The CV format that actually gets past ATS in Nigeria

When you apply through a Nigerian company's careers page, your CV usually goes into an applicant tracking system (ATS) before a human sees it. The software reads the file, pulls out your details, and scores the match. If it cannot read your layout, you are not rejected — you are simply invisible, and nobody ever tells you.

The good news is that the fix is boring. It is not a trick or a secret keyword. It is a plain, well-structured document that both a parser and a tired recruiter can read in ten seconds.

What the software is actually doing

An ATS converts your file to plain text, then looks for sections it recognises — contact details, work history, education, skills — and dates it can line up. It then compares the words in your CV to the words in the advert.

Everything in this article follows from that. If a human can read your CV but the parser cannot, you fail. If the parser can read it but a human gives up after six seconds, you also fail. The format below is the one that satisfies both.

The layout that survives

• One column. No sidebars, no two-column templates, no text boxes. Parsers read left to right across the whole page, so a sidebar gets scrambled into the middle of your job history.
• No tables and no graphics. A table of skills or a chart of your proficiency reads as noise. Write the skill, then prove it in a bullet.
• Nothing in the header or footer of the document. Some systems drop that area completely — and that is where people put their phone number.
• Standard section headings: Profile, Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications. Not “My Journey” or “Where I've Been”.
• A real font at 10.5–11.5pt. Calibri, Arial, Georgia. No display fonts.
• PDF, unless the advert asks for Word. Export the PDF from Word or Google Docs — never a scan, never a phone photo of a printed page.
• One page if you have under eight years of experience. Two is fine after that. Three is a warning sign.

The section order Nigerian recruiters expect

1. 1Name and contact line — phone with the country code, a professional email, city and state. LinkedIn if it is current.
2. 2Profile — three lines: what you do, how long you have done it, and one result.
3. 3Experience — most recent first, with months and years, not just years.
4. 4Education — degree, institution, year. Include NYSC status.
5. 5Skills — six to ten tools or capabilities you could be tested on tomorrow.
6. 6Certifications — only current, verifiable ones.
7. 7Referees — two, with roles and phone numbers, or leave the line off entirely.

Keywords, without the stuffing

Use the advert's own words. If the advert says “customer care representative” and your CV says “client experience executive”, the match is weaker than it should be — even though you did the same job.

Read the advert, underline the eight phrases it repeats, and make sure the honest version of each appears in your CV. Do not paste a paragraph of keywords in white text. Modern systems ignore hidden text, and a human who opens the file sees a mess.

Five things to delete today

• “References available on request.” Everyone knows. It wastes a line.
• Skill bars and star ratings. “Excel — 4/5 stars” means nothing to anybody. Say what you built with it.
• “To work in a dynamic organisation where I can utilise my skills…” Replace it with a sentence about the job you are applying for.
• A photo, unless the advert asks for one. It adds no information and invites bias.
• Date of birth, marital status, religion, state of origin — unless the employer specifically asks. Many Nigerian employers still request these on their own forms, and if the form asks, answer it. On the CV itself they cost you space and open the door to discrimination.

The twenty-minute fix

1. 1Copy your CV into a blank document with no template.
2. 2Set one column, 11pt, and normal margins.
3. 3Rewrite every bullet as action + tool + result: “Reconciled ₦40m monthly stock ledger in Excel, cutting discrepancies from 9% to under 1%.”
4. 4Delete anything older than ten years that is not directly relevant.
5. 5Export to PDF, then open it and copy-paste the text into a notes app. If the pasted text is in the right order and readable, a parser will manage.