ATS Pilot CVs: Why You Need Two Versions of Your CV

You spent hours crafting a beautiful pilot CV. Professional colours, clean two-column layout, type ratings in a neat sidebar, flight hours in a polished table. You submit it through the airline's online portal and wait.

Nothing happens.

The problem is not your qualifications. The problem is that the airline's Applicant Tracking System could not read your CV.

What Is an ATS?

An Applicant Tracking System is software that airlines use to manage the flood of pilot applications they receive. Major carriers can receive thousands of CVs for a single recruitment window. ATS software scans, parses, and ranks these CVs before a human recruiter ever sees them.

The system extracts text from your PDF and tries to identify key fields: your name, total flight hours, type ratings, licence type, and employment history. It then scores your application against the job requirements.

Why Designed CVs Fail

ATS parsers work by reading text in a linear, top-to-bottom flow. When your CV has:

• Two columns: The parser may read across both columns, mixing unrelated information
• Tables with borders: The parser may not understand the table structure
• Text embedded in images: Completely invisible to the parser
• Custom fonts: May not render correctly when extracted
• Headers and footers: Often ignored or misread
• Sidebars: Frequently parsed out of order

A CV that looks professional to a human can be gibberish to an ATS.

What Makes a CV ATS-Compatible?

An ATS-friendly pilot CV follows these rules:

1. Single column layout: Text flows top to bottom in one column
2. Standard fonts: Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman
3. No graphics or images: Pure text content
4. Simple formatting: Bold and italic are fine, but avoid text boxes
5. Standard section headings: "Employment History" not "Where I've Flown"
6. Dates in standard format: "January 2020 - March 2024" not "01/20 - 03/24"
7. Real text PDF: Not a scanned image or screenshot

The Two-Version Strategy

The solution is simple: maintain two versions of your CV.

Version 1 - Branded CV: Your visually professional CV with colours, columns, and polished design. Use this for:

• Direct emails to recruiters
• In-person networking at aviation events
• Printing for interviews
• LinkedIn profile attachments

Version 2 - ATS CV: A plain, single-column version with the same content but formatted for machine readability. Use this for:

• Online application portals
• Airline career websites
• Recruitment agency submissions
• Any system where you upload a PDF

Both versions should contain identical information. The only difference is the layout and formatting.

Which Airlines Use ATS?

Most major airlines use some form of ATS:

• European carriers: Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Lufthansa Group, IAG (British Airways, Iberia), Air France-KLM all use ATS
• Gulf carriers: Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad use sophisticated ATS platforms
• US carriers: United, Delta, American, Southwest, and JetBlue all use ATS
• Asia-Pacific: Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas all use ATS

If you are applying through an online portal, assume it has an ATS.

How to Test Your CV

Want to check if your current CV is ATS-friendly? Try this:

1. Open your CV PDF
2. Select all text (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A)
3. Copy and paste into a plain text editor (Notepad)
4. Read through the pasted text

If the text is jumbled, out of order, or missing information, an ATS will have the same problem. If it reads clearly from top to bottom with all your information intact, it should parse correctly.

The FlightDeck CV Approach

Every CV downloaded from FlightDeck CV comes in two versions: a branded PDF with your region's colour palette and professional layout, and an ATS-optimised PDF with single-column plain-text formatting.

Both are generated from the same data. You fill in your details once and get both versions in a single download.

Get both versions for $9.99