Writing a resume
How to write a resume that a parser and a recruiter both finish
Write the resume for one job at a time. Use a single-column layout with standard headings so Workday and Greenhouse can map contact details, dates, and skills. Then rewrite bullets as results with numbers, and run a parse check before you upload the file.
Written by EnhanceCV Editorial Team·Editorial review: CPRW
Published August 27, 2026·Last updated August 27, 2026
Key takeaways
- · Pick one job posting and steal its nouns — job title, tools, and required skills — before you write a line.
- · Keep one column, selectable text, and headings like Work Experience so Workday and Greenhouse can file you.
- · Rewrite duties into results with a number, a tool, or a scope. Three strong bullets beat twelve vague ones.
- · Put the proof near the top: a 3–4 line summary, then the most relevant role, not a hobbies block.
- · Export a tagged PDF or .docx, then check the parse before you hit Apply in Workday.
Start with one job posting, not a blank page
Key takeaway: A resume that tries to cover every job you might want is the one both the parser and the recruiter skim and close.
Most people open a template and type their life story. That is why the file sounds generic and why Greenhouse search fails to surface you for the nouns in the posting. You are not writing an autobiography. You are writing a one-page argument that you can do this role.
Print or split-screen the job ad. Highlight the job title as they wrote it, the tools named in the requirements, and any metric they care about (quota, patients per shift, tickets closed, pipeline). Those highlighted words are your outline. If a line on your current resume does not help that outline, it is a candidate for cutting.
Match the title only when it is true. If the posting says “Customer Success Manager” and your badge said “Account Manager,” you can write “Account Manager (Customer Success)” — you cannot invent a title you never held. Workday stores the job title field; a recruiter still reads the company and dates. Honesty plus shared language beats keyword stuffing.
What to copy from the posting — and what not to
- Copy nouns: Salesforce, HIPAA, Series A, bilingual English/Spanish, Workday HCM, SQL.
- Copy the shape of seniority: “own the roadmap,” “mentor,” “close,” “triage,” not fluffy adjectives.
- Do not paste whole sentences from the ad. Parsers do not reward that, and a recruiter will notice.
- Do not add a skill you cannot defend in a screen. Taleo and iCIMS will not save you in the interview.
If you are applying to two very different jobs — say, office manager and junior data analyst — keep two files. One master document with everything you have ever done is fine as a warehouse. The version you upload should be the warehouse filtered for this posting. That is the whole method, and it is why tailoring a resume to a job is not optional polish.
Give Workday and Greenhouse a layout they can map
Key takeaway: Pretty two-column designs drop emails and dates. A boring single column with real headings is the format that survives an ATS parse.
Workday, Greenhouse, Taleo, Lever, and iCIMS do not “see” your resume the way you see it in Preview. They extract text, then try to hang that text on fields: name, email, phone, employer, title, start/end dates, education. If your contact line lives in a header, a text box, or a sidebar, the extract can come back empty. Recruiters then search the database and you simply are not there.
Use one column. Left-aligned. Standard headings in the language of the country you are applying in: Work Experience or Professional Experience, Education, Skills. Avoid icons for phone and email. Avoid tables for your whole layout — a simple skills list is fine; a nested two-column table is how PDFs lose order.
Dates belong next to the role, in a format a parser can tokenize: “Mar 2022 – Present” or “03/2022 – Present.” Do not hide dates in a thin sidebar. Do not write “2022 to now” in a fancy font. If you contracted through an agency, put the client and the agency in the same block so the employment graph does not look like a gap.
For the visual rules and heading list, use the resume format guide. For what belongs in each block, see what to put on a resume. This article stays on the writing sequence — but writing fails if the file never parses.
File type and fonts
- Upload .docx or a tagged, selectable-text PDF. A scanned image of a resume is a brick.
- Calibri, Arial, Georgia, or the system font in Enhance CV — not script, not ultra-thin display faces.
- Body 10.5–12 pt. Your name can be larger. If the recruiter pinches-to-zoom on a phone, the type is too small.
- No photos unless the country and the role clearly expect one. US Workday pipelines usually do not.
Test the file the way the ATS will. Select all in Preview or Word. If you cannot highlight an email, neither can Greenhouse. Then run the ATS checker so you are not guessing. An ATS resume is not a keyword dump; it is a document that still contains your contact data after the parse.
Rewrite weak lines: three before-and-after transforms
Key takeaway: Duties describe the job. Results describe you. If a bullet could sit on anyone’s resume in that title, it is not finished.
Recruiters skim. They look for a verb, a number, and a tool they recognize. “Responsible for” hides all three. Below are three rewrites we use constantly in edits — operations, clinical-adjacent admin, and a career-switcher. Steal the pattern, not the facts.
Before
Responsible for managing a busy inbox and helping customers with issues.
After
Resolved 30–40 Zendesk tickets per shift with a 92% CSAT, escalating only billing defects to Tier 2.
Before
Worked with nurses to schedule patients and keep the office organized.
After
Scheduled 25+ outpatient visits a day in Epic, cut no-show calls by introducing same-day SMS reminders with the front desk.
Before
Led various projects and collaborated with stakeholders to improve processes across the board.
After
Mapped the returns process in Asana for a 12-person warehouse team, cutting average refund cycle from 9 days to 4.
If you do not have a clean metric, use scope: team size, budget, caseload, number of stores, languages, shift pattern. “Night-shift charge coverage for a 32-bed unit” is a number. “Excellent communicator” is not. For more line-level patterns, keep resume bullet points and resume action verbs next to this page.
Stop at three to five bullets per recent role. Older roles can take two. A two-page dump of every task you ever did is how a hiring manager never reaches the line that would have gotten you the screen.
A 12-step playbook you can finish in one evening
Key takeaway: Do the steps in order. Skipping to design is how people ship a beautiful file that Workday stores without an email.
This is a writing sequence, not a theory. Block two hours. Have the job ad, your last resume, and a notes app. If you prefer to type inside a known-good layout, start in the Enhance CV builder and paste facts as you go.
- Save the job ad as a PDF or print it. Circle the title, five required skills, and any tool names.
- Create a new file (do not overwrite your master). Put your name, city/region, phone, email, and LinkedIn URL in the body — not in a header text box.
- Write a 3–4 line summary last, not first. You cannot summarize evidence you have not lined up.
- List roles in reverse chronology. Company, title, city, dates. Month and year. No unexplained gaps if a month would fill them.
- Under the most relevant role, draft 8 messy bullets of things you actually did. Do not polish yet.
- Delete anything that does not help this posting. Move a leftover line to the master file, not the footer.
- Rewrite the remaining bullets with verb + object + number or tool. Read them out loud. If you wince, the verb is fake.
- Build a skills line from the posting’s nouns you can defend. Group them: tools, methods, languages. No star ratings.
- Education: degree, school, year. Drop GPA unless you are early career and it helps. Drop “references available.”
- Optional extras only if they change the decision: license, security clearance, publications, selected projects.
- Export selectable text. Open the file on your phone. Confirm the email is tappable and the dates are readable.
- Paste the resume and the job ad into the ATS checker. Fix contact and keyword misses, then upload to Workday or Greenhouse.
Step 3 is the one people invert. They write a poetic summary about being a “results-oriented professional,” then wonder why the rest of the page is thin. Write proof first. The summary should sound like a hiring manager repeating you to another hiring manager — title, years, domain, one proof point.
If you stall on the summary, skip it and come back after the bullets. You can also steal structure (not sentences) from professional summary examples. Do not paste someone else’s metrics.
Do this, skip that
Key takeaway: Most resume advice fails because it optimizes for looking busy. Parsers and recruiters optimize for fields and proof.
Use this as a desk-side filter while you edit. If a choice is not in the table, ask: will Workday store it, and will a human still understand it at 7 a.m. on a phone?
Parser-friendly vs. parser-hostile choices
| Topic | Do | Don’t |
|---|---|---|
| Length | One page if you have under ~8 years of relevant work; two pages if the second page still earns its keep. | Padding with hobbies, references, or a headshot to look “complete.” |
| Headings | Work Experience, Education, Skills — words an ATS already maps. | “My journey,” “What I bring,” or icons instead of words. |
| Keywords | Mirror the posting’s nouns you truly have, in context inside bullets. | A keyword footer stuffed with every tool in the ad. |
| Design | Single column, plenty of air, consistent bullets. | Two columns, skill bars, text in images, tables as the whole layout. |
| Dates | Month + year beside each role. | Years only when you are hiding a gap you could explain in one line. |
| File | Selectable PDF or .docx named FirstLast_Role.pdf. | Pages .pages files, or ResumeFinalFINAL3.pdf. |
Functional resumes that hide dates under skill clouds still show up in career-change advice. Greenhouse can parse them; humans distrust them. If you are changing fields, keep chronology and add a short “Selected projects” block — see career change resume. Do not make the reader reconstruct when you worked.
Edge cases: gaps, first jobs, and two very different fields
Key takeaway: The method stays the same. You only change which proof you put first, and how you label the dates.
Employment gap. Put the real dates. Add one line in the summary or a single bullet: caregiving, layoff, full-time study, visa wait. Recruiters prefer a plain sentence over a mysterious two-year hole. A skills-only resume makes the hole look larger. Details live in employment gap resume.
No paid experience yet. Lead with a project, clinical rotation, capstone, or internship that used the same tools as the posting. “Coursework:” dumps are weak. “Built a 4-page intake form in Google Apps Script used by a 6-person clinic” is a bullet. Pair that with resume with no experience and student resume.
Two target fields. Keep two tailored files. LinkedIn can be broader; Workday cannot. The version you upload should not make the recruiter guess which person you are this week.
Overqualified. Cut early-career bullets that scream “I want your manager’s job.” Keep recent scope honest. Mirror the posting’s seniority nouns without pretending you have not led people if you have — just put the leadership in a line, not in the title you are applying to.
What to do next today: pick one posting, run the 12 steps, then score the file. If the checker flags a missing email or a heading Workday will not map, fix that before you rewrite another adjective. The Enhance CV home page is the shortest path back to the builder and the checker in one place.
FAQ
How do you write a resume that passes an ATS?
Use one column, standard headings, and selectable text so Workday or Greenhouse can store your email, dates, and employers. Put the posting’s real nouns in bullets you can defend, then upload a .docx or tagged PDF. Run a parse check before you apply; a pretty sidebar is the usual reason contact data never lands in the database.
Should a resume be one page or two?
One page is enough for most people with under about eight years of relevant work. Two pages are fine when the second page still has proof for this job — not when you are afraid white space looks empty. Hiring managers rarely finish a padded two-pager on a phone.
What should you put on a resume first?
Contact details in the body of the file, then a short summary or headline, then the most relevant experience. Education goes first only when you are a new graduate and the degree is the main qualification. Skills can sit after experience so the nouns still appear in context.
Can you use a two-column resume in Workday?
You can upload one. You should not rely on it. Workday and several Taleo setups read columns top-to-bottom in unexpected order, which is how phones and emails vanish. A single column with clear headings is the reliable choice; save decorative layouts for a portfolio site.
How many jobs should you list?
List the roles that help this posting, usually the last 10–15 years. Merge very short gigs at the same employer. You do not owe a recruiter every weekend job from college unless it teaches a tool in the ad. Relevance beats completeness.
Do you need a resume objective in 2026?
Almost never, if you already have relevant experience. A three-line professional summary that states title, domain, and one proof point does the same job with less fluff. Use an objective only when you are changing fields and must explain the pivot in one sentence. See resume objective vs summary.
Should you put a photo or personal details on a resume?
Follow the country. In the US, skip photo, age, marital status, and national ID. In some EU and LATAM processes a photo is still common — and still risky in ATS text extraction. Never put a photo in a header image that Workday cannot parse as text.
How do you check if your resume is ATS-friendly before applying?
Select-all in the PDF. If text does not highlight, the ATS gets little or nothing. Then run the Enhance CV ATS checker against the job ad for contact, dates, headings, and keyword gaps. Fix those, then upload. Do not wait for a silent Workday black hole to tell you the email was missing.
Write the next draft in a layout parsers already understand
Open the Enhance CV builder, keep your facts, and tighten the lines that still read like a job description. Then score the file against the posting.