You spent six hours translating your military experience into civilian language, built out every bullet, got the formatting tight — and now you are staring at the "Save As" dropdown wondering if the wrong file type is going to tank your application.

I get it. When I separated from the Navy in 2015, I remember reading forum posts swearing that PDF was the only safe option, followed immediately by another thread claiming DOCX was the only format ATS could read. Conflicting advice from people who had never actually sat behind a hiring desk.

So here is the short answer: both PDF and DOCX work for civilian job applications. Neither format is going to automatically sink your resume. But the longer answer matters more, because when you use each format depends on the company, the submission method, and what the job posting actually asks for. This article breaks down the real differences, the situations where one format edges out the other, and the specific mistakes veterans make that have nothing to do with file type.

Why Does Resume File Format Even Matter?

File format matters because different systems handle documents differently. When you submit a resume through an online portal, that file gets processed by an applicant tracking system — software like Workday, iCIMS, Greenhouse, or Lever. The ATS parses your document, pulls out your contact info, work history, skills, and education, then indexes it so recruiters can search and rank candidates.

The parsing step is where format can play a role. A well-structured DOCX file and a well-structured PDF will both parse correctly on modern ATS platforms. The problems start when the document itself has unusual formatting — tables nested inside tables, text boxes, headers and footers stuffed with critical info, or graphics layered over text. That is a formatting problem, not a file-type problem. Our guide on ATS-friendly fonts, margins, and formatting rules covers exactly which choices cause parsing failures.

For veterans specifically, the format question gets tangled up with a bigger issue: translating military experience into language that civilian hiring managers and recruiters actually understand. You could submit the perfect file type and still rank at the bottom of the applicant list because your resume says "E-6 with 12 years TIS" and the recruiter is searching for "Senior Operations Manager." The file format is a small piece of the puzzle. The content and keyword alignment is the part that moves the needle.

How Do Modern ATS Platforms Handle PDF and DOCX?

There is a persistent myth that ATS platforms cannot read PDFs. That was partially true in 2010. It is not true in 2026. Every major ATS — Workday, iCIMS, Greenhouse, Lever, Taleo, BambooHR — can parse both PDF and DOCX files. The technology caught up years ago.

That said, there is a technical nuance worth understanding. DOCX files are XML-based, which means the text is stored in a structured, machine-readable format by default. An ATS parser can pull text from a DOCX with very little guesswork. PDF files, on the other hand, come in two flavors: text-based PDFs (where the text is selectable and searchable) and image-based PDFs (essentially a picture of your document). Text-based PDFs parse fine. Image-based PDFs — the kind you get from scanning a printed document — will often fail to parse entirely.

If you built your resume in Word, Google Docs, or a resume builder and exported it as a PDF, you have a text-based PDF. No issues. If you printed your resume, scanned it back in, and saved that scan as a PDF, you have a problem. But that is an edge case that applies to maybe one percent of applicants.

What About Formatting Preservation?

This is where PDF has a genuine advantage. A PDF locks your formatting in place. The fonts, spacing, margins, and layout will look exactly the same on every device, every operating system, every screen. A DOCX file can shift slightly depending on whether the recipient opens it in Word 2019, Word 365, Google Docs, or LibreOffice. Font substitutions happen. Margins nudge. A two-page resume occasionally bleeds onto a third page because the recipient's system renders your chosen font slightly wider. Knowing whether you need one page or two before you pick a format saves you from this problem entirely.

For veterans who have spent time getting their resume layout clean — especially if you are using columns, specific alignment, or a polished design — PDF protects that work. DOCX gives the recipient a file they can technically edit, which is occasionally useful (more on that below), but it also means your careful formatting is at the mercy of their software.

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When Should You Use PDF for Your Civilian Resume?

Use PDF as your default when the job posting does not specify a format. There are four situations where PDF is the stronger choice:

Emailing your resume directly to a hiring manager or recruiter. When your resume lands in someone's inbox, you want it to look exactly how you designed it. No font substitution, no margin shifts. PDF guarantees that. If a recruiter opens your DOCX and the formatting is off because they use Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word, that is a first impression you cannot fix.

Uploading to a company career portal that accepts both formats. If the portal says "Upload your resume (PDF, DOC, or DOCX)" with no preference stated, PDF is a safe choice. Your formatting stays intact and the ATS will parse the text just fine.

