A US granted patent has a clear number and date, but a Chinese application goes through multiple stages (publication, substantive examination, grant) with separate numbers. ATS systems rely on consistent fields — inventor name, patent number, filing date — and a Chinese application number looks nonstandard when mixed into a US-format resume. The key is to treat it as a pending patent (which it is until granted) and use US patent conventions for the output.
List the Chinese application as you would a US non-provisional patent application, using the Chinese filing number (CNXXXXXXXXX) and adding “(filed)” after the date. This signals to a human reader that it has not yet been granted and to an ATS parser that the field contains a patent entry (not a random string).
Correct format:
Before (confusing to ATS):
The “under substantive examination” text is unnecessary and may break ATS parsing because the parser sees no standard patent keyword like “Patent” or “Application No.” leading the entry. The “(filed)” suffix keeps the line parseable.
Place the patent application in a “Patents” section, not inside “Publications” or “Projects,” even if it is pending. ATS systems for R&D roles often have separate fields for patent count; a clean section ensures the count is recognized. If you have only one patent application, you can still create a single-line “Patents” section. Do not embed it under work experience bullets unless you also include the patent number there — but ATS usually treats bullet text as freeform, risking loss of the patent signal.
Before (confusing and verbose):
After (clean and ATS-friendly):
Patents
Yes, always translate the title into English — ATS parsers and recruiters need to understand the invention. Keep the original Chinese characters out of the resume entirely.
Use the application number (the one that starts with CN followed by digits and a period) because it is the earliest identifier. The publication number is only needed if the application is already granted; otherwise, the app number suffices.
No, never list a rejected application — it invites scrutiny about your success rate. Only list applications still pending or granted.
No, it does not satisfy degree requirements, but it strengthens your “inventorship” metric. Some ATS filters have a yes/no field for “patent inventor”; a pending application qualifies as yes.
For a free, ATS-friendly resume template tailored for Chinese professionals (with an annotated example of how to place patents), visit PrismResume’s template library.
Get a free, ATS-friendly resume template with patent examples
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