Teamtailor fills candidate profiles from whatever CV it's given, and the difference between a clean profile and a re-keying job is formatting. This guide gives you the rules that keep Teamtailor's parser happy.
TL;DR: Teamtailor wants single-column layouts, standard section headings, plain fonts, and text-based files under 10MB. Tables, images, decorative fonts, and design-tool exports are what break profiles. Distill applies these rules automatically at volume.
Quick diagnosis: is this a Teamtailor formatting problem?
| Symptom | Likely cause | Quick check |
|---|---|---|
| Name or contact details missing | Header table or graphic | Is the name in plain body text? |
| Sections mapped wrong | Creative heading names | Does it say "My Story" instead of "Work Experience"? |
| Work history partial or jumbled | Columns or tables | Is the CV laid out in columns? |
| Skills in one blob | Comma list instead of bullets | Are skills bulleted? |
| Profile empty after upload | Scanned or image-based file | Can you select text in the file? |
The formatting rules Teamtailor rewards
Single column, no tables Teamtailor's parser reads top-to-bottom. Columns and tables scramble the reading order, and the header block fails first.
Standard section headings "Work Experience", "Education", "Skills". The parser maps sections by recognising these; creative alternatives get skipped or misfiled.
Plain fonts at 10–12pt Arial or Calibri. Decorative fonts confuse heading detection.
Contact details stacked in plain text Name, phone, email — each on its own line at the top of the body, no symbols, no text boxes.
Real bullet points Skills and responsibilities as bulleted lists, not comma-separated sentences. Bullets are how the parser separates entries.
Text-based files under 10MB .docx is safest; a clean text-based PDF also works. Teamtailor rejects files over 10MB outright, and image-based files produce empty profiles.
Reformatting a problem CV: the 5-minute version
- Copy everything, paste into a fresh .docx as unformatted text.
- Rebuild the standard headings.
- Stack the contact block at the top in plain text.
- Restore bullets under each role and in the skills section.
- Standardise dates, strip images, save, and upload to a test candidate.
When to automate this
- You process 20+ CVs weekly through Teamtailor.
- Designed and multi-column CVs arrive daily.
- You also need candidate data anonymised before sharing shortlists.
Distill flattens layouts, standardises headings and dates, strips images, and outputs Teamtailor-ready files automatically.
FAQ
Q: What's the single most important rule for Teamtailor? A: Single column, no tables. Most scrambled profiles trace back to layout.
Q: Are PDFs OK for Teamtailor? A: Yes, if they're text-based, under 10MB, and not design-tool exports carrying hidden formatting. When in doubt, .docx.
Q: Why do skills come through as one blob? A: The list lost its bullets somewhere. Restore a proper bulleted list.
Q: Can Distill match our house template? A: Yes. It reformats every CV to your template and Teamtailor's parsing rules at the same time.
Clean formatting in, clean profiles out. Distill formats every CV to Teamtailor spec automatically — try it free.