Recommended file format and structure for CV import into Personio (CSV vs. JSON)

Hello everyone,

I’m currently building a solution with my company Matchcrafters that converts CVs — including low-quality documents or CVs with heavy graphical layouts — into a structured file that can be imported into Personio (and ideally other ATS as well).

The goal is to allow recruiters to simply drag & drop a file into Personio and have the system recognize and map as much information as possible automatically.

This leads to a few questions regarding file format and data structure.

File format (CSV vs. JSON)

From a technical perspective, a CV is highly structured and nested (multiple job experiences, education entries, skills, etc.).
Because of this, JSON would be the most natural format.
• Does Personio currently support importing JSON files (e.g. via drag & drop)?
• If not, is CSV still the recommended format, even though complex structures (like multiple job experiences) need to be flattened or combined into single cells?

Suggested data structure

Assuming JSON would be an option:
Would the following nested structure be readable and meaningful for Personio, or would you recommend a different approach?

Example structure:

personal_info:
first_name
last_name
email
phone

address:
street
postal_code
city

job_experiences:
current_job:
job_title
company
job_location
start_date
end_date
job_description
skills:
- Skill 1
- Skill 2
- Skill 3

CSV-specific question

If CSV is the preferred or only supported option:
• Is it better (from Personio’s parsing perspective) to
• consolidate all job experiences into one structured text field, or
• use multiple clearly named columns (e.g. “Current position”, “Previous experience (summary)”)?

The goal is to maximize data recognition while still keeping one row per candidate.

Best practices / templates

Are there any:
• official import templates
• recommended best practices
• or technical guidelines for preparing complex CV data for optimal recognition in Personio?

Any guidance or experience from a developer or integration perspective would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards
Peter