Free ATS CV checker

What can a CV diagnostic tell you?

Application workflows vary by employer. Read the actual vacancy and inspect your extracted text and submitted fields. Historical employer surveys do not establish a rejection rate for this role, country or file format; our score is an independent editing diagnostic.

Inspect the final file and the vacancy requirements. Simplify the layout when extraction loses information, use recognizable headings and describe only skills you actually have. This checker shows its own extracted text and diagnostic findings for your CV — and which expected terms it can't find — so you can fix it before you apply.

CV-specific tips that matter for ATS

• Follow the required length. Consider a simple layout when your exported file loses or reorders information.
• Include personal information only when requested and relevant to the application.
• Compare the advert or person specification with your actual qualifications; retain accurate job titles.
• Use an accepted file type and inspect the exported text. Selectable text alone does not establish compatibility with every parser.

CV or resume: what changes for an ATS?

In the US and Canada the document is called a résumé; UK careers services call it a CV (Prospects — How to write a CV). A parser reads the extracted text either way, so the same basics apply: clear section headings, contact details in the body rather than a page header, and the terms the vacancy actually asks for. What differs is the convention around length, photos and personal details.

UK CV conventions, and what this checker does with them

If you keep a “Personal statement” heading, the checker will report a missing summary. That is a limit of our heading list, not a problem with your CV. If you would rather avoid the tip, “Profile” is a heading it does recognise.

Applying in Europe: Europass, Germany and France

Europass is the European Commission's free CV builder, and the Commission calls its template one of the best-known CV formats in Europe (Europass — Create your Europass CV (European Commission)). If you build your CV there, check the exported file here like any other: the checker reads the extracted text, not the template.

Conventions differ by country. For Germany, the Bundesagentur für Arbeit says a photo is not mandatory but is still expected by most employers, recommends no more than two pages, and lists date of birth among the usual opening details (Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Application and CV). France Travail's guide to work-study applications says a photo is not compulsory and the choice is yours (France Travail — Les démarches pour poser sa candidature). The checker flags a date-of-birth label on every CV, whatever the country, so treat that flag as a prompt to check the local convention rather than a rule.

Applying in India

We could not find a national standard for Indian CVs or resumes from an official source, and private guides contradict each other on photos and personal details. Institutions set their own rules: IIT Madras, for example, asks internship applicants for an A4 resume with no pictures (IIT Madras — Internship resume guidelines 2025-26 (PDF)). Follow the employer's or placement cell's instructions first.

A4 or US Letter?

A4 is 210 × 297 mm and US Letter is 216 × 279 mm; outside North America A4 is the norm (University of Cambridge — International standard paper sizes). We found no official statement that applicant tracking systems treat the two sizes differently, and this checker ignores paper size entirely. Export at the size used in the country you are applying to, then confirm that nothing was cut off at the page edges.

Applying through a named system? See the resume checker by ATS directory, or browse advice by profession in the resume checker by role directory.

Sources

Checked on 18 October 2026. Guidance pages change; follow the vacancy if it says otherwise.

• Prospects — How to write a CV
• Prospects — Writing a personal statement for your CV
• National Careers Service — CV sections
• University of Kent Careers — CVs
• Equality Act 2010, section 4 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Europass — Create your Europass CV (European Commission)
• Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Application and CV
• France Travail — Les démarches pour poser sa candidature
• IIT Madras — Internship resume guidelines 2025-26 (PDF)
• University of Cambridge — International standard paper sizes