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 Manager, SMB

Canva · Austin, TX, us

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hello, g'day, mabuhay, kia ora, 你好, hallo, vítejte!

Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time consuming and you're probably keen to find out what's on offer, so we'll get straight to the point.

Where and how you can work

Our flagship office is in Sydney, Australia, but we've made our way from down under, to hubs in Austin and San Francisco, which are now home to our US operations. This is a hybrid role based in Austin, Texas. 

What you’d be doing in this role

As Canva scales change continues to be part of our DNA. But we like to think that's all part of the fun. So this will give you the flavour of the type of things you'll be working on when you start, but this will likely evolve.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

  • Leading, coaching, and developing our high-performing SMB Outbound Account Executive teams across North America.
  • Driving our outbound sales strategy including shaping coverage models, ICP targeting, segmentation, and outreach playbooks that support high-velocity growth.
  • Ensuring excellence in pipeline management, forecasting accuracy, and strong SPICED methodology adoption across qualification and opportunity progression.
  • Partnering closely with Marketing, RevOps, Product, Customer Success, Growth, and Sales Leadership to align on territory planning, campaigns, market insights, and resource allocation.
  • Identifying operational gaps and scaling processes, tooling, workflows, and reporting to support a world-class SMB revenue engine.


You're probably a match if

  • You're an inspiring, empathetic leader who loves developing people and helping teams reach their full potential.
  • You thrive in high-velocity sales environments and have 8–10 years of SaaS experience, including 3+ years managing SMB or outbound sales teams.
  • You bring a structured approach to selling and are fluent in methodologies like SPICED, using them to coach teams toward repeatable success.
  • You’re data-driven at your core, with a strong analytical mindset, deep experience in pipeline health, forecasting discipline, and performance insights.
  • You build scalable systems, whether that’s refining playbooks, enhancing tooling, or improving workflows that help teams operate at their best.
  • You’ve worked across diverse markets, and may bring experience selling into or supporting teams across multiple European markets or distributed NA regions.


About the team

You’ll be joining our rapidly scaling SMB Sales team in North America — one of Canva’s most strategically important growth segments. This team sits at the heart of our mission to empower every business to communicate visually, driving outbound motion, pipeline generation, and adoption of Canva across thousands of SMBs. We’re collaborative, data-driven, and deeply focused on building a world-class revenue organisation.


What's in it for you?

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard - and we do - but you'll experience lots of moments of magic, connectivity and fun woven throughout life at Canva, too. We also offer a stack of benefits to set you up for every success in and outside of work.

Here's a taste of what's on offer:

-Equity packages - we want our success to be yours too
-Health benefits plans to support you and your wellbeing
-401(k) retirement plan with company contribution
-Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers
-An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support your wellbeing, social connection, office setup & more
-Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge and supports you personally

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills, merit and business needs, in compliance with applicable local laws.

We celebrate all types of skills and backgrounds at Canva so even if you don’t feel like your skills quite match what’s listed above - we still want to hear from you!

When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process. Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

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