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 .

Managing Director, Boston

Activate · Boston, MA

About Activate Global

Activate empowers scientists and engineers to reinvent our world by bringing their research to market. We partner with leading funders and research institutions to offer the Activate Fellowship, providing the funding, community, mentorship, network, and time that scientists need to become entrepreneurs.

The results are game changing: Activate Fellows have launched 197 new companies since 2015. These companies have raised $4B in follow-on funding, created more than 2,800 U.S.-based jobs, and defined several new market categories. Activate supports fellows in Berkeley, CA; Cambridge, MA; New York, NY; Houston, TX; and across the U.S. through Activate Anywhere.

Position Summary

Activate is looking for a Managing Director to mentor a community of Activate Fellows in the Boston area by serving as their primary entrepreneurial advisor. In this role, you will drive key fellowship programmatic efforts, lead the selection of new fellows each year, and connect your community of fellows with resources, support, and each other to enable their entrepreneurial success. This role will be responsible for representing the Boston fellow community to the larger Activate Global team and to external stakeholders across academia, industry, finance and government. The Managing Director will report to Activate’s US Fellowship Leader. Join us as we work to create the world’s leading platform supporting the earlier stages of science entrepreneurship!

Primary Responsibilities

  • Serve as Managing Director and primary advisor for a cross-disciplinary community of entrepreneurial fellows.
  • Drive successful outcomes for each individual fellow, providing mentorship, support, network connectivity, and resources. 
  • Oversee core elements of the fellowship, including review and selection of fellows, and bi-weekly in-person and virtual educational programming.
  • Build and maintain relationships with universities, research institutions, and other talent pipelines to attract strong applicants to future fellowship cohorts.
  • Lead ecosystem engagement efforts for the Boston region, including strengthening relationships with key innovation partners and supporting visibility for Activate and its fellows.
  • Build collaborative, cross-functional relationships with staff and partners to ensure the program operates effectively and efficiently.
  • Represent Activate at an executive level with public- and private-sector stakeholders from across the technology innovation ecosystem. 
  • Engage with current and potential government and philanthropic sponsors.
  • Partner with Boston’s local Program Manager to provide best-in-class support to the fellows.

The Ideal Candidate…

  • Has an advanced degree in the physical or biological sciences and a minimum of 10 years experience in research, development, management, and commercialization of science-driven technologies.
  • Has entrepreneurial experience as the leader of a new company or business unit.
  • Has led high-performance technical teams and has demonstrated a commitment to nurturing talent through mentorship.
  • Has a strong network and reputation among stakeholders from across the innovation ecosystem (academia, industry, finance, and government) and in the Boston area.
  • Strongly exhibits objectivity, empathy, and inclusiveness in leadership.
  • Is an excellent communicator and collaborator.
  • Can manage a complex, dynamic portfolio of projects and stakeholders.
  • Believes that groundbreaking science has the power to change the world—but only if it reaches the people and places that need it most. 
  • Supportive of a broad range of finance and business models for advancing hard-tech to market.
  • Would be excited to wake up each day asking the question, “what can I do to make our fellows successful?”

About the Role

This is a full-time position with a competitive starting base of $215,000 with a generous benefits package that includes professional development, $2,000 in annual wellness funds, flexible paid time off, healthcare coverage for employees and dependents, with 90–100% of premiums covered, and the opportunity to join a retirement plan with a 3% match beginning after 3 months at Activate. 

This position is based in Cambridge, MA. Because we operate an in-person community, our team typically works from the office at least part of each day.

Encouraging Applications from All Backgrounds 

We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a welcoming workplace for all employees. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Activate Global, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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