How to Write an ATS-Friendly Resume in 2026 — Transcript

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1. 0:00If the ATS can't read your resume, it
2. 0:01will be rejected before a human ever
3. 0:03sees it. I know because I was the former
4. 0:05chief growth officer at WeWork, where I
5. 0:06read tens of thousands [music] of
6. 0:08résumés and personally hired thousands
7. 0:10of people. Now, I'm the founder of Teal,
8. 0:12and I know firsthand how ATS systems
9. 0:14actually work. Here's the truth about
10. 0:16the ATS, [music]
11. 0:17exactly how to write a resume that beats
12. 0:19it, and at the end, I'll share a fatal
13. 0:21mistake to avoid. Let's dive in. So,
14. 0:23what's an ATS? After more than 25 years
15. 0:25of hiring people, I realized that most
16. 0:27people don't understand how to actually
17. 0:29land a job. And it all starts with the
18. 0:31resume. And interacting with an ATS is
19. 0:33step one. Most people think they
20. 0:35understand what an ATS is, but they
21. 0:36really don't. An ATS stands for
22. 0:38applicant tracking system. The truth is,
23. 0:41it's not a digital gatekeeper designed
24. 0:43to control your fate and reject you.
25. 0:46It's more like a workflow management
26. 0:48system and a digital filing cabinet.
27. 0:50Think of it like a database. There's
28. 0:52actually a lot of misconception about
29. 0:53the ATS that are affecting your job
30. 0:55search. But since in this video it's
31. 0:57about beating the ATS, I'm going to
32. 0:59break down all the myths in my next
33. 1:01video. The ATS was created to manage the
34. 1:03massive influx of online applications
35. 1:05and to help companies track who applied,
36. 1:07who is in which round of what interview.
37. 1:10Sometimes that might be like six or
38. 1:11seven depending on the company, who is
39. 1:13scheduling the interviews, who's
40. 1:14attending them, and then it's about
41. 1:16who's moved forward and unfortunately
42. 1:18who's been rejected or as a system might
43. 1:20call it managing the dispositions. But
44. 1:22here's what's actually happening.
45. 1:23Recruiters search for specific terms
46. 1:25like project manager plus agile plus
47. 1:27budget. They're looking for keywords.
48. 1:29They want to make sure you have the
49. 1:30abilities that they need for the job. If
50. 1:32your resume doesn't include those
51. 1:33keywords, you won't show up in the
52. 1:35results. It's not some magical AI
53. 1:37looking for them. It's a person looking
54. 1:39for the words that the hiring manager
55. 1:41told them they care a lot about. Might
56. 1:43be a hard skill. It might be a soft
57. 1:44skill, but you want to make sure that
58. 1:45those are on there. It's not being used
59. 1:47to automatically make rejections. It's
60. 1:50like being filed in the wrong folder.
61. 1:52you're not being found. You're
62. 1:54invisible, which means you probably
63. 1:56won't be considered for the role. As
64. 1:57someone who's hired thousands of people,
65. 1:59it's important to understand the ATS
66. 2:01from the company's perspective. I used
67. 2:03an ATS when I was a chief growth
68. 2:04officer, and I can tell you big
69. 2:06companies just see it as a tool to
70. 2:08organize applications, build the
71. 2:09application forms, and to quickly search
72. 2:11the database of current and past
73. 2:13applicants. Now, let me tell you about
74. 2:14knockout questions. The truth is, you
75. 2:16can get rejected even if you are
76. 2:18qualified because of how you filled out
77. 2:20the job application form. Companies use
78. 2:22simple knockout questions. For example,
79. 2:25are you legally allowed to work in the
80. 2:27US or do you have a specific degree?
