Bond Adapt is a popular ATS platform across the UK, Australia, and Europe. But recruiters and agencies often hit the same walls: CVs don't upload correctly, parsing breaks, and formatting gets scrambled. This guide explains exactly how to prepare and submit CVs for Bond Adapt to avoid those issues.
TL;DR: Bond Adapt struggles with tables, unusual fonts, and inconsistent section headings. Use a simple, standard CV format with clear section titles. Avoid graphics and embedded objects. If you send over 20 CVs a week, Distill can automatically clean and format them to Bond Adapt's specs, saving hours of manual fixes.
What you need to know about CVs in Bond Adapt
Bond Adapt's parsing engine works best with plain, clearly structured CVs. It reads left to right, top to bottom, and expects consistent section headings like "Work Experience" or "Education". Anything outside that pattern risks misplacing or dropping data.
Common pitfalls include:
- Tables and columns: Bond Adapt often scrambles text in tables or multi-column layouts.
- Unusual fonts and styles: Fonts outside standard system defaults can cause character errors.
- Embedded images or logos: These are ignored or cause upload failures.
- Non-standard section headings: Variations like "Career History" instead of "Work Experience" can confuse parsing.
Bond Adapt supports .doc, .docx, and PDF uploads, but PDFs are more prone to parsing errors unless they are text-based (not scanned images). Where possible, submit Word docs.
Formatting guide
A clear, simple CV format improves parsing accuracy and speeds up your workflow. Follow these rules to avoid issues:
- Use single-column layout only. Avoid tables, text boxes, or columns.
- Stick to standard fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman.
- Use consistent, bolded section headings: "Personal Details", "Work Experience", "Education", "Skills", "Certifications".
- Dates should be in a consistent format: "Jan 2018 – Dec 2020" or "2018–2020". Avoid ranges like "2018 to Present" as they sometimes confuse parsing.
- Avoid headers, footers, or page numbers. Bond Adapt often ignores or misreads these.
- Remove photos, logos, or other images.
- Use normal bullets and standard punctuation. Fancy symbols or emojis get lost.
- Contact details should be on the first page, clearly labelled and in plain text (no hyperlinks or icons).
- Keep CVs to two pages where possible. Long documents increase parsing errors.
For detailed formatting examples, see our Bond Adapt formatting guide.
Parsing errors
Parsing errors cause misplaced data, missing sections, or corrupted contact details. Here are the most common parsing failures with Bond Adapt and how to fix them:
| Issue | Why It Happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Scrambled work history | Tables or columns in work section | Remove tables, use simple line breaks and bullet points |
| Missing contact details | Contact info in header/footer | Put contact details in main body, first page only |
| Dates misread or dropped | Inconsistent date formats | Use “MMM YYYY – MMM YYYY” consistently |
| Bullet points lost | Non-standard bullets or symbols | Use plain circle or square bullets |
| Skills merged into other text | Inline formatting or embedded objects | List skills in a separate section, no embedded elements |
| PDF scanned images | Text not selectable | Use text-based PDF or Word doc |
If you want a deeper dive into parsing errors, check our Bond Adapt parsing errors guide.
Upload issues
Uploading CVs to Bond Adapt can throw up unexpected problems unrelated to parsing. Common upload issues include:
- File size limits: Bond Adapt caps uploads around 2MB per file. Large CVs with images or embedded objects exceed this.
- File type restrictions: Only .doc, .docx, and PDF are accepted. Avoid .rtf or others.
- Filename characters: Special characters in filenames (e.g. #, %, &) cause upload failures. Rename files with simple letters and numbers.
- Multiple CV uploads: Bulk upload can fail if any one CV doesn't meet formatting rules. Pre-check CVs before bulk submission.
- Network timeouts: Large uploads on slow connections time out. Split batches or compress files.
If you encounter frequent upload errors, review our Bond Adapt upload issues guide for troubleshooting tips.
Distill + Bond Adapt
Distill helps recruiters and agencies submitting CVs to Bond Adapt by automating the formatting fixes above. It strips out photos, logos, graduation years, and contact details you want anonymised. Then it re-formats the CV into a single-column Word doc with standard fonts and section headings.
This reduces parsing errors and upload failures. Distill also detects tables and replaces them with bullet points or line breaks. You can batch process 20+ CVs a week and avoid hours of manual editing.
Distill doesn't integrate directly with Bond Adapt but works smoothly alongside your existing export workflow. You export CVs from your ATS or CRM, run them through Distill, then upload the cleaned files to Bond Adapt.
Start free Distill trial to see how much time you save fixing Bond Adapt CV issues.
If you're regularly sending CVs to Bond Adapt clients, Distill formats them automatically to the specs above. Try Distill free and cut down your CV prep time.