How Personio reads your resume
Personio names Textkernel as its parser, the same engine behind SmartRecruiters, and like Greenhouse it publishes its own list of what makes a parse fail. The list is specific enough to check a CV against line by line. The catch is that parsing is something the employer opts in to, so on some Personio career pages nothing is parsed at all.
Personio is a trademark of its owner. ATSPrep isn't affiliated with it.
Will Personio read your file?
Personio publishes no size limit for the application upload, so there is no number to check 1.5 MB against.
- Made by
- Personio
- Parser
- Textkernel
- Accepts
- PDF, DOCX
- ATSPrep exports
- PDF accepted, DOCX accepted
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profiles
What Personio pulls out, and what gets lost.
Your file goes in, Personio fills the fields it recognises, and the line underneath types what its own documentation says goes missing on the way.
What Personio accepts, with sources.
Every line below links to the page it came from. Where Personio does not publish a detail, this guide leaves it out rather than guessing.
Size limits
Personio does not publish a size limit for resume uploads.
Parsing engine
Textkernel. Personio says its CV parsing uses software from the subcontractor Textkernel, and the employer has to enable that subcontractor before anything is parsed. What holds for Textkernel elsewhere holds here, once it is switched on.
Form autofill
When the employer has opted in, every incoming application with a CV is parsed, from all sources. Personio fills first name, last name, location, phone number, email address, gender, current employer, current title, years of experience and public profile.
Recruiters are told to check the parsed information against the original CV and may have to enter details by hand. Personio does not document a step where the applicant reviews the parse.
What ATSPrep exports, and whether Personio takes it
This is computed at build time by comparing our export formats to Personio's published list. It is not written by hand, so it cannot drift out of date.
- PDFATSPrep exportAccepted by Personio
- DOCXATSPrep exportAccepted by Personio
Personio takes both, so the choice is yours. PDF or DOCX: a simple rule for picking
What trips people up on Personio
Parsing only happens if the employer opted in
Personio's parsing runs on Textkernel, and the employer has to enable the Textkernel B.V. subcontractor in its data protection settings. If they have, all incoming applications with a CV are parsed. If they haven't, a recruiter reads your file as you sent it.
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profilesPDF or DOCX, nothing else parses
The first reason Personio gives for parsing not working is that the CV is not in PDF or DOCX format. Its upload steps say the same: ensure the file format is PDF or DOCX.
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profilesHeaders, tables and columns
Personio names key details in the document header or footer, and candidate details presented in a table or multi-column format, as reasons a parse fails. It says parsing converts the CV into plain text first, which is why reading order matters.
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profilesSmall type and decorative fonts
A font size of 8 pt or smaller fails, and so do uncommon font styles such as expanded spacing or small caps. These are rare to see written down by a vendor, and easy to fix.
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profilesReady-made templates are on the failure list
Personio lists a ready-made template, for example one from Microsoft Word, as a reason parsing may not work. So are logos used instead of company or university names, and skills drawn as bar charts instead of written as text.
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profilesImages and scans
A CV that is a scan rather than an original PDF fails. So does one where the name or email sits in an image, or where the whole application is a PNG or JPEG.
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profiles10 MB per document
Personio states a maximum of 10 MB per document when CVs are uploaded for parsing. It does not publish a separate number for the candidate application form, so this guide does not quote one.
Source: Personio Help Center, CV parsing for candidate profilesThe apply link gives it away
Personio career pages live at company.jobs.personio.de or company.jobs.personio.com, depending on the domain extension the employer chose.
Source: Personio Help Center, set up the Personio career page
Formatting for Personio
Go through your file before you apply and tick each one off. Your ticks stay in this browser, so the list is still here for the next Personio job.
They are the only formats Personio parses. Export the PDF from your editor rather than scanning a printout.
Name, email and phone belong in the first lines of the page, not in a header or footer, and not inside an image.
Personio turns the CV into plain text before it reads it. A single column survives that; a table or two columns may not.
8 pt or smaller is on the failure list. 10 to 12 pt body text is safe and easier for the recruiter too.
Skip bar charts, rating dots and logos. A parser can't read a picture of a skill, and Personio names this one directly.
All five checked. Good luck with this one.
Once it's sent, add the job to your tracker. You'll know which version went where, and when a follow-up is fair.
Read your resume back before Personio does.
Guidance is worth less than evidence. Export a PDF from the Studio and the X-Ray re-opens that exact file and shows you the text a parser recovers from it, in reading order, with anything it dropped marked.
$0 forever · No watermark · No card · First download needs no account
Personio and your resume
- What is Personio?
- Personio is an HR platform with a recruiting module that employers use to publish jobs and collect applications. If the application page sits on a company.jobs.personio.de or company.jobs.personio.com address, the employer uses Personio.
- Does Personio read PDF resumes?
- Yes, when the employer has opted in to CV parsing. PDF and DOCX are the formats Personio parses. A scanned PDF is listed as a reason parsing fails, so the PDF needs real text.
- What file types does Personio accept for a CV?
- For parsing, PDF and DOCX. Personio lists a CV that is not in PDF or DOCX format as the first reason parsing does not work.
- What is the Personio resume size limit?
- Personio states a maximum of 10 MB per document when CVs are uploaded for parsing. It does not publish a separate limit for the candidate application form.
- Which parser does Personio use?
- Textkernel. Personio says its CV parsing feature uses software from the subcontractor Textkernel, which the employer has to enable before parsing runs.
- Why did my resume fail to parse in Personio?
- Personio lists the causes: the CV is not a PDF or DOCX; key details are in an image or the whole application is a PNG or JPEG; a ready-made template was used; the CV is a scan; details are in the header or footer; details are in a table or multiple columns; the font is 8 pt or smaller; uncommon font styles such as expanded spacing or small caps; logos instead of text; and skills shown as graphics such as bar charts.
- Does a failed parse mean Personio rejected my application?
- No. Personio says that when parsing struggles, details may have to be entered manually in the candidate profile. A failed parse makes your record less complete and harder to filter, but it is not a rejection.
- How can I tell if an employer uses Personio?
- Look at the application URL. Personio career pages use company.jobs.personio.de or company.jobs.personio.com.
How the rest of them read a resume
- DayforceDayforce takes DOC, DOCX, PDF and RTF resumes up to 5 MB. Import Resume parses the file into your candidate profile, and uploading again overwrites what the last one filled in.4 file types
- PinpointPinpoint takes a CV as PDF or DOCX, and nothing else. Its software reads the CV on upload to write the candidate summary recruiters see first.2 file types
- ComeetComeet, now Spark Hire Recruit, takes PDF, DOC and DOCX resumes and parses them in 39 listed languages. Arabic and Korean are not among them, and a file that is not a true PDF may not even open.3 file types
- GreenhouseGreenhouse takes PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF and TXT, and will not parse a resume larger than 2.5 MB. Its own support docs name what makes a parse fail: columns, contact details in a header, abbreviated job titles and more.5 file types
Start from an example that Personio can read.
Each one is a single-column document, scored by the same checks the Studio runs.