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 .

Quantitative Sales Associate

Databento · Remote / San Francisco / NYC / Boston / Salt Lake City

The financial industry is growing at a record pace, but our data providers are still stuck in the past — with cumbersome onboarding processes, complicated APIs, slow infrastructure, and expensive licensing costs.

Databento is the next-generation market data provider — with the radical idea that you should only pay for the data that you use. We power the world's largest finance and fintech institutions and lower the barrier of entry for small startups, gaining over 4,000 users during our first year of launch. Our team consists of former data users from firms like Two Sigma, Belvedere, Pico, Flow Traders, and Tower Research.

We offer health, dental, disability, and life insurance benefits, as well as 401(k) matching for full-time employees. We accommodate 100% remote work, with teammates living around the globe and paid in their local currency.

Responsibilities

As a Quantitative Sales Associate, you will oversee the full scope of sales at Databento. This includes the following:

  • Own the technical sales process, from answering technical customer inquiries and providing data samples to solving data-related issues that our customers raise.
  • Create common examples and use-cases with market data, with examples in Python, C++, and/or Rust.
  • Gather customer feedback, testimonials, case studies, and more.
  • Establish and maintain accurate, timely, and documented forecasting and record-keeping procedures, keeping our CRM up-to-date and organized.
  • Build a network of executive relationships across the industry and with key partners and customers.
  • Stay up-to-date with industry trends, market dynamics, and competitor activities to identify potential business opportunities and adapt sales strategies accordingly.
  • Collaborate across teams to align sales efforts with overall company objectives and ensure a seamless customer experience.

Desired Qualifications

The ideal candidate has experienced the end-to-end sales pipeline, including top-of-funnel, upselling, channel sales, customer success, and forecasting. Below are other skills that we look for:

  • Understand and communicate with our user base of developers and quants.
  • Experience with quant trading and market microstructure.
  • Extreme attention to detail and record-keeping, as well as the ability to automate processes in HubSpot.
  • Professional communication skills that align with the tone of an institutional financial product.
  • White-glove management of the sales cycle with continual buy-in from the customer, discovering the user's pain points, signs of friction, being honest when our product isn't the best fit, not being too pushy or salesy, and knowing when to continue vs. back off.
  • Readiness to work within a startup environment with limited resources and personnel.
  • As a bonus: Active usage of GitHub, knowledge of enough C++, Python, and/or Rust to help answer client inquiries.

Notice about phishing scams

Be cautious of phishing scams impersonating Databento that offer fake job interviews and request purchases. Official emails come only from @databento.com or us.greenhouse-mail.io (our ATS). Any other domains (e.g., databento-careers.com, databento.online) are fraudulent.

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Databento, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, we comply with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in every location where we operate. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. Pursuant to applicable laws, we consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records. If you need an accommodation, please let us know.

Our recruiting data suggests that underrepresented applicants often downplay their skills. Even if your experience doesn’t exactly match the qualifications listed, we still want to hear from you. Please apply!