Key Takeaways

  • 75% of U.S. employers use automated applicant tracking systems to screen resumes before a human reviews them (Harvard Business School & Accenture, 2021)
  • The most common ATS failures are missing keywords, incompatible formatting, and incorrect file types
  • ResumeGeni scores your resume across 8 parsing layers — modeled on the same steps enterprise ATS platforms like Workday, Greenhouse, and Taleo use to evaluate candidates

How ATS Resume Scoring Works

Applicant tracking systems parse your resume into structured data — extracting your name, contact info, work history, skills, and education — then score how well that data matches the job requirements. Many ATS rejections happen because the parser couldn't extract critical fields, not because the candidate wasn't qualified.

LayerWhat It ChecksWhy It Matters
Document extractionFile format, encoding, readabilityCorrupted or image-only PDFs fail immediately
Layout analysisTables, columns, headers, footersMulti-column layouts break field extraction
Section detectionExperience, education, skills headingsNon-standard headings cause sections to be missed
Field mappingName, email, phone, dates, titlesMissing contact info is a common cause of immediate rejection
Keyword matchingJob-specific terms, skills, certificationsKeyword overlap affects recruiter search visibility and ATS scoring
Chronology checkDate ordering, gap detectionReverse-chronological order is expected by most ATS
QuantificationMetrics, numbers, measurable outcomesQuantified achievements help human reviewers and some scoring models
Confidence scoringOverall parse quality and completenessLow-confidence parses get deprioritized in results

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ResumeGeni free?
Yes. ResumeGeni is currently in beta — ATS analysis, scoring, and initial improvement suggestions are free with no signup required. Full guidance and saved reports may require a free account.
What file formats are supported?
PDF, DOCX, DOC, TXT, RTF, ODT, and Apple Pages. PDF and DOCX are recommended for best ATS compatibility.
How is the ATS score calculated?
Your resume is processed through an 8-layer parsing pipeline that extracts structured data the same way enterprise ATS platforms do. The score reflects how completely and accurately your resume can be parsed, plus how well your content matches common ATS ranking criteria.
Can ATS read PDF resumes?
Yes, but not all PDFs are equal. Text-based PDFs parse well. Image-only PDFs (scanned documents) and PDFs with complex tables or multi-column layouts often fail ATS parsing. Our analyzer will flag these issues.
How do I improve my ATS score?
Focus on three areas: use a clean single-column format, include keywords from the job description naturally in your experience bullets, and ensure all sections (contact, experience, education, skills) use standard headings.

ATS Guides & Resources

Built by engineers with 12 years of experience building enterprise hiring technology at ZipRecruiter. Last updated .

Partner 16, Front-End Engineer, ASG

A16Z · San Francisco, California, United States

Founded in Silicon Valley in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. We are stage agnostic. We invest in seed to venture to growth-stage technology companies, across AI, bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, and companies building toward American dynamism. a16z has $90B under management across multiple funds.

We’ve established a team that is defined by respect for the entrepreneur and the company-building process; we know what it’s like to be in the founder’s shoes. We’ve invested in companies like Anduril, Airbnb, Coinbase, Cursor, Databricks, Deel, Figma, GitHub, Roblox, SpaceX, and Stripe. Our team is at the forefront of new technology, helping founders and their companies impact and change the world.

The Role

You will join a team of highly autonomous, senior ICs developing both software capabilities  for the firm’s investing and operating functions, and external-facing products for the firm’s partners, portfolio, and investors. You should be an experienced, detail-oriented, and focused software engineer with an enthusiasm for building feature-rich, data-driven applications. Your primary responsibilities will involve the design and implementation of intuitive and user-friendly interfaces for use in our products. You will collaborate with product, design and other engineers to build performant front end systems that operate securely and at scale.

The Applied Software Group operates in the mode of an internal startup. We own an exceptionally tight feedback loop and take on requests from all corners of the firm. This is a high-visibility role that requires a clear architectural vision, the desire to code, exacting communication skills, and the ability to engage and educate our firm on the technology we are developing and shipping.

The preferred location for this role is San Francisco, CA. We will consider candidates in New York City, NY. The role expects an in office presence at least 2-3 days a week.

To join our team, you should be excited to:

  • Ship new and unique user facing products quickly and often, engage our users, and continuously iterate on internal feedback
  • Understand and optimize the workflows of teams across the firm through the development and deployment of intelligent software
  • Contribute directly to team-wide discussions of new features and implementation of new software products for our investing and operational teams, as well as external users
  • Work independently with guidance as needed, advocate for yourself, and own the team’s success
  • Write elegant, principled logic that is both powerful and easy to understand
  • Bring positive energy in every interaction with the team and foster inclusive collaboration
  • Learn the inner workings of VC and work closely with the investing partnership

Minimum Qualifications

  • 2+ years of professional software engineering experience
  • Experienced building user facing products with ReactJS or React Native, NextJS a plus
  • Strong understanding of JavaScript (and/or TypeScript), HTML, and CSS
  • Familiarity with RESTful APIs and integration, GraphQL a plus
  • Experience in rapid iteration and consistent excellence in process, ideally at a successful early-stage startup or as a senior IC at a larger company
  • Strong problem-solving skills and mathematical intuition
  • Low ego, high empathy, and the capacity to collaborate effectively with diverse teams

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $269,000 - $314,000, actual starting pay may vary based on a range of factors which can include experience, skills, and scope.

This role is eligible to participate in the a16z carry program and various discretionary bonus programs as well as benefit and perquisite plans including health, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, 401K plan, vacation, and sick leave.

a16z culture 

  • We do only first class business and only in a first class way
  • We take a long view of relationships, because we are in the relationship business 
  • We believe in the future and bet the firm that way
  • We are all different, we recognize that, and we win
  • We celebrate the good times
  • We do it for the team
  • We play to win

At a16z we are always looking to hire the absolute best talent and recognize that diversity in our experiences and backgrounds is what makes us stronger. We hire candidates of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital or family status, disability, Veteran status, and any other status. These differences are what enables us to work towards the future we envision for ourselves, our portfolio companies, and the World.

Our organization participates in E-Verify. Click here to learn about E-Verify.

Andreessen Horowitz hereby reserves the right to make use of any unsolicited resumes received from outside recruiting agencies and / or individual recruiters without being responsible for payment of any fees asserted from the use of unsolicited resumes.