What your resume actually looks like to the machine

Most ATS posts on LinkedIn say "use keywords." Useful, but not concrete. I spent a weekend testing five ATS platforms (Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, iCIMS, Ashby) with the same resume in different formats. Here is what your resume actually looks like once it goes in.

Test 1 — The two-column resume disaster

I uploaded a resume with a left sidebar (skills, contact) and a right column (experience). Visually clean. To the parser:

John Smith Frontend Engineer React TypeScript Next.js 2024 - present Senior Engineer at Acme Led migration to App Router Reduced bundle size 40 percent

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The sidebar got stuck above the experience block. Skills floated above context, dates merged into the next line. A recruiter searching for "React + Next.js + 3 years" would not find me — the parser had no idea those skills connected to a 2024-present role.

Fix: Single column. Always.…