon request”, but even that is optional. Most Australian employers will ask for referees later in the process. Do not give away referee details before there is genuine hiring interest.
Also avoid listing every short course you have ever completed. If a certification is relevant, include it. If it has nothing to do with the role, it is noise.
A resume should reduce uncertainty. It should not create extra questions.
Most ATS resume mistakes are not dramatic. They are small decisions that make the application harder to understand.
The most common mistakes include:
Using a beautiful template that cannot be parsed properly
Writing a summary full of personality traits instead of role relevance
Copying keywords without evidence
Hiding important qualifications near the bottom
Using vague job titles that do not match the market
Listing duties without achievements or context
Making the resume too broad because the candidate is open to anything
Removing useful detail to keep the resume short
Using inconsistent dates
Forgetting systems, tools, licences, or industry terminology
Sending the same resume for every role
That last one is a big one. Candidates often say, “But my experience is the same.” Yes, but the relevance is not always the same. A resume for an operations role should not position you exactly the same way as a resume for a customer success role, even if your background overlaps both.
Good tailoring does not mean rewriting your entire resume every time. It means adjusting the summary, key skills, and most relevant bullets so the match is obvious.
Recruiters should not have to solve the puzzle for you.
Tailoring an ATS friendly resume starts with reading the job ad properly. Not skimming it. Reading it like a recruiter.
Look for what the employer is really prioritising. Job ads usually contain a mix of mandatory requirements, preferred skills, generic filler, and wish list items. Your job is to identify what actually matters.
Pay close attention to:
The first few responsibilities listed
Repeated skills or phrases
Mandatory qualifications
Required software or systems
Industry specific language
Level of seniority
Reporting lines
Stakeholders mentioned
Compliance or regulatory requirements
Whether the role is operational, strategic, technical, customer facing, or administrative
Then adjust your resume so your strongest relevant evidence appears early.
For example, if the job ad is for an HR Coordinator role and heavily mentions onboarding, contracts, HRIS, employee records, and compliance, do not lead with a vague summary about being passionate about people. Lead with HR coordination, employee lifecycle support, onboarding documentation, HR systems, compliance, and stakeholder support.
This is not keyword stuffing. This is relevance.
The best tailored resumes make the recruiter think, “This person has done this type of work before, in a similar enough environment, at the right level.”
That is the reaction you want.
If you want your ATS friendly resume to actually convert into interviews, focus on match quality.
A strong resume creates alignment across five areas:
Role alignment: your job titles, responsibilities, and skills match the target role
Industry alignment: your background fits the employer’s environment or translates clearly
Level alignment: your seniority matches the responsibility level
Evidence alignment: your achievements support your claims
Language alignment: your wording reflects the job ad and industry terminology
This is where candidates often underestimate the human side of screening. A resume can technically match keywords but still feel wrong for the role.
For example, someone applying for a senior project manager position might include project management, stakeholder engagement, budget control, risk management, and Agile. Fine. But if the resume does not show project size, budget value, team scope, governance, delivery outcomes, or complexity, it may still feel too light.
The ATS may find the resume. The recruiter may still reject it.
The strongest resumes do not just say, “I have the skill.” They show:
Where you used it
At what level
With which stakeholders
Under what conditions
With what result
That is the difference between a searchable resume and a shortlist worthy resume.
Use this checklist before applying.
Your resume is ATS friendly if:
Your name and contact details are in normal text
Your resume uses a simple reverse chronological structure
Your headings are standard and easy to recognise
Your work history includes job titles, employers, locations, and dates
Your keywords match the role without sounding forced
Your achievements include context, scale, or outcomes
Your qualifications and licences are easy to find
Your file is a clean Word document or selectable text PDF
Your formatting does not rely on graphics, columns, icons, or text boxes
Your resume is tailored to the job ad
Your skills section reflects real, interview ready capability
Your employment dates are consistent
Your most relevant experience appears early
Your resume can be understood by a recruiter within seconds
Before submitting, do one final check. Copy your resume content into a plain text document. If the order still makes sense, your structure is probably safe. If the content becomes scrambled, your formatting is probably too complicated.
When I review a resume, I am not just checking whether it looks professional. I am checking whether it gives me enough confidence to move the candidate forward.
A useful framework is:
Clarity
Can I quickly understand who you are, what you do, and what role you fit?
Relevance
Does your experience connect clearly to the job you are applying for?
Evidence
Do your bullets show responsibility, scale, tools, outcomes, or complexity?
Searchability
Does your resume include the right job titles, systems, skills, qualifications, and industry terms?
Credibility
Does the resume feel honest, consistent, and believable?
This framework works because it covers both the software and the human decision. ATS friendliness without credibility is pointless. Credibility without searchability can also be risky if your resume never surfaces properly.
The strongest Australian resumes sit in the middle: technically clean, keyword aware, and genuinely persuasive.
An ATS friendly resume should not feel like it was written for a machine. It should feel like it was written for a busy recruiter using a machine.
That distinction matters.
The ATS may help organise and search applications, but the hiring decision still comes down to relevance, evidence, judgement, and trust. Your resume needs to be clean enough for the system, clear enough for the recruiter, and strong enough for the hiring manager.
Do not overcomplicate it. Use a simple structure. Match the language of the job ad. Show your real experience clearly. Put the most relevant information where people can find it. Avoid design tricks. Replace vague claims with proof.
The best ATS friendly resume is not the most decorated resume. It is the one that makes the hiring decision easier.
And honestly, that is what good recruitment comes down to more often than candidates realise. Hiring teams are not looking for reasons to admire your formatting. They are looking for enough evidence to reduce risk and justify a conversation.
Give them that.
Written by Simar Malhi, a recruiter and headhunter with international recruitment experience. I write about CVs, job applications, hiring decisions, and the reality behind recruitment processes. My goal is to help candidates understand more honestly how employers, recruiters, and hiring managers actually select candidates.
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