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 .

ASIC Digital Design Engineer

Cisco · Armenia

This is a hybrid role with four days per week at Cisco’s Yerevan office.

Meet the Team

The Common Hardware Group delivers the silicon, optics, and hardware platforms for Cisco's core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products. The team designs networking hardware for Enterprises, Service Providers, the Public Sector, and Non-Profit Organizations worldwide. Cisco Silicon One (#CiscoSiliconOne) is the only unifying silicon architecture in the market, enabling customers to deploy best-of-breed silicon from TOR switches through web-scale data centers and across service provider and enterprise networks with a fully unified routing and switching portfolio. The team is composed of highly skilled engineers working on some of the most complex ASICs in the industry, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment. Joining this team means contributing to groundbreaking solutions that shape the future of networking silicon.

Your Impact

You will be a key member of the Silicon One development organization, collaborating closely with Front-end RTL and backend physical design teams to deeply understand chip architecture. Drive high-quality Design for Test (DFT) verification to ensure robust and reliable silicon solutions that meet Cisco’s standards for performance and innovation. Take part in all aspects of digital design, from micro-architecture to RTL design and qualification. Integrate and verify sub-systems/SoCs, review and enhance RTL codes, and improve flows and methodologies to streamline IP/SoC development and integration. Work closely with the verification team for complex debug and resolution of verification failures, and interact with the physical design team to achieve better physical design Quality of Results (QoR).

Minimum Qualifications

  • 5+ years of industry experience in ASIC digital design.
  • Proficient in Verilog/System Verilog coding.
  • Experience with front-end tools such as Verilog simulators, linting, CDC checkers, synthesis, and formal verification.
  • Proficiency to use at least one scripting language (Python, Tcl, and Make).
  • Fluency in English, both spoken and written.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Familiarity with ASIC development flow.
  • Experience with industry-standard interface protocols such as AMBA (AXI, APB, AHB), JTAG, and memories.
  • Familiarity with power optimization techniques, power intent (UPF), and power estimation.
  • Familiarity with DFT/MBIST is a plus.
  • Good communication skills, self-motivated, and well-organized.

Why Cisco? 

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere. 

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.