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 .

Sales Representative - Bristol

Butternutbox · Bristol

📣 A bit about the role:

Are you a fun, vibrant, dog lover and want to earn £45,000+ per Annum Realistic OTE? This could be the perfect role for you! We are looking for tenacious, animal-loving sales representatives to join our high performing sales team.

This is an excellent opportunity to earn uncapped commission whilst helping pet pawrents discover food that makes their cats and dogs thrive! We offer a genuinely supportive working environment and want driven individuals who match our passion and ethos. Top performers in the role are currently earning £85,000+ Per Annum.

The best part? This is a 32-hour contracted role across 16 days per month (4 days a week) — giving you more time for life, while still building a brilliant, high-earning career.

In this role, you'll represent Butternut Box at face-to-face selling opportunities across the Bristol and the South West. Activations include shopping centres, food festivals, county shows, Christmas markets, exhibitions, dog shows and more.

🚀 A bit more about the job:

  • You’ll be attending events selling Butternut Box across the region, stopping potential customers and pitching our offering to them
  • The majority of locations will be within 90 minutes of Bristol. Any travel outside of 1 hour, mileage will be paid. Any travel 2 hours+, accommodation will be provided
  • At times, you will be required to set up & break down our Butternut Box selling stand

🙌 A bit about what we offer:

  • 16 days per month, on a 32-hour contract. (mostly Wednesday-Sunday)
  • £98 per day as base pay and the sky's the limit with our uncapped commission structure 
  • 2 full sales training days and regular sales coaching support
  • Sales incentives – bonuses, holiday vouchers, etc
  • 25 days of annual leave allowance (pro-rata)
  • Personal learning and development budget
  • Discounted food for your dog
  • Private Medical Insurance with Axa
  • Private Dental Insurance with Bupa
  • Pension contributions & employer match

👋🏽 A bit about you:

  • Full clean UK driving licence and car is required
  • Must be based a commutable distance from Bristol
  • Must have customer-facing experience & be looking for a career in sales - face to face selling experience is highly valued
  • Must be 18 years old or older
  • Hardworking and driven by sales
  • Confident in large spaces and big crowds
  • Have amazing interpersonal skills
  • You’re a huge dog lover, of course!

🐶 A bit about us:

At Butternut, we put the food back into dog food. We believe dogs deserve to eat the healthiest, most natural and tastiest food with none of the nasties. That’s why we make freshly prepared dog food. Cooked like you would at home. Delivered in perfect portions.

As a B-Corp certified company; you can be sure you are joining a sustainable company who care about our people, product and our impact on the environment.

Our goal is to help dogs live healthier, happier and longer lives whilst leaving humans smiling after every interaction. We’ve come a long way since our co-founders (Kev & Dave) hand-delivered the first Butternut Box, we now feed a lot of dogs across the UK, Ireland, Poland, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium - but we want to feed dogs everywhere. And to do this, we need a team of brilliant people who share that ambition to come and work with us.

❗️A few things to note:

  • Butternut Box is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity and inclusion. We welcome people of different nationalities, backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives.
  • As our business has grown so has our responsibility to our community, our planet and our business. We are not perfect, but we are committed to doing business the right way and continually improving our social and environmental performance.
  • We are not able to offer visa sponsorship for this role.
  • We are not looking for agency support.

#LI-Onsite