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 .

Senior Backend Engineer (Solana)

Blockworks · New York

About Us:

Blockworks is an information platform that sits at the center of the crypto industry. We transform raw, complex data and facts into actionable research, trusted alpha-driven insights, and world-class events. The result is transparency and confidence. We enable investors, operators, and institutions to see past the noise, make better decisions, and drive the industry forward.

Who You Are:

You have a keen focus on backend and API development and Software engineering is your passion. You are a player-coach and a natural leader who understands the technical and human elements that go into great software design. You have a results-oriented attitude and a passion for delivering flawless releases and developing digital product pipelines (CI/CD pipelines). You have a proven track record facilitating engineering teams to increase productivity and quality.

You're excited at the possibility of being on the ground floor of the design and development of backend strategies. You bring a passion for designing and maintaining scalable API services that handle large amounts of data elegantly. You love moving quickly in a fast-paced start-up, but you also bring intentionality, sustainability and scalability to your approach as an engineer.

What You’ll Do:

As a Senior Backend Engineer at Blockworks, you’ll design, build, and maintain the systems that power our products end-to-end. From high-performance APIs to database architecture, you’ll own the backend layer that makes everything else possible.

You won’t just be handed requirements, you’ll help define them, scope projects, and make the architectural decisions that shape our technical foundation. Your work will directly impact our research platform (blockworksresearch.com) and our media site (blockworks.co; 1M+ monthly active users).

Every day will look a little different, but in general, you will do things like:

  • Architect, build, and ship backend systems that can scale to millions of requests/day

  • Design, implement, and optimize APIs that power our research and media products

  • Own database design, optimization, and reliability (MySQL/Postgres)

  • Implement caching and performance strategies with Redis or similar tools

  • Lead backend feature development from planning to production release

  • Diagnose and resolve scalability, performance, and reliability issues under real-world load

  • Raise the bar on testing, monitoring, and observability across the stack

  • Collaborate with frontend, product, and data teams to ensure seamless integrations

Experimentation is frequent at Blockworks. Comfortability with being uncomfortable is a must.

What You’ve Done Before:

We value backend engineers who think holistically about systems, anticipate edge cases, and bring a balance of speed and rigor to shipping code.

You have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent work experience), and at least 5 years of professional experience as a Backend Engineer with a strong focus on backend development and architecture using TypeScript and Node.js. You’ve built fast, reliable API endpoints capable of handling over 1M requests per day, and you bring a mature approach to automated testing, monitoring, and observability.

You’re highly proficient in designing and optimizing relational databases such as MySQL and PostgreSQL, including data modeling and query optimization, and you know how to enhance performance and scalability through caching mechanisms like Redis. You’re skilled at troubleshooting and problem-solving in fast-paced environments, familiar with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment tools, and you collaborate effectively across teams. Above all, you have strong attention to detail and pride yourself on writing clean, maintainable, and reusable code.

It’d Be Great If You’ve Done This:

It’d be great if you’ve worked with frameworks like NestJS and database access layers such as TypeORM, and have experience supporting legacy migrations in PHP. Familiarity with AWS cloud infrastructure, exposure to ML/AI models, and hands-on experience in the crypto space are all strong pluses.

Salary, Benefits, & How We Work:

This is a full time exempt position with an expected salary of $190,000 to $210,000/year.

Benefits:

Remote-First:

We're a remote-first organization with an office in NYC for you to utilize as you please.

100% Medical Coverage for You:

Close to fully paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for you, and a significant portion covered for your dependents.

Flexible PTO:

We have a flexible paid time off policy that doesn't limit the number of vacation days you can take.

Parental Leave:

At Blockworks, all team members are eligible for 14 weeks of fully paid parental leave.

Hardware Stipend:

Every team member has a stipend to use to purchase the tools and technology that help them be their most productive.

Learning & Growth Stipend:

Every team member has a stipend to spend on their skill growth and professional development.

Career Growth:

We prioritize skill growth and career development, and we have a clear, documented structure to take the guesswork out of individual development and career progression

Global & Diverse Team:

We're a global team, and we're committed to creating an open, inclusive, and diverse work culture

Come build with us; we're just getting started!

We know that diversity makes for the best problem-solving and creative thinking. We are dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team and encourage everyone to apply if your experience is close to what we are looking for.

Blockworks is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.