Are two-column resumes ATS-friendly?

Sometimes, but they carry more risk than single-column resumes. Many applicant tracking systems can handle simple two-column PDFs, yet some read across both columns line by line, mixing unrelated text together.

The risk depends on:

• How the columns were built: real text columns, tables or floating text boxes.
• How the PDF was generated, which affects the order the text is stored in.
• The specific system and the employer's settings, which vary.

Because you rarely know which system an employer uses, a single-column layout is the safer choice for online applications. If you use two columns, test your PDF by copying all the text into a plain text editor and checking that each section comes out complete and in order.