The resume rules that matter for your field.
An ATS reads a nurse's resume differently than an engineer's. These guides pull the keywords a recruiter actually searches and the formatting each of the six major screeners needs, for the role you are actually applying to.
Independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by the named vendors. This reflects publicly documented behavior and may not match any specific employer's configuration. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Registered Nurse
Hospital systems run big enterprise ATS platforms like Workday, iCIMS, and Taleo, and they parse a nursing resume differently than they parse a software one. The terms that matter are your license, your certifications, and your concrete clinical skills, and the fastest way to lose them is a header or a table that the parser drops.
Read the guide ->Accountant
Accounting roles lean on exact tool and process names: the systems you have closed the books in, the standards you work under, and the specific reconciliations you own. Exact-match screeners like Taleo will not infer 'GAAP' from 'accounting standards,' so name the thing.
Read the guide ->Teacher
District hiring systems key on your certification, the grade levels and subjects you have taught, and concrete instructional methods. Creative section headers are the most common way a teaching resume loses its structure, because rule-based parsers only recognize standard section names.
Read the guide ->Software Engineer
Engineering resumes are dense with tools, and the trap is assuming the screener expands them. Taleo will not connect 'JS' to 'JavaScript,' and Lever indexes your bullet text but splits on hyphens, so 'Full-Stack' can become two unmatched tokens. Name your stack in full, in a real Skills section.
Read the guide ->Project Manager
Project management resumes are judged on methodology, tooling, and certification more than prose. Screeners search for the exact framework and the exact credential, so 'Agile,' 'Scrum,' and 'PMP' should appear as literal terms, not implied by a paragraph about how you 'led cross-functional delivery.'
Read the guide ->Customer Service Representative
Customer service roles are high-volume, so the screener often does a lot of the first-pass filtering. Name the systems you have used, the channels you have supported, and concrete outcomes, and keep the layout simple so a rule-based parser reads it cleanly.
Read the guide ->Warehouse Associate
Warehouse and logistics hiring keys on equipment certifications, the systems you have operated, and safety credentials. A forklift certification or an OSHA card is a concrete, searchable term, so name it plainly rather than describing it.
Read the guide ->Administrative Assistant
Administrative resumes are judged on the software you run and the concrete responsibilities you own. Name the tools (the specific suite, the specific systems) and the tasks (scheduling, records, expense reports) as literal terms, because that is what a recruiter search matches.
Read the guide ->Sales Representative
Sales resumes are judged on the CRM you live in, your motion (inbound, outbound, the sales cycle you run), and concrete numbers. Name the platform and the process explicitly, because an exact-match screener will not infer 'pipeline management' from a paragraph about 'exceeding targets.'
Read the guide ->Electrician
Skilled-trades hiring keys on your license class, code familiarity, and concrete field skills. A journeyman license or an OSHA card is a searchable credential, so name it directly, and keep the layout simple so a rule-based parser reads your certifications cleanly.
Read the guide ->