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 .

Senior Software Engineer I

Freenome · Remote

370665_FREENOME HOLDINGS INC 2114_BASIC BACKGROUND + EMPLOYMENT

About this opportunity:

At Freenome, we are seeking a Senior Software Engineer I to help develop software to combat cancer. The ideal candidate will be excited to work as part of an interdisciplinary team of engineers and analysts building end-to-end solutions for our clinical and R&D labs. You will be responsible for getting our state-of-the-art lab processes to interface with the rest of our systems. Depending on your skills and our needs, you'll be working on projects including distributed systems, system integration, database operations, and ETL. As a member of a fast-growing team, you’ll take the lead on major projects and collaborate actively with our world-class team of engineers, scientists, designers, and product managers. You are passionate about building reliable, maintainable, scalable, and fault-tolerant backend services, and you will have a significant impact on the continued growth of a high profile technology organization that is changing the landscape on early cancer detection.

The role reports to our engineering management team. This role will be a Remote role. 

What you’ll do:

  • Design, develop, and deploy reliable, maintainable, scalable, and fault-tolerant LIS/LIMS software and backend services that power both our internal systems.
  • Collaborate with team members for code and design reviews.
  • Work with scientists, product analysts, technical product managers, and other engineers to solve complex problems in the face of lots of dynamism and uncertainty.
  • Provide on-call support on a rotational basis.
  • Guide and champion engineering hygiene and culture as a core part of the engineering backbone.

Must haves:

  • BS in Computer Science, Engineering or related field, or equivalent training, fellowship, and/or work experience.
  • 3+ years of experience as a part of a software development team successfully shipping a software product.
  • Expertise with Java.
  • Experience with LIS/LIMS development, configuration, and deployments.
  • Experience designing and implementing scalable backend systems.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • The ability to thrive in an environment where collaboration, communication, and compromise are an expected part of your day-to-day work.
  • A mindful, transparent, and humane approach to your work and your interactions with others.

Nice to haves:

  • Experience with Python.
  • Experience in Kubernetes, Docker, MySQL, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform.
  • Domain-specific experience in computational biology, genomics or a related field.

Benefits and additional information:

The US target range of our base salary for new hires is $131,325- $189,525. You will also be eligible to receive equity, cash bonuses, and a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits depending on the position offered. Please note that individual total compensation for this position will be determined at the Company’s sole discretion and may vary based on several factors, including but not limited to, location, skill level, years and depth of relevant experience, and education. We invite you to check out our career page @ freenome.com/job-openings/ for additional company information.  

Freenome is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer, and we value diversity. Freenome does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws.  

#LI-REMOTE