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 .

Cyber Analyst, Digital Forensics Incident Response

Atbayjobs · Remote (US)

 

Why you should join our At-Bay Security team:

At-Bay is a fast-growth InsurSec company (Insurance x Cybersecurity) on a mission to bring innovative products to the market that help protect small businesses from digital risks. As an InsurSec provider, we uniquely combine insurance with mission-critical security technologies, threat intelligence, and human expertise, to bridge the critical security capability gap that exists among SMBs in the community. We believe InsurSec is an $80B market opportunity and we are excited to expand our DFIR team in order to help expand our reach and influence in the business and security community, of which we serve 35,000 customers.

The Role:

  • Cybersecurity Analysts focused on Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) deliver incident investigation and response services to At-Bay insureds via:
    • Forensically sound collection, transmission, and storage of digital evidence
    • Analysis of digital evidence to identify indicators of compromise and adversary activity
    • Development of incident timelines and theories of compromise
    • Identification of incident root causes
    • Participation in threat actor negotiations as necessary (e.g., ransom negotiations, etc.)
    • Participation in incident recovery (e.g., restoration of data from backups, reimaging workstations and servers, rebuilding network infrastructure, etc.) activities as necessary
    • Development and delivery of incident reports to document key incident details for engagement stakeholders including executive leaders for insureds, breach coach attorneys, and At-Bay claims management staff as necessary
    • Development and delivery of recommendations to mitigate the risk of future incidents for impacted insureds
    • Development and delivery of incident response training and simulations for targeted insureds

Key skills:

  • Previous digital forensics and incident response experience
  • Strong oral and written communication skills
  • Previous hands-on experience performing digital forensics and incident response, including several of the following:
    • Business Email Compromise
    • Ransomware
    • Digital evidence collection and analysis
    • Development and analysis of cyber threat intelligence
    • Leadership of or participation in investigations involving digital evidence
    • Intrusion detection / cyber threat hunting
    • Malware analysis
    • Incident recovery activities such as restoration of data from backups, operation of decryptor tools, etc. 
  • Previous hands-on experience working in information technology operations (e.g., Network Operations Center, Security Operations Center, Incident Response Team, etc.)

Minimum requirements:

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
  • Minimum of 2 years of experience in cybersecurity operations, incident response, incident recovery, or another security discipline
  • Willingness to travel as needed to perform job functions

Preferred requirements:

  • Significant undergraduate or graduate coursework in computer science, computer engineering, information systems, or cybersecurity
  • Previous background in law enforcement or government/military with experience leading complex technical investigations
  • Knowledge of cloud environments, including knowledge of cloud security products and services offered by major cloud service providers (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google)
  • Experience in a top-10 cyber consulting firm or leading DFIR provider preferred
  • One or more industry cybersecurity certifications (e.g., GCIH, Security+, CISSP, etc.)

Work location:

  • USA, Nationwide
  • Fully Remote 

 

Our estimated base pay range for this role is $80,000-$115,000 per year. Base salary is determined by a variety of factors including but not limited to market data, location, internal equitability, domain knowledge, experiences and skills. In general, if the position sparks your interest we encourage you to apply - our team prioritizes talent.

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