ATS Keywords
Architect ATS Keywords: Get Your CV Past the Screening Bots
Applicant tracking systems scan an architect's CV for concrete technical terms, licensure abbreviations, and software names long before a hiring manager ever opens the attached portfolio. A CV built around design philosophy and soft skills, without terms like 'Revit,' 'construction administration,' or 'ARB registered,' can score too low to reach the person who would actually appreciate the work. Getting the keyword layer right is what earns your portfolio the chance to be seen at all.
Optimize Your CVATS Optimisation
Must-Have Keywords
Include these keywords in your CV to improve your ATS score.
Strengthen Your CV
Power Phrases
Use these multi-word phrases to strengthen your CV.
Avoid These
Words to Avoid
Remove these overused or weak words from your CV.
ATS Score
Before & After ATS Optimization
Before
Missing Keywords
After
Added Keywords
Formatting
ATS-Friendly Format Tips
Keep the CV format itself restrained — a single column, standard fonts, generous white space, no custom icons or graphic timelines — and save every bit of visual ambition for the portfolio; reviewers read a heavily designed CV not as proof of talent but as a misjudgment about where the visual argument belongs, since the portfolio is what a CV can never replace.
Use standard section headers such as 'Professional Experience,' 'Licenses & Registration,' and 'Education' — ATS parsers map content to recognized fields and can fail on creative labels.
Place your licensure status and registration number, if applicable, directly under your name or in a dedicated credentials line, since some ATS systems treat it as a searchable field.
Avoid tables, text boxes, and multi-column layouts in the experience section — many parsers scramble or silently drop content placed inside them.
Save and submit as a text-based PDF or .docx file, never a flattened or image-based export, so the parser can extract the text at all.
Mirror the exact terms used in the job posting, such as 'construction administration' versus 'CA,' or 'Revit' versus 'BIM,' since ATS keyword matching is frequently literal.
Put the portfolio link in plain, hyperlinked text near your name or contact details rather than behind a QR code or graphic icon, since ATS software can't parse an image.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No — a heavily designed CV reads to reviewers as a misjudgment about where the visual argument belongs, not as evidence of talent. Keep the CV clean and parseable, and let the portfolio, not the CV, carry your design case.
Yes, always — place it as plain hyperlinked text near your name or contact details so both the ATS and a human reviewer can find it immediately.
No. ATS software only parses text it can extract from the CV file itself; it cannot see or score drawings, renderings, or layout inside a linked portfolio PDF or website.
Aim to naturally cover 15-20 role-specific terms, such as software names, project phases, and licensure status, spread across your summary, skills, and experience sections.
No — list only the tools named in the posting plus what you can genuinely discuss in an interview; padding dilutes your real match score and can look dishonest once you're asked to demonstrate it.
Yes — commercial and institutional postings weight code compliance, consultant coordination, and construction administration more heavily, while residential postings weight client-facing design development and permitting more heavily. Match the emphasis to the posting.
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