ATS-friendly CV in Hong Kong: what Workday, Greenhouse and Lever actually read
Many employers in Hong Kong — especially multinationals, banks and tech companies — take applications through an applicant tracking system (ATS). The ATS turns your file into structured data before a person reads it. If that conversion goes wrong, a recruiter may see an empty or garbled profile.
What an ATS actually does with your CV
An ATS stores applications and lets recruiters search, filter and review them. Most systems try to parse your CV: they read the text and fill in fields such as name, contact details, job titles, employers and dates. Some now add AI matching on top. The details differ by product, so here is what three widely used systems say in their own documentation.
Workday: the application form is built from your CV
Employers using Workday design their own job application templates. Workday’s administrator guide lists the sections a template can include — Education, Languages, Resume/CV, Resume Parsing and Work Experience — shown to candidates on the My Experience page. When resume parsing is turned on, candidates on the employer’s career site see an Autofill with Resume option; employers can also hide it.
In practice: after you upload, check every autofilled field before you submit. Correct job titles, employers and dates, and fill in the Languages section properly — for Hong Kong roles that usually means Cantonese, English and Putonghua. What you type into these fields is what recruiters see in the system.
Greenhouse: what makes a parse fail
Greenhouse scans an uploaded CV and auto-fills the candidate profile. If parsing fails, the file is only attached and the details must be entered by hand. Its support article on unsuccessful parses lists the causes, including:
- files larger than 2.5 MB;
- graphics, photos or word art, or a CV uploaded as an image rather than a .docx or .pdf;
- tables, headers and footers, and columned layouts;
- name and contact information placed in a header, footer or text box;
- no clear sections, or formatting that changes between sections;
- letters spaced out for style (the parser cannot read them as one word);
- company names without identifiers such as Inc., Co., Ltd or LLC, and abbreviated job titles (“Sr. Account Exec” instead of “Senior Account Executive”).
Greenhouse also offers an AI Talent Matching add-on. Its data processing FAQ says the feature extracts skills, job titles, years of experience, start and end dates, and company names from the CV, then compares them with criteria set by recruiters. It is described as assistive: it does not automatically advance or reject candidates, and it matches similar job titles semantically rather than only word-for-word. Clear titles, dates and skills make that extraction accurate.
Lever: text it can read, in a file type it accepts
Lever’s help article on resume parsing says its parser fills the candidate profile with name, organisation, contact details and work history. It accepts formats including Word (.docx), PDF, RTF and HTML, but cannot parse image files such as JPG or PNG. Its own quick test is a good one: if you cannot highlight the text in your document with your cursor, it probably cannot be parsed. Scanned CVs should be converted to real text first.
An ATS checklist for Hong Kong applications
- One column, no tables or text boxes. Put your name, phone and email in the body of the page, not the header.
- Standard headings: Profile, Experience, Education, Skills, Languages, Certifications.
- Full job titles and company names with “Limited” or “Ltd” where that is the real name.
- One date format throughout, such as “Mar 2023 – Present”.
- Text-based PDF or .docx, under 2 MB, with no photo. Use .docx if the employer asks for it.
- Your name the same way everywhere. If you use an English name, write it consistently, for example “Chan Tai Man, Peter”, on the CV, the form and LinkedIn.
- Use the job ad’s wording where it is true for you. If the ad says “trade finance operations”, use that phrase rather than only your old team’s nickname for it.
- Skills as plain words, not progress bars or star ratings, which carry no readable text.
[Two-column template] Left column: photo, skill bars (Excel ★★★★☆), contact details in a text box. Right column: “Sr. Ops Exec, ABC”.
Single column. Line 1: Chan Tai Man, Peter · +852 [phone] · [email]. Experience: Senior Operations Executive, Example Logistics Limited (fictional), Mar 2023 – Present. Skills: Excel (pivot tables, Power Query), SAP, SQL.
Fictional example. The “after” version gives a parser a name, a full title, a full company name, dates and readable skills.
Do not try to “game” the system
Hidden white text, pasted job descriptions and keyword lists with no context may get through a filter, but a recruiter reads the CV next — and these tricks look bad. Write for the person; format for the parser. If you need a starting point, our guides on Hong Kong CV format and fresh graduate CVs cover what to include.
Check your CV against this guide in about 2 minutes. Arrie’s free AI diagnosis scores your CV, flags ATS problems and missing keywords, and shows before/after rewrites. No account, no card.
Frequently asked questions
Can an ATS read a PDF CV?
Generally yes, if it is a text-based PDF. Lever, for example, lists PDF among the formats it parses, but it cannot parse image files. If you cannot highlight the text in your PDF, convert it to real text first.
Do Workday, Greenhouse or Lever reject CVs automatically?
That depends on how each employer sets up its process. Greenhouse describes its AI Talent Matching as assistive: it does not automatically advance or reject candidates. A badly parsed CV can still leave a recruiter with an incomplete profile, so make it easy to parse.
Should I use a two-column CV template in Hong Kong?
It is safer not to. Greenhouse lists columned layouts, tables, and contact details in headers or text boxes among the causes of failed or partial parsing. A single-column CV is easier for both systems and people.
Why does Workday ask me to retype my CV after uploading?
Workday’s Autofill with Resume pre-fills the application from your file, but the fields are what recruiters see. Check and correct each job title, date and section, including Languages, before submitting.
Sources
- Greenhouse Support — Unsuccessful resume parse
- Greenhouse Support — Talent Matching: Data Processing FAQ
- Lever Help Center — Understanding resume parsing
- Workday Administrator Guide — Create Job Application Templates
This guide is general career advice, not legal advice. Rules and official guidance can change; follow the linked official pages for the current position.
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