Can I Use Columns? ATS Formatting Rules You Need to Follow

The Design Dilemma

You want your resume to look good, but you need it to be readable by a robot. The biggest point of confusion? Columns and layout. Here is the definitive guide on what breaks the ATS.

The Verdict on Columns

Use with Caution.
Modern ATS parsers are getting better at reading two-column layouts, but they still fail often. If the parser reads left-to-right across the whole page, it might combine "Job Title" from column A with "School Name" from column B.
Safest Bet: Single column. It's foolproof.
Acceptable: A simple two-column layout where the sidebar is strictly for contact info/skills and the main body is for experience, created using standard document formatting (not free-floating text boxes).

Tables: The Silent Killer

Never use tables to organize your content. While they look neat to the eye, parsers often read them incorrectly or skip the content inside them entirely. Use tabs or alignment settings instead.

Headers and Footers

As mentioned before, avoid putting critical contact info in the actual document Header/Footer sections. Some systems strip these out to get to the "meat" of the text.

Bullet Points

Stick to standard circular bullets (•) or squares. Fancy arrows, checkmarks, or custom icons can turn into garbled characters like "??" or "â– " in the system.

Conclusion

The best ATS-friendly design is boringly simple. Focus on clean lines, consistent spacing, and clear hierarchy using bold and caps, rather than complex layout tricks.