54 ATS platforms. One CV that wins them all.
CVailor reverse-engineers 54 live applicant tracking systems — from Workday to Greenhouse to iCIMS. Here's what every sponsored-role CV must do to pass.
Many CVs never reach a human.
ATS screens before sponsorship review
Most sponsors review the ATS shortlist first. If your CV does not pass the parse, no one sees it — regardless of your qualifications.
Sponsored roles draw a crowded applicant pool
More competition means stricter ATS thresholds. The bar is higher when everyone is chasing the same sponsored seat.
Wrong format = automatic rejection
One bad column, one table, one text box — and the parser drops your CV before a human ever touches it.
8 rules every sponsored-role CV must follow.
Clean text formatting
No tables, text boxes, or columns that break parsers. Plain single-column text only.
Standard section headers
Use Experience, Education, Skills — not creative names the ATS cannot map.
Exact keyword matching
Use the job description's exact phrases. Not synonyms. Not approximations.
No headers or footers
ATS cannot parse content in page margins. Keep everything in the main document body.
Single-column layout
Multi-column layouts confuse most ATS parsers. One column, top to bottom.
No graphics or images
ATS reads text only. Charts, logos, and headshots are invisible to the parser — or worse, they break it.
Consistent date formatting
Month Year format throughout — e.g. "June 2023". Inconsistent dates confuse chronology parsing.
DOCX or PDF
Submit what the ATS expects. DOCX for most enterprise ATS; PDF where specified. CVailor exports both.
We test against all of them.
Common questions.
Does CVailor automatically check my CV against ATS?
Yes. Our AI scores every generated CV on keyword match, format compliance, and skills alignment before export — giving you a score and specific improvement notes.
Which file format is best for ATS?
DOCX is preferred by most ATS platforms because it preserves text structure reliably. CVailor exports both DOCX and PDF automatically so you can submit whichever the application requires.
Does ATS matter more for sponsored roles?
Yes. Sponsored roles draw large international applicant pools, so employers lean harder on ATS screening to build a shortlist. Passing ATS is your first gate.
How do I know which keywords to include?
Paste the job description into CVailor. Our AI identifies and inserts the exact keywords the ATS is scanning for — pulled from the posting itself, not generic keyword lists.