To fix your resume's ATS issues, work in this order: put your contact details in the body as text, give every role its dates, title and employer, delete any template text, use plain section headings, and only then rewrite weak lines. Check again after each round, so you know a fix worked instead of hoping it did.
The hard part is rarely the fix itself. It is finding the line, remembering what was wrong with it, and keeping track of what is left. This post walks through each kind of ATS issue and how to fix it by hand, then shows how Rezifi's ATS view opens every fix on your resume itself, under the line it belongs to.
100
points in the score
5
kinds of fix
1
undo for all rewrites
Free
no sign-up to check
What counts as an ATS issue?
An applicant tracking system reads your resume into fields: your name and contact details, each role with its dates, title and employer, your education and your skills. An ATS issue is anything that stops a field coming out right, or anything that reads badly once it has. They fall into five kinds:
- Missing. A fact a parser looks for and cannot find: an email, a phone number, a role's dates, its job title or employer.
- Template text. A line still holding “[Company Name]” or “Lorem ipsum” after you filled in the rest.
- Format. Something in the way a line is written that stops software reading it as what it is, such as a section with no heading.
- Spelling. A misspelt word a recruiter notices and a keyword search can miss.
- Wording. A line that lists a duty instead of what you did and what came of it.
The first three decide whether software reads your resume correctly. The last two decide how well it reads once it has. For how parsing works, read what an ATS actually does with your resume, and for the layouts that parse cleanly, the ATS-friendly resume format.
How do you fix ATS issues by hand?
Work through them in this order. The early steps win the most points for the least effort:
- Contact details in the body. Write your email, phone number and LinkedIn URL as plain text on your contact line. A parser can skip a header, a footer or an image, so text in the body is the safe place.
- Dates, title and employer on every role. If a parser cannot find when, what and where, the role can read as a gap. Write each role's dates the same way as the others, such as “Jun 2023 – Aug 2025”.
- Template text out. Search your file for square brackets and “Lorem”. One leftover placeholder is easy to miss when you know what the line was meant to say.
- Plain section headings. Experience, Education, Skills. A creative heading like “My Journey” leaves software guessing where your work history starts.
- Spelling. Run the spell check, then read the job titles and company names yourself: a checker may not know them.
- Weak lines last. Rewrite each duty as what you did, how, and what came of it, with a number where you have a real one.
- Check again. Run your resume through a checker after each round and compare the score with your last one.
The weakness of doing it by hand is the bookkeeping. A checker hands you a list in one place and your resume sits in another, so you read an issue, hunt for its line, fix it, come back, and lose your place. Halfway down the list, it is hard to know which fixes are done.
How Rezifi's ATS view fixes them in place
ATS view is a switch in the Rezifi editor's toolbar. The switch itself shows your ATS score and how many fixes are waiting. Turn it on and every fix opens on your resume, under the line it belongs to, while the lines with nothing to fix are dimmed so your eye goes straight to the ones that need you:
- Every fix is a numbered card under its line. The card names its kind (Wording, Spelling, Missing, Format or Template text), shows the new line with the arriving words highlighted, and strikes the words that leave on your own line. Apply or Skip, and Undo if you change your mind.
- Facts go straight into their place. A missing phone number goes in a box and joins your contact line. Template text is selected for you to replace. When you have written a fact, ATS view checks it again and says “Found it”, or shows you how to write it so it is found.
- Missing dates get a real date box. Type the dates and they print exactly like your other roles' dates, in the same place and the same look, in your Word file too, as one undo step.
- All the rewrites in one press. The score card at the top says the score you can reach with every rewrite, and one button applies them. One undo puts them all back.
- It scores itself again. Each fix re-scores your resume and reprints the page, and the card counts what is done, such as “2 of 6 done”. Typing never moves the score; a fix does.
| Feature | Rezifi | A separate report |
|---|---|---|
| Shows each fix under the line it belongs to | Yes | No |
| Writes the new line for you to apply | Yes | No |
| Lets you type a missing fact in its place | Yes | No |
| Prints new dates like your other dates | Yes | No |
| Applies every rewrite in one press, one undo | Yes | No |
| Counts what is done and scores again | Yes | You run it again |
Your design stays as it is the whole time. Rezifi works on your own resume from Word or Google Docs, no template needed, and keeps every bit of your layout: two columns, tables, text boxes, a photo, your fonts. No resume yet? Build one from Rezifi's ATS-friendly templates. ATS view works on your phone too.
What score should you stop at?
On Rezifi's scale, 80 or more is a B and 90 or more is an A. Past 90, more polish buys little: the best score is the one with nothing left to fix, and ATS view tells you how many fixes are left on its switch. What is a good ATS score explains each band.
Then turn to the job in front of you. A resume that reads cleanly everywhere still needs each posting's own words. Rezifi's tailor, the best AI resume tailor, rewrites your bullets, summary and skills in each job's own keywords, never invents an employer, role, date or credential, and shows every change on its line to keep or dismiss. Rezifi's auto-apply copilot then fills the whole application on any job site and attaches your tailored resume. You press Submit.
Questions people ask
How do I fix ATS issues on my resume?
Fix them in order. Put your email, phone and LinkedIn in the body as text, give every role its dates, title and employer, delete template text such as “[Company Name]”, use plain headings like Experience and Education, fix spelling, then rewrite weak lines. Check your resume again after each round to see what is left.
Which ATS issues should I fix first?
Missing facts: a role with no dates, title or employer, or contact details a parser cannot find because they sit in a header, footer or image. They stop a field coming out at all, and they are the quickest to fix, because each one is a fact you already know and only need to write in the body as text.
How can I see which line of my resume an ATS issue is on?
Rezifi's ATS view, a switch in the Rezifi editor, opens every fix under the line it belongs to, numbered in page order, and dims the lines with nothing to fix. Each card names the kind of fix, shows the new line, and lets you apply or skip it on the spot.
Should I fix the format or the wording first?
The format first. A strong line in a role with no dates, or an email a parser cannot find, still loses you the field. Once the facts are all found, rewrite the weak lines, which raise the writing side of your score.
How do I add missing dates to a resume without breaking the layout?
Write them exactly as your other roles write theirs, in the same spot and the same style. In Rezifi's ATS view, a missing date gets a date box: type the dates and they print like your other roles' dates in your own Word file, as one undo step.
Can I check my resume for ATS issues for free?
Yes. Rezifi's free ATS resume checker at rezifi.com/ats-resume-checker scores your resume out of 100 with no sign-up, shows what a machine reads and lists every fix. The check is deleted within 24 hours unless you keep it. Sign up free, no card needed, to apply the fixes in one click.
Start where the fixes are: drop your resume into the free ATS checker, no sign-up. Keep it and it opens in the Rezifi editor with ATS view on, every fix under its line. Then tailor it to every job and apply from the same place. See everything Rezifi does on the features page. Rezifi is free to get started, no card needed, and the pricing page has the one simple plan for unlimited use.