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 .

ClayDR Manager (SDR Manager)

Claylabs · San Francisco

About Clay

Our mission is to help organizations turn any growth idea into reality.

We see growth as a creative practice, not a formula. Finding and reaching your best-fit customers takes unique ideas and constant iteration. As AI makes execution faster and tactics easier to copy, creativity is the only lasting advantage. We're already helping thousands of customers — including Anthropic, Notion, Google, and Ramp — go to market with unique data, signals, and AI research.

In 2025, we raised a $100M Series C backed by world-class investors including Sequoia, CapitalG, and First Round — and crossed $100M in revenue.

In 2026, we announced our second employee tender offer in 9 months at a new $5B valuation. We also launched a community equity round, for our customers, agency partners, and club members.

Some things to know about us:

  • Our community includes 11,000+ customers, 150+ integration partners, 125+ agencies, 50+ Clay clubs, and 30k members on Slack.

  • Our culture is unique inside and outside of work. Our team members are also DJs, activists, writers, clowns, marathoners, skydivers, psychedelic therapists, social workers, and more.

  • All employees can work for free with world-class coaches who specialize in creativity, management, and more.

  • Our operating principles — including negative maintenance and non-attached action — guide our work. Read more about them here.

  • Read about us in the NYT, Forbes, First Round Review, and more.

Hear from our employees directly on our Glassdoor page!

ClayDR Manager (Sales Development Manager)

Our ClayDRs (SDRs) are the front line: sales professionals who turn high-volume demand into qualified pipeline and great first impressions of Clay. We're still early in building our outbound motion and believe this team is going to shape the arc of Clay's growth story.

As their manager, you'll lead a team of ClayDRs out of our SF office. This is a player-coach role. You're in the calls, in the pipeline reviews, and in the weeds on what's working and what isn't. You'll own how we run outbound at Clay and represent the SDR function to sales leadership.

What You'll Do

  • Coach in real time. Run call reviews, join live calls, workshop messaging. You set the standard by doing the work, not reviewing it from a dashboard.

  • Own pipeline generation. You're accountable for outbound and inbound qualification, pipeline quality, and the handoff to AEs.

  • Represent the ClayDR function to sales leadership. Bring visibility into pipeline health, outbound performance, and what your team is learning from the market.

  • Develop your people. Define what "great" looks like at every stage, build progression paths, and invest in the growth of each rep on your team.

  • Shape how Clay does outbound. Push your team to prospect creatively using Clay workflows, signals, and enrichment. Bring a point of view on what modern top-of-funnel looks like.

What You'll Bring

  • 5+ years in GTM roles with 2+ years managing SDR/BDR teams.

  • You coach by doing. You've been in the calls, not just the dashboards.

  • Credibility with sales leadership. You speak to pipeline, performance, and market signal in a way that earns trust.

  • Familiarity with modern GTM tooling and real curiosity about AI-driven prospecting.

  • A builder mentality. You want to shape how this team operates, not inherit a playbook.

  • Enthusiasm for building an in-office ClayDR culture. Our team is in 5 days a week.

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