[vtange]

Don't spend too much time worrying about this. There's a reason why companies use ATS and that's to filter out a large volume of applicants.

Even if you formatted well, you'll need to have enough keywords, etc. to win against the crowd.

Your time is better spent working on networking. My current job came from a friend's referral and honestly, I'm sure many companies will take a referred candidate over a candidate whose resume got the green-light from a machine.

[vonmoltke]

That only really works for companies local to you. Plus, it ignores that at many large companies a referral just means an extra tag in the ATS that might or might not help you bubble up.

[SmellTheGlove]

I think by referral the poster meant a contact within the company passing a resume directly to the hiring manager. I'll have someone put me down as the referrer when they apply online, but I also ask them to send me a resume and I make sure it goes to the hiring manager.