8 min read
Your Canva CV might look sharp on a phone screen. Greenhouse doesn't see the grid. It sees a string, and UK templates love grids. That's the mismatch most applicants never test.
If you're applying to London fintech or Manchester ops roles tonight, you don't need another keyword list. You need to know whether DOCX or PDF keeps your last employer attached to the right dates.
Check your resume for free on the export you plan to attach, then compare it to what Greenhouse preview shows.
We'll weigh DOCX against PDF for UK uploads, then lock the single-column rule that stops sidebars from reordering your career story.
Greenhouse UK CV formatting mistakes to fix usually aren't spelling errors. They're layout choices that look normal on paper and read sideways in preview.
This won't fix applying five levels above the band. It stops a qualified UK CV from dying because the parser read the skills rail before your current title.
What Greenhouse checks before a recruiter opens your UK CV
Greenhouse pulls text from your upload and maps it into preview fields. Recruiters search those fields later. If your employer name lands in Education, you look like a career gap even when you're employed.
UK postings often ask for a CV while the portal label still says resume. The file rules are the same: one reading path, plain headings, and dates that do not rely on slash order.
Three signals matter more than font choice: reading order, selectable text, and standard headings such as Work Experience and Education.
UK CVs often add a personal profile, A-level lines, and right-rail skills. Those are fine for email introductions. They are risky inside a portal that flattens columns left to right.
Compare export goals in how resume file type impacts screening after you pick a winner below.
| Criterion | DOCX tendency | PDF tendency |
|---|---|---|
| Paste test | Usually keeps line order | Fails when exported from design tools |
| Sidebar skills | Still shuffles if two-column | Same shuffle risk |
| Posting silence | Safe default when text-based | Fine when print-to-PDF from Word |
Before: You pick PDF because it looked frozen on your laptop.
After: You pick whichever format keeps employer, title, and Month Year on one readable line in preview.
DOCX: when it is the better Greenhouse upload
DOCX from Word or a Google Docs download is still the least surprising file for UK corporate reqs when the posting does not forbid it.
Start from a single-column master. Calibri or Arial at 10 to 11 pt is boring and that is the point. Fancy templates bundled as DOCX still hide contact lines inside tables.
Before: Contact details live in a header so the first page looks clean.
After: You retype name, phone, and email as plain lines above Work Experience.
Before: Dates read 04/06/2021 to 11/02/2024 across roles.
After: You write June 2021 to February 2024 so parsers do not swap day and month.
Copy-paste contact block:
Alex Morgan Manchester, UK · 07XXX XXXXXX · [email protected] linkedin.com/in/alexmorgan WORK EXPERIENCE Operations Analyst | Northwind Retail | March 2022 to Present - Built weekly stock dashboards in Excel, cutting emergency replenishment tickets 9% in Q2
Save as .docx, open the file, select all, and paste into Notepad. If Northwind Retail still sits above the bullet, Greenhouse will likely agree.
When a posting says PDF only, export PDF from that same Word master instead of redesigning in a slide tool.
Keep version control dull. Greenhouse-UK.docx and Greenhouse-UK.pdf in one folder beats six Canva downloads with different accent colours.
If Word warns about compatibility mode, accept the fix before upload. Old .doc binaries sometimes strip bullets on import.
Greenhouse UK CV formatting mistakes to fix in PDF exports
PDF is not safer. It is just frozen. Scanned PDFs, Canva exports, and portfolio PDFs often produce zero selectable text, so preview stays empty while your design looks perfect.
I've screened stacks of UK uploads in Greenhouse, and the repeat failure is a two-column CV where the parser reads the skills column between every job title.
Single column is the rule for portal uploads. You can send a designed PDF when a hiring manager asks for a portfolio. The apply button wants linear text.
Tables used to align dates on the right while titles sit left are a common UK CV habit. Parsers read across the row, so dates interrupt employer names.
Icons for email, phone, and location become blank tokens. Replace them with typed characters. Hyperlinks in footers sometimes vanish in PDF while the visible text remains.
For table-heavy layouts read why ATS rejects resumes with tables after you flatten the grid.
Before: Skills sit in a colored left rail for quick human scanning.
After: Skills move under the job where you used them, still in one column.
Before: You export PDF from a design app to stop edits.
After: You export PDF from Word only after the DOCX paste test passes, so text stays selectable.
Page two headers in tiny templates sometimes parse as a new employer name. Move certifications to page one or drop page two for portal uploads.
Personal profiles are common on UK CVs. Keep them to three lines at the top, still in the main column, with no text box wrapper.
When you're unsure which mistake bit you, open preview and read only the employer field. If it's blank, contact and layout failed before content ever mattered.
Run the paste test before you attach the file
Upload is not the first test. Paste is. If Notepad garbles order, preview will too.
Screenshot a good preview beside a bad one in your job-search folder. Future you will forget which export scrambled employers.
Run the ATS check on the DOCX and the PDF from the same master. Keep the format that scores readable sections, not the one that merely looks polished.
Score your job match once parsing is stable. Format fixes come first; tailoring keywords is second.
Generate a cover letter as plain text when the posting splits letter and CV uploads.
Apply to one test req with your polished export, then swap only the format while keeping text identical. That A/B test settles DOCX vs PDF faster than forum debates.
Decision rule for tonight's UK Greenhouse apply
Follow the posting format when it is explicit. When it is silent, default to a text-based DOCX from a single-column master. Move to PDF only if paste and preview stay clean.
Rename the winning file Greenhouse-UK-Master so you do not reattach an old two-column export during a late-night apply streak.
If preview still shuffles employers after you flatten columns, rebuild in a plain Word doc rather than adding graphics. Extraction beats decoration every time.
Once format is stable, mirror three skills from the posting in your top bullet. Parsing and tailoring stack; they don't replace each other.
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Frequently asked questions
Neither wins on name alone. A text-based DOCX from Word or Google Docs usually survives copy-paste checks. A PDF exported from design software often hides contact lines in sidebars. Follow the posting if it names a format. If it stays silent, run the Notepad paste test on both exports and upload whichever keeps employers in order.
You can design that way for humans, but Greenhouse reads width-first. Skills in a left rail often land between job titles, so your current employer can sit under Education. For portal uploads, use one column. Move skills below Work Experience as plain text bullets or a short comma list.
Spell out months in the experience block: January 2022 to March 2024. Numeric slashes confuse parsers when day and month flip. Keep the same pattern on every role line so preview does not split a title from its dates.
Top of the body in plain text, not in a header, footer, or table cell. Name, phone, email, city, and LinkedIn URL on separate lines work. If preview drops your phone number, pull it out of any text box and retype it above Work Experience.