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 .

Permitting & Environmental Manager

Blumen · San Francisco, CA

About Blumen

Blumen is rebuilding how America builds infrastructure.

There's over $2 trillion in infrastructure projects stuck in regulatory purgatory across the US right now. Every power plant, transmission line, data center, and pipeline faces the same reality: navigating thousands of federal, state, and local regulations through broken government websites, expensive services that miss critical requirements, and bespoke tools that only work in one state.

We've built the AI platform that aggregates 1,500+ geospatial data layers and regulatory intelligence to generate expert-grade permitting, siting, and regulatory compliance insights in hours instead of weeks. We're working with publicly traded energy companies and the developers building the infrastructure backbone of America's energy transition.

The Opportunity

Blumen is building the regulatory intelligence layer for how America builds energy and critical infrastructure.

We’re looking for a detail-oriented environmental or permitting professional who can help us structure and maintain high-quality regulatory data across federal, state, and local jurisdictions.

This is a role for someone who can move between deep focus and big-picture thinking — digging into zoning codes, verifying environmental regulations, and shaping how that information fuels automated permitting and due diligence.

If you’ve worked with permits or compliance data and want to help modernize the process that governs how infrastructure gets built, this role is for you.

What You’ll Do

  • Review and quality-check permitting and regulatory datasets for accuracy and completeness.

  • Research and interpret environmental and land-use regulations across jurisdictions.

  • Structure and tag information so it can power automation and compliance workflows.

  • Identify data gaps and inconsistencies, then define how to fix them.

  • Collaborate with engineers and analysts to turn complex regulations into structured logic.

  • Develop internal standards and documentation for data quality and coverage.

You’re a Fit If

  • You’ve worked in permitting, environmental compliance, or regulatory analysis for several years.

  • You’re meticulous with details but can also connect dots across complex systems.

  • You’re curious about how data and AI can simplify environmental review and approvals.

  • You’re comfortable balancing repetitive quality control with independent critical thinking.

  • You take pride in knowing your work shapes how energy and infrastructure projects move forward.

Bonus points if you have:

  • Experience with GIS or spatial datasets.

  • Familiarity with NEPA, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, or state equivalents.

  • Prior experience in environmental consulting, data QA, or government permitting.

What We Offer

Compensation

  • Competitive base salary + equity in a fast-growing energy AI company.

Growth

  • Exposure to permitting and environmental data at national scale.

  • Mentorship from leaders across data, product, and regulatory backgrounds.

  • Opportunity to grow into senior roles in data, product, or operations.

Culture

  • No-ego, get-shit-done team solving a broken process everyone has experienced.

  • In-person, high-commitment work environment (San Francisco).

  • Mission-driven company redefining how infrastructure gets built.

Our values

  1. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. We care deeply about serving our customers above all else.

  2. No job is too small. Details matter, even if nobody will ever see them.

  3. Every problem is an opportunity. Any solution that is clever, difficult to reproduce, or takes serious guts is an opportunity to widen our moat.

  4. To go far, go together. We trust, respect, win, and lose together, as a team.

  5. Own the problem. Not your solution. Best idea wins.

  6. It doesn’t get easier. We just get faster. There is no finish line. Every day is a step toward compounding success. This is a marathon toward excellence.