Staffing Agency Guide

Format Resumes for Workable ATS Clients

Submit candidates to clients using Workable with confidence. Bulk format resumes for perfect parsing and faster placements.

Client-Required Format

.pdf, .doc, .docx, .rtf, .html, .odt

Max File Size

5MB maximum

Typical Clients

Mid-market companies

Quick Summary

TL;DR

When your clients use Workable ATS, candidate submissions need specific formatting to avoid rejections. iReformat bulk-processes resumes into Workable-compatible formats, ensuring your placements get through their parsing system successfully.

3-5 minutes saved
per candidate submission

Key Facts

Client-Required Format

.pdf, .doc, .docx, .rtf, .html, .odt

Workable Documentation

Max File Size

5MB maximum

Workable Help Center

Typical Clients

Mid-market companies

Industry analysis

Why Clients Use It

User-friendly recruiting platform

G2 Reviews

The Challenge: Submitting Candidates to Workable Clients

Staffing agencies face a critical challenge when submitting candidates to clients using Workable ATS. Poor resume formatting leads to parsing failures, causing qualified candidates to be automatically rejected before human review. Workable's system struggles with complex layouts, images, tables, and inconsistent formatting - common elements in candidate resumes. When your submissions fail to parse correctly, it damages client relationships and costs you placements. The manual reformatting process for each client's ATS requirements becomes a bottleneck that prevents agencies from scaling their operations effectively.

Common Pain Points

  • 1PDF files with complex layouts cause parsing failures in Workable
  • 2Manual reformatting creates bottlenecks for high-volume submissions
  • 3Rejected candidates damage relationships with Workable clients
  • 4Different formatting requirements across multiple client ATS systems

How iReformat Prepares Candidate Resumes for Workable

iReformat transforms your candidate resumes into Workable-compatible formats, ensuring successful submissions to your clients' ATS systems while maintaining your agency branding.

  1. 1

    Bulk Upload Candidate Resumes

    Upload resumes in any format - complex PDFs, inconsistent Word docs, or outdated templates from candidates.

  2. 2

    AI Reformats for Workable

    Our AI removes problematic elements like tables and images, restructuring content into clean, single-column layouts that Workable parses successfully.

  3. 3

    Apply Agency Branding

    Add your agency logo and consistent styling across all submissions, reinforcing your brand with every candidate placement.

  4. 4

    Export Client-Ready Files

    Download resumes in Workable-compatible formats under 5MB, ready for immediate submission to your clients' systems.

Result

Save 3-5 minutes per submission while increasing placement success rates and strengthening client relationships through professional, consistent candidate presentations.

What Staffing Agencies Need to Know About Workable

How Workable Processes Your Candidate Submissions

When you submit candidate resumes to Workable clients, the system attempts to parse and extract key information like contact details, work experience, and skills. While specific parsing technology details aren't publicly available, Workable's processing follows standard ATS patterns. The system scans uploaded files to populate candidate profiles automatically, making it easier for your clients to review and compare candidates. However, complex formatting elements like tables, images, and multi-column layouts can disrupt this parsing process, causing incomplete or garbled candidate profiles that reflect poorly on your agency's submission quality.

Sources: Workable Help Center

File Formats Your Workable Clients Accept

Understanding which formats work best for Workable submissions helps ensure your candidates get properly processed. While Workable accepts multiple file types, some perform better than others for ATS parsing. PDF files can be problematic unless they maintain simple, single-column layouts without complex formatting. Word documents (.doc, .docx) generally parse more reliably, while RTF files offer good compatibility across different systems. HTML and ODT formats are accepted but less commonly used in staffing agency workflows.

.docx (simple layout)
BestReliable parsing, easy to edit
.pdf (single-column)
GoodProfessional appearance, parsing varies
.rtf
FairCompatible but limited formatting
.html
FairRarely used in agency workflows

Why Candidate Submissions Get Rejected in Workable

Workable systems reject candidate submissions for several formatting-related reasons that agencies must avoid. Complex visual elements like images, graphs, tables, and charts confuse the parsing algorithm, leading to incomplete candidate profiles. Headers, footers, and page numbers can interfere with content extraction, while multi-column layouts often result in scrambled text. Template-heavy designs and spelling errors further compound parsing issues. These rejections don't just waste time - they can damage your reputation with clients who expect professional, ATS-ready candidate submissions from their staffing partners.

Sources: Workable Career Resources

Resume Format Performance When Submitting to Workable

Recommendations for staffing agency submissions
Format TypeParsing SuccessCommon Rejection ReasonsUse This?
PDF (single-column)BestMinimal rejectionsRecommended
DOCX (simple layout)GoodOccasional formatting issuesAcceptable
PDF (two-column)PoorText scrambling, incomplete parsingAvoid
Template-heavy designsPoorImages and tables confuse parserAvoid

Recommendations for staffing agency submissions

Frequently Asked Questions About Workable ATS

Stop Losing Placements to Formatting Issues

Format candidate resumes for any client ATS in seconds

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