How to Name Your Resume File: The 2025 ATS-Proof Guide

## Resume File Naming: Best Practices & Examples You spent hours perfecting your bullet points and formatting your margins. Don't let a lazy file name ruin your first impression. In the US job market, where Application Tracking Systems (ATS) screen 75% of candidates before a human ever sees them, your file name is a piece of metadata that matters. ## The "Golden Rule" of Resume Naming If you only read one thing, make it this. The standard, professional naming convention for 2025 is: **FirstName-LastName-JobTitle.pdf** Why this works: - **Searchability:** Recruiters search their inbox for your name, not "Resume." - **Context:** It tells the hiring manager exactly what role you fit into immediately. - **ATS Safety:** Hyphens are the safest separator for reading software. ## 3 Resume File Names to Avoid (The "Red Flags") ### 1. The Generic ❌ Resume.pdf ❌ MyResume.docx **Why it fails:** Imagine a recruiter has 50 files on their desktop. If yours is named "Resume.pdf", it will be overwritten or lost instantly. ### 2. The Version Number ❌ Gary-Pine-Resume-v3.pdf ❌ Gary-Pine-Resume-FINAL-FINAL.pdf **Why it fails:** It looks messy and suggests you are disorganized. It also hints that there might be a "better" version out there that they don't have. ### 3. The Gibberish ❌ GP_Res_2025_Google_Edit.pdf **Why it fails:** It forces the recruiter to decipher your code. Don't make them think. ## Formatting: Capitalization & Separators ### Capitalization: CamelCase vs. Caps We recommend Title Case (capitalizing the first letter of each word). It is easier for humans to read than lowercase. ✅ Gary-Pine-Marketing-Director.pdf ⚠️ gary-pine-marketing-director.pdf (Harder to scan) ### Separators: Hyphens vs. Underscores Use hyphens (-). Google and most ATS algorithms treat hyphens as spaces. They sometimes treat underscores (_) as joining characters, meaning Gary_Pine might be read as one long word GaryPine, confusing the name parser. ## FAQ: Rapid Fire Answers ### PDF or Word Doc? Always PDF. Unless the job description explicitly demands a Word Doc. PDFs lock in your formatting so "The Mechanics" of your layout stay perfect on any screen. See our guide on PDF vs Word layouts for more. ### Should I include the company name? **Option:** Gary-Pine-Resume-Google.pdf **Verdict:** No. It adds clutter. Plus, if you accidentally send your "Google" resume to "Facebook," you have guaranteed your rejection. Keep it agnostic. ### What if I have a certification? If the certification is critical to the role (like PMP, CPA, or RN), include it at the end. ✅ Gary-Pine-Accountant-CPA.pdf