Applying through LinkedIn Easy Apply. LinkedIn's system handles PDFs well. When a recruiter views your attached resume through LinkedIn, the PDF renders consistently regardless of their device.

Submitting to smaller companies without enterprise ATS. Smaller companies — under 200 employees — often do not use a full ATS. Your resume goes straight to a hiring manager's inbox or a shared drive. PDF ensures they see what you intended them to see.

When Should You Use DOCX for Your Civilian Resume?

DOCX has its own set of advantages, and there are specific scenarios where it is the better pick:

The job posting explicitly requests Word format. This is the most obvious one. If a posting says "Submit your resume in .doc or .docx format," do exactly that. Do not submit a PDF and hope they will not care. Following application instructions is the easiest way to demonstrate attention to detail, and ignoring them is the fastest way to get passed over before anyone reads a single bullet.

You are working with a staffing agency or recruiter who asked for DOCX. Recruiters at staffing agencies (Robert Half, Hays, Kelly Services, and the defense-sector agencies like ManTech or SAIC recruiters) sometimes request DOCX because they reformat resumes before submitting candidates to their clients. They strip your contact info, add their agency branding, and adjust formatting to match their template. A PDF makes that process harder. If a recruiter asks for DOCX, give them DOCX. You can read more about working with recruiters in our guide to working with a recruiter as a veteran.

Applying through an older ATS that specifically requests it. Some legacy ATS platforms — particularly in government contracting and large manufacturing — still have upload forms that list ".doc" or ".docx" as the only accepted format. If the upload field will not accept your PDF, the system is telling you what it wants.

The company uses Taleo. Taleo is one of the oldest ATS platforms still in widespread use, particularly among Fortune 500 companies. While Taleo technically parses PDFs, its DOCX parsing has historically been more reliable. If you are applying to a large corporation and you see the Taleo interface (Oracle branding, a login page that looks like it was designed in 2008), DOCX is the safer bet.

What Format Mistakes Actually Cost Veterans Interviews?

After helping 15,456+ veterans through BMR, I can tell you the format mistakes that actually cost interviews have almost nothing to do with PDF versus DOCX. They have everything to do with what is inside the file.

Military jargon without translation. Certain phrases that hiring managers hate on veteran resumes will sink your application regardless of file format. Your resume says "Managed COMSEC inventory across three detachments" and the hiring manager for a Supply Chain Analyst role does not know what COMSEC means. The ATS does not have "COMSEC" as a keyword the recruiter is searching for. Your resume ranks low, regardless of file type. The fix is translating your military job titles into civilian language that matches what employers are actually searching for.

One generic resume for every application. A single untailored resume submitted to 50 different jobs will rank poorly against candidates who tailored their keywords to each specific posting. The ATS ranks resumes by keyword relevance to the job description. A generic resume hits some keywords but misses the specific ones each role requires. File format does not fix a relevance problem.

Fancy templates with columns, graphics, and icons. Those Instagram-worthy resume templates with two-column layouts, skill-level progress bars, and headshot photos look great as screenshots. They parse terribly. The ATS tries to read left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Multi-column layouts confuse the parser and your carefully organized sections get mashed into gibberish. This happens with both PDF and DOCX — the format is not the issue, the template design is.

Missing keywords from the job description. If the posting says "project management" and your resume says "mission coordination," you are speaking a different language than the ATS is searching for. The fix is pulling the exact terms from the job posting and working them into your bullets naturally. For more on this, check out our guide on military acronyms — when to keep, spell out, or drop them.

Should You Send Both Formats?

Some veterans ask if they should keep two versions of their resume — one PDF, one DOCX — and send whichever the situation calls for. Yes, that is a smart approach if you are deep in the job search grind. Here is how to manage it without creating extra headaches:

Build in DOCX first. Whether you use Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or a resume builder designed for veterans, your working file should be in an editable format. This is your master copy — the one you update when you tailor for a new role.

Export to PDF for each application. Once you have tailored your resume for a specific job, export a PDF version. Name it clearly: FirstName_LastName_Resume_CompanyName.pdf. This is the version you submit unless the posting asks for DOCX.

Keep both versions organized by company. Create a folder for each application with the job posting saved (as a PDF or screenshot), your tailored DOCX, and the PDF you submitted. When you get a callback two weeks later, you can pull up exactly what they are looking at.

What About Federal Applications?

