Fix a document that parses badly
When the parse screen shows scrambled roles or missing dates, the cause is usually the layout of the original file. Six fixes, in order.
A bad parse is not a cosmetic problem. Every score, every tailoring and every filled form is built from it, and an employer's own system will meet the same layout your file has.
First, correct what is on screen
Open Check the parse and fix it there. This unblocks everything downstream immediately and takes about two minutes.
Read for these, in this order:
- Your name on its own line, read as a name.
- An email address, because every applicant tracking system keys its record on it.
- A phone number or a link, so somebody can act on a match.
- Every role with an employer and dates.
- Bullets under the role they belong to.
- Education and languages present.
Then fix the source file
| Symptom | Cause in the file | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Skills text inside a job title | A sidebar, which is a second column | One column, top to bottom |
| Whole sections missing | They live in a text box or a table | Plain paragraphs and normal bullet lists |
| Dates absent | They sit in a header, a footer or an image | Put dates on the same line as the role |
| Nothing read at all | The file is a scan or an image | Export a text-based PDF from the source document |
| Odd characters in the middle of words | Tabs, control characters or a decorative glyph | Retype the line plainly |
| Headings ignored | A heading a parser has no vocabulary for | Use the ordinary words: Experience, Education, Skills |
Why the layout matters more than the format
Both PDF and Word files parse well when they are laid out simply and badly when they are not. What breaks extraction is structure: columns, tables, text boxes, headers and images. A visually striking CV can be close to unreadable to the thing that reads it first.
The documents this product generates are checked against the same failure list before they are written, and a two-column design is flagged as a choice we offered you rather than as your mistake.
What to do about the design you liked
Keep it for the version you hand to a person, and send the plain one to the form. That is a real and common split, and there is nothing dishonest about it: the content is identical.
Country conventions change the answer as well. Length, photograph and heading expectations differ across European markets, and the country and design screen applies the destination's rules rather than one house style.
After fixing it
Re-upload the corrected file, check the parse again, then run the weak-bullet pass once so the fixes are in your base document rather than in one tailored copy.
The three checks and which document each one reads are set out in what the checkers do.
Questions about this
Why does a two-column CV parse badly?
A sidebar is a second column, and in Word it is usually a table cell. Cells are extracted before the cell beside them, so a skills column can land in the middle of a job title.
Should I send a PDF or a Word file?
Either can parse well or badly. What decides it is the layout inside, not the extension on the end.
The parse is wrong. Do I have to fix the original file?
Not to use the product. Correct it on the parse screen. Fixing the original matters for applications you send outside this product.
My name came out as my job title.
A parser takes the first strong line as the name. Put your name on its own line at the top.
Correct the parse, then fix the source
Correcting the parse unblocks everything here in two minutes. Fixing the original file is worth doing once, for every application you send elsewhere.
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