81. 2:29These are usually true false questions
82. 2:32that you are answering yourself on the
83. 2:34application form. This is the primary
84. 2:36way the system will autoreject you. It's
85. 2:39not resume scanning or inferring it with
86. 2:41AI. To make it feel more human, a lot of
87. 2:43companies actually even use a feature
88. 2:45that delays the rejection. So even
89. 2:47though it was automatic, it might go out
90. 2:4924 hours after you applied. So, you get
91. 2:52the sense that it wasn't automatic. And
92. 2:53almost every ATS has this feature. Some
93. 2:55even have the ability to not allow you
94. 2:58to send emails on the weekends. These
95. 2:59are all things that companies think
96. 3:01about when it comes to crafting a
97. 3:02candidate experience, and it's what the
98. 3:04ATS helps them do. Another thing to
99. 3:06consider is when it comes to the ATS,
100. 3:08the company size really matters. Not all
101. 3:11companies use them. We talk about them
102. 3:12as this universal thing that every
103. 3:14company has, and that's just not the
104. 3:15case. Smaller companies might use a
105. 3:17Google sheet or Survey Monkey. The
106. 3:19bigger the company, the more complex the
107. 3:21hiring process and the more likely they
108. 3:23are to use an expensive, intricate ATS.
109. 3:26Before I get into the exact strategies
110. 3:28for beating the ATS, knows that the ATS
111. 3:30is just the first scan. Once you make it
112. 3:32through, hiring managers are actually
113. 3:34looking at each and every application.
114. 3:37And they're making judgment calls and
115. 3:38they are judging you on a lot of things
116. 3:40that you may not expect. I want you to
117. 3:42land the job. So, I'm sharing what goes
118. 3:44on behind closed doors in my next video.
119. 3:46So, make sure you subscribe if you
120. 3:48haven't yet. The first strategy is the
121. 3:49keyword strategy. Recruiters and hiring
122. 3:52managers use keywords to search the ATS
123. 3:54database. If you want to beat the ATS,
124. 3:56forget about all the ATS hacks you've
125. 3:58heard about. Do this instead. Read the
126. 4:01job description carefully. Identify the
127. 4:03key terms that they repeat. Use their
128. 4:06exact language in your resume and match
129. 4:09your experience to their needs. If they
130. 4:11say Canva, don't say graphic software,
131. 4:14say Canva. They're not going to give you
132. 4:16the benefit of the doubt. They want
133. 4:18quick and easy decision-making. Now, you
134. 4:20might be thinking, where do I get the
135. 4:21keywords? You need to pull them from the
136. 4:23job description and in this order. Let
137. 4:26me show you how to do that in the teal
138. 4:27job tracker. When you bookmark jobs with
139. 4:29the teal job tracker, we automatically
140. 4:31group them into the sections for you,
141. 4:32which is going to really help you
142. 4:33highlight your keywords. The first
143. 4:35section you want to go to is the
144. 4:36requirements. These are the musthaves.
145. 4:39They're the highest priority. These are
146. 4:41the things you have to have. Assume
147. 4:43someone will match all of them. So, you
148. 4:45must too if you really want to be
149. 4:47considered. And you can see this job
150. 4:48requires a bachelor's degree, five years
151. 4:50of experience in product management.
152. 4:51Teal will automatically highlight the
153. 4:53hard skills, soft skills, and any other
154. 4:55skills it detects. Then next, you want
155. 4:57to go to the preferred qualifications.
156. 4:59These are the nice to have, their second
157. 5:01priority. These are the things that they
158. 5:03would love for you to have and will be
159. 5:04used as differentiators. See, in this
160. 5:07example, they are going to give priority
161. 5:09to anyone that's got experience with AI.
162. 5:11That doesn't mean that you're going to
163. 5:12be ruled out, but the candidates that
164. 5:14have it are definitely going to get
165. 5:15preference over those that don't. Then
166. 5:17come the responsibilities. These are the
167. 5:19things you're going to do. I would say
168. 5:21they're lower in priority, but they're
169. 5:23still going to be important. These are
170. 5:24what you'll do in the role. They're less
171. 5:26critical than what you've already proven
172. 5:28you can do. But remember, they wrote it
173. 5:30because they want it. So, if you can
174. 5:32show that you've done these things
175. 5:33before, and they don't have to train you
176. 5:35on how to do them, obviously those
177. 5:37candidates are going to get preference.
178. 5:38Here's a pro tip. Look for the keywords
179. 5:40that appear in multiple sections like
180. 5:43requirements and responsibilities. That
181. 5:45signifies that this is stuff they really
182. 5:47care about. In the teal job tracker, you
183. 5:49can group the keywords by category,
184. 5:52which is hard skills, soft skills, and
185. 5:53other. And then you'll see words that
186. 5:56show up in multiple sections. As an
187. 5:58example, data governance is in the
188. 6:00responsibilities and the preferred
189. 6:02qualifications. It shows up four times.
190. 6:04It really matters to them. That's going
191. 6:06to be a keyword you want on your resume.
192. 6:08You should customize your resume for
193. 6:10each job application. And I know this
194. 6:12can take a while, but luckily you can
195. 6:14use AI tools like Teal to identify the
196. 6:17most important semantic terms,
197. 6:18technologies, and activities within the
198. 6:21job description. Look, a little warning
199. 6:22though. Don't lie. If you don't have the
200. 6:25abilities, just don't waste your time.
201. 6:27If you do have the abilities, but they
202. 6:28aren't on your resume yet, then go ahead
203. 6:30and add that content onto your resume.
204. 6:33This is where updating a master resume
205. 6:34with every application will really help
206. 6:37you have a full flushed out version of
207. 6:38your career history and everything
208. 6:40[clears throat] that you've done. Here's
209. 6:41strategy two, the skim scan study
210. 6:43formula. Your resume needs to be
211. 6:44optimized for three speeds. The skim 2
212. 6:47to 3 seconds is the initial glance. You
213. 6:50want to prioritize the target title,
214. 6:51your professional summary, and the
215. 6:53companies and titles that you worked at.
216. 6:54Those are usually like the bold sections
217. 6:56that people just immediately look for to
218. 6:57make sure that you have the abilities.
219. 6:59What they're looking for is does this
220. 7:00person have the right title or target
221. 7:03career path. Here's a solution. Clearly
222. 7:05feature a target title and a strong
223. 7:08professional summary that aligns
224. 7:09immediately with the job. They want to
225. 7:11see that you've done the job before.
226. 7:13Remember, companies hire for what you
227. 7:15did, not what you want to do. Next is
228. 7:17the scan. Once they see that you
229. 7:19actually have the abilities, then
230. 7:20they're going to scan it and they're
231. 7:21going to spend around 10 seconds on
232. 7:23that. The recruiter is actively
233. 7:24searching for specific keywords. The
234. 7:27priority here is keyword density. What
235. 7:29the company might be asking, have they
236. 7:31used the specific technology and skills?
237. 7:34For example, in social media, do they
238. 7:35have Tik Tok? In marketing, do they have
239. 7:37Canva? They want to make sure you have
240. 7:39the abilities that are required for the
241. 7:41role. They don't want to have to invest
242. 7:43in training you for the job they're
243. 7:44hiring for. They want to save that for
244. 7:46your growth. Here's a solution. Use AI
245. 7:49to ensure the right keywords from the JD
246. 7:51are integrated naturally into your
247. 7:54resume. Don't just spatter a bunch of
248. 7:55keywords on there. make sure they flow
249. 7:57naturally with the content and they make
250. 7:59sense. And the last is the study. It's a
251. 8:01full read. This is where they're going
252. 8:02to spend a minute plus. They're reading
253. 8:05every detail and I'd say the core of it
254. 8:07is the bullet points. That is the meat
255. 8:10of the resume. What the company's going
256. 8:11to ask here is, is this person
257. 8:13compelling and competent? In other
258. 8:15words, can they do this job well? And
259. 8:17are they going to make us better as a
260. 8:20company? And are they going to increase
261. 8:21our chances of success? Here's the
262. 8:23solution. Every bullet point must earn
263. 8:26its right to be read. Ensure your first
264. 8:28bullet point under each position has the
265. 8:31impact metrics and strong verbs.
266. 8:34Sometimes people think every bullet has
267. 8:35to have metrics, but really what I would
268. 8:37encourage you to do is first bullet
269. 8:38under each position needs to be stellar.
270. 8:41Make sure it's your best one. The order
271. 8:43of the bullets actually matters. And
272. 8:45that's not because of the AI. Just think
273. 8:46about how people read. Reread top to
274. 8:49bottom. So, you want to make sure that
275. 8:50first bullet when they're skimming is so
276. 8:52good that they want to keep reading the
277. 8:53rest of them. I learned these three
278. 8:55hiring stages after hiring thousands of
279. 8:57people over my 25 year career. And you
280. 9:00can watch more of my learnings in this
281. 9:01video. But before I cover the fatal ATS
282. 9:04mistakes, I have to mention AI because
283. 9:06it's the world we live in today.
284. 9:08Strategy three, use AI as a rigid coach.
285. 9:11Paste your resume and job description
286. 9:13into an AI tool and ask it to scan and
287. 9:16be strict. You might write in, "How many
288. 9:19of the requirements do I satisfy? Why
289. 9:22would they not hire me? Are there any
290. 9:24gaps I haven't addressed?" If you craft
291. 9:26a prompt with those statements, it's
292. 9:29going to help you objectively understand
293. 9:30if you're qualified for the job and what
294. 9:32you're missing. Landing a job is a
295. 9:34numbers and strategy game. And to
296. 9:36increase your chances of getting hired,
297. 9:37I built Teal to give you an edge because
298. 9:39I know firsthand what hiring managers
299. 9:41and companies really care about. Teal is
300. 9:43an AI tool that takes your resume, scans
301. 9:46it, and gives you the exact format,
302. 9:48keywords, requirements, and addresses
303. 9:50any gaps that you didn't see before so
304. 9:53you can get the perfect resume in
305. 9:54minutes and finally land the job. If
306. 9:56you're ready to simplify your search,
307. 9:58you can use most of Teal for free for
308. 10:00life. And we have a special discount for
309. 10:03YouTube subscribers for Teal Plus. It's
310. 10:05in the description below and it'll
311. 10:06unlock all the features. These are some
312. 10:08of the most common fatal mistakes that
313. 10:10don't pass the ATS. Avoid anything that
314. 10:13is not straight text. This adds
315. 10:15complexity and risk. Here are some
316. 10:17examples. Two columns. They're a major
317. 10:19problem and they often scramble the data
318. 10:21flow. Raster or vector elements, icons,
319. 10:24images, clip arts, backgrounds, those
320. 10:26are generally not great. Advanced
321. 10:28functionality like tables, floating text
322. 10:30boxes. These are common in Google Docs,
323. 10:32Word, and Canva. They disrupt the flow
324. 10:35of the document. I also made a video
325. 10:36explaining the big issues with Canva
326. 10:38templates. If you're thinking about
327. 10:39using Canva, I suggest you watch it
328. 10:41after this one. Next is lines and
329. 10:43borders. They add no value and can
330. 10:45interfere with the parsing. Then comes
331. 10:47file formats. PDF is preferred because
332. 10:50it is fixed, guaranteed format
333. 10:52consistency, but still fully parsible.
334. 10:54Avoid doc risks like a word document.
335. 10:57Docx is the file format. Word docs are
336. 10:59editable, meaning a recruiter could
337. 11:01accidentally delete something or maybe
338. 11:04the text gets changed. Never use image
339. 11:07formats. PNG or JPEG files are pixels
340. 11:11and not rich text. The ATS can't read
341. 11:14them. The easiest way to check if your
342. 11:16resume is parsible is to highlight all
343. 11:18the text and paste it into a simple text
344. 11:20editor like notes or notepad and see if
345. 11:23the order and structure remains intact.
346. 11:25If it gets all jumbled up, the ATS is
347. 11:28probably going to jumble it, too. Thanks
348. 11:30for watching and I'll see you in the
349. 11:31next one.