This article focuses on civilian private-sector applications, but I should address the federal question briefly since many veterans apply to both tracks simultaneously. Federal applications through USAJOBS have their own rules. The USAJOBS Resume Builder creates its own format, and if you are uploading a document instead, the guidance is different from private sector. We wrote a dedicated breakdown covering PDF vs Word for USAJOBS federal resume uploads — read that if you are applying to GS positions.

The short version for federal: USAJOBS accepts both formats. The Resume Builder is the safest option because it feeds directly into USA Staffing (the federal ATS). If you upload a separate document, the same principle applies — clean formatting, no fancy templates, and make sure the text is parseable.

How to Make Sure Your Resume Parses Correctly in Either Format

Regardless of whether you submit PDF or DOCX, these formatting principles will keep your resume clean for both human reviewers and ATS parsers:

Use a single-column layout. One column, top to bottom. No sidebars, no two-column skill sections, no text wrapped around images. Single column parses correctly every time in both formats.

Put your contact info in the body, not the header. Many ATS platforms skip document headers and footers during parsing. If your name, phone number, and email are in the Word header, the ATS might miss them entirely. Put your contact information in the main body of the document, right at the top.

Use standard section headings. "Work Experience" or "Professional Experience" — not "Where I Have Served" or "Career Highlights." ATS parsers look for standard labels to categorize your information. Get creative with your bullets, not your headings. Veterans coming from 20+ years of service should check our guide on positioning a retired military resume for section structure that works for long careers.

Stick to standard fonts. Calibri, Arial, Cambria, Times New Roman, or Garamond. If your font is not installed on the recipient's system and you sent a DOCX, it gets substituted — and font substitution can change line breaks, spacing, and page count. PDF avoids this problem by embedding the font, but even with PDF, a standard font keeps things clean.

Do not use text boxes or tables for layout. Text boxes and tables are the number one cause of ATS parsing failures. I have seen resumes where the entire work history was inside a Word table, and the ATS pulled every cell as a separate fragment. The human-readable version looked great. The parsed version was scrambled. Use simple paragraphs, bullet points, and hard returns.

How Does File Naming Affect Your Application?

This is an overlooked detail that applies equally to PDF and DOCX. Your file name is the first thing a recruiter sees when they download your resume. If it says Resume_Final_v3_UPDATED.docx or Document1.pdf, you have already made a small negative impression before anyone reads a word.

Name your file professionally: FirstName_LastName_Resume.pdf or FirstName_LastName_CompanyName_Resume.docx. Keep it clean, keep it identifiable. Recruiters download dozens of resumes per day. When they are searching their downloads folder two days later, "John_Smith_Resume.pdf" is easy to find. "final_draft_2.pdf" is not.

One more naming detail: avoid special characters, periods (other than the file extension), or excessively long file names. Some upload portals truncate or reject files with unusual characters. Stick to letters, numbers, and underscores.

What About Google Docs Exports?

Many veterans build their resumes in Google Docs because it is free and accessible. Google Docs can export to both PDF and DOCX, but there are quirks worth knowing:

Google Docs to PDF produces a clean, text-based PDF that parses well. This is a reliable export path.

Google Docs to DOCX can introduce minor formatting differences. Google Docs uses its own rendering engine, and the conversion to Microsoft Word format occasionally shifts spacing, changes bullet styles, or adjusts font sizing slightly. If you export to DOCX from Google Docs, open the file in Word (or the free Word Online) before submitting to catch any conversion artifacts.

If you built your resume in BMR's military resume builder, the export handles formatting correctly for both formats. The tool is built specifically for military-to-civilian translation and ATS-compatible formatting, so the file-type question becomes less of a factor when the underlying document is already structured correctly.

What to Do Next

Stop worrying about file format and start worrying about what is in the file. That is the honest advice. PDF and DOCX both work. Pick PDF as your default for civilian applications, switch to DOCX when the posting or recruiter explicitly asks for it, and spend your energy on the part that actually determines whether you get the interview: translating your military experience into the specific language each employer is searching for.

If you are applying to civilian jobs right now, BMR's resume builder handles the translation and tailoring automatically — paste the job posting, and it builds a resume matched to that specific role. Two free tailored resumes, no credit card required. If you are also targeting federal positions, check our ATS-friendly resume builder guide for veterans to understand how the tools compare.

And if you are early in your job search timeline, get your resume content right first. The format decision takes 10 seconds. The tailoring work is what separates a resume that ranks at the top of the pile from one that sits at the bottom where no recruiter scrolls.