In conjunction with Jobscan‘s new resume optimization checks — which include formatting checks for headings, dates, file types, and more — we’ve invited career coaches and resume writers to share exclusive resume templates with our readers. Next up is Catriona Herron Watt of CV Saviour from Sydney, Australia. Be sure to follow her on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Learn more about Jobscan’s new resume checks at the bottom of this article, or try them out.

ATS resume formatting checks with Jobscan


About Catriona Herron Watt and CV Saviour

CV Saviour is an Australian-based career marketing service. While the majority of our clients are in Australia, we work with clients all over the world, in particular, those in the UK, the USA, Asia and the Gulf States, as well as job seekers looking to relocate to Australia.

While we work across the full range of job types and sectors, I love a challenge and specialise in established careers, career changers, career returners and newcomers to the Australian job market. I work with a cracking team of brilliant writers who have various areas of specialisation that range from Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM), to Education, Banking and Finance, Teaching, Human Resources (yes, even recruiters need resumes!), Administration, Law, Medical and Allied Health Care, Professional Services, Academia … the list goes on. I’ve got a raft of qualifications (Marketing, Business, Nursing, and Resume Writing to name a few) to back up my 21 years’ resume writing experience and with years of experience marketing professional services in Australia, the US and the UK, today, I market people for their next career moves.

Challenges for Australian job seekers

One of the biggest challenges for Australian job seekers is that much of what can be found on the internet (and in books) is written for markets other than the Australian job market (although I’m working hard to change that!). Many people think that a one-page resume is the norm in Australia, but that’s a bit of a myth. I always say that a resume only needs to be as long as it needs to be, to get the message across that the job seeker is the best candidate for the job.

Sure, a school-leaver may have a one-page resume, however, we find most Australian resumes tend to be 2 – 3 pages, which also means that our resumes tend to have a lot more words in them. (Big thanks to Jobscan for making Australian job seekers aware of this on the Jobscan ATS tool). Other market-specific idiosyncrasies include spelling (we use British English as standard), grammar, the meanings of certain words, measurements etc – and things such as paper size.

Australian’s aren’t great at shouting about their achievements, and many have very bland ‘I did this, I did that’ statements on their resumes. In our experience, people (recruiters and employers) ‘buy’ people (job seekers), so what we do is really turn our clients resumes around to focus on authentic, personality-driven documents that shout out just how amazing our clients are by providing tangible evidence of the outcomes of the work they have done. It’s a winning formula.

Download Catriona’s Australian resume template

australian resume template
Download .docx

Why do you recommend this resume template?

This CV Saviour hybrid style of resume (international A4 paper size) works really well for anyone really, but in particular for those with challenging career histories, career changers, job hoppers, those who have juggled multiple concurrent jobs, those with little work experience or job seekers who want to take the focus off their past job titles or the fact that they have very little paid work experience, so they can emphasise the value they bring to their next role.

The style aims to capture 70% of the key information about a candidate on the front page. Where colour has been used in blocks, it is shading only, so it won’t cause issues for ATS, and the Key Skills section uses ATS-friendly hard set tabs. For those with very little experience, but heaps of knowledge on a subject, they should use the heading ‘Areas of Knowledge and Understanding’ instead of ‘Key Skills’, if they don’t yet have the hands-on experience in a skill.


What’s new at Jobscan

Jobscan‘s resume optimization tool now checks your formatting based on applicant tracking system and recruiter best practices. New intelligent checks make even the best resume templates more ATS-compatible and recruiter-friendly than ever.

ATS Checks

Need more ideas? Check out Jobscan’s new ATS-friendly resume templates.

Recruiter Checks

  • Measurable results, word count, and words to avoid
  • Sentence length NEW
  • Predicted skills missing from the job description NEW
  • Industry-specific insights NEW
  • Font checks NEW
  • Page size and margins NEW

Keep an eye out for additional new features. Jobscan is updated every two weeks and new formatting checks are on the way!

Scan your resume for new resume formatting checks.

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