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 .

Head of Engineering

Galvanick · Seattle, WA

About Galvanick Galvanick protects the industrial world against cyber attacks. Our threat detection platform defends the modern world against criminals and nation-states that target Operational Technology (OT) systems and networks. This is a chance to work in a startup environment with driven individuals committed to solving cybersecurity's big problems. We are backed by Founders Fund, Village Global, MaC Venture Capital, and others. About the Role We are seeking a talented individual to join our team as our first Head of Engineering. You will play a crucial role in translating technically sophisticated use cases into intuitive product experiences. Our product and vision is focused on securing the nation’s infrastructure and delivering value.  This is a chance to help define long-term product vision and perform feature design, requirements gathering, and make key decisions on architecture. You will be involved in building out our product roadmap and ensuring timely execution.  This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving hard security problems, understanding customer pain points, and iterating based on feedback. If you are passionate about reducing complexity and enjoy providing a great product and user experience, we would love to hear from you. What You Will Do * Ensure the engineering team is a well oiled machine that delivers on-time and to customer requirements. * Oversee engineering operations, delivery timelines, and process improvements. You will lead team-level planning ensuring timelines are realistic and progress is transparent and accountable. * Define requirements and perform feature design enabling the engineering team with clear guidelines and action steps. Lead resource planning so that the team can execute as timely as possible without missteps. * Drive technical vision, product architecture, and infrastructure scalability. Ensure engineering processes enable fast iteration while maintaining quality and reliability. * Plan, execute, and deliver complex engineering projects on schedule and within budget. You will lead delivery planning and project execution while balancing technical excellence with predictable delivery. * Manage technology backlogs with an eye on security, upgrades, and scalability and stability of the platform. * Lead zero to one product initiatives. Engage ambiguous problem spaces and turn them into defined, prioritized, and validated product offerings. Who You Are * 6+ years of experience in software development with at least 2 years in a lead or senior role. You have an engineering background and you maintain technical fluency and experience with system design and coding. * Experience bringing products from concept through the product life-cycle. You have a proven track record of leading large-scale engineering projects and making strategic technical decisions. * Demonstrated success in leading startup teams and managing complex engineering projects with limited resources. You enjoy rolling up your sleeves and working alongside the engineering team in contributing directly to the codebase. * Experience working directly with customers for feature discovery and user needs. You will bridge the gap between our engineering team, our non-technical management team, and our end users. