12 ATS Fixes That Get Your Resume Past Workday, Greenhouse & iCIMS
A prioritised 12-fix list for resumes silently rejected by Canadian ATSes — parsing errors, keyword gaps, layout traps, and the exact order to fix them.
Workday rejects resumes that look fine to humans. Below are the 12 fixes that get you past it, in the order to apply them. For the underlying rules, see the ATS-friendly resume format guide; to score your file against all 12, run the free ATS resume checker for Canada.
~75%
of Canadian mid/large employers screen resumes through an ATS first
Source: Industry estimates
6 sec
average recruiter scan time once your resume reaches a human
Source: TheLadders eye-tracking study
1 col
the only safe layout for Workday, iCIMS, and Greenhouse
Source: Workday parser docs
What an ATS actually does
An Applicant Tracking System parses your resume into structured fields — name, role, dates, skills — and indexes the text. Recruiters then search and filter that index. If the parser can't read a section, it disappears from the search. You don't get rejected; you become invisible.
Formatting rules that pass
- Single column. Two-column layouts scramble in most parsers.
- No text inside images, headers, footers, or text boxes.
- Standard section names: Experience, Education, Skills, Summary.
- Standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Helvetica). No icons, no emoji.
- Dates in a consistent format:
Jan 2023 — Present. - City and province on every job (Toronto, ON). Canadian recruiters filter by location.
Before / after: a real bullet
Customer service role, applying via Workday
Responsible for handling customer issues and using Salesforce to track tickets.
Resolved 60+ inbound tickets daily in Salesforce; raised CSAT from 78% to 91% across two quarters.
Why it works: The 'after' version uses an action verb, a tool name (Salesforce → keyword match), volume (60+), and a measurable result. The ATS surfaces it for both 'customer service' and 'Salesforce' searches.
Keywords that matter in Canada
The strongest signal is the job title and the NOC keywords associated with it. Use the exact title from the posting where it's truthful. If the role maps to a NOC code, use the NOC finder to surface the duties and skills phrases an ATS will look for.
Mirror the language in the posting. If they say "stakeholder management", don't write "client liaison". If they list "Power BI", don't write "BI dashboards".
"I rejected a senior PM resume last month because Workday parsed her experience as one continuous job — she'd used a two-column layout. Smart candidate, invisible to my search."
Mistakes that get you filtered out
- Tables, columns, and graphics that hide your experience from the parser.
- Keyword stuffing in white text or 1pt fonts — most modern ATS flag this and recruiters bin it.
- Generic bullets (see stronger bullet examples).
- Missing city/province — Canadian recruiters filter postings by location.
- Job titles inflated past the truth ("Chief of Staff" for a coordinator). Recruiters cross-check against LinkedIn.
Run a free Canadian ATS scan
Paste your resume — get a 0–100 score, missing keywords, and a prioritized fix list.
Test your resume
Run your file through the free ATS resume checker for an instant score and fix list. For the underlying format rules, see the ATS-friendly resume format guide; for section-by-section structure, the Canadian resume format; and to tailor for a specific posting, how to tailor your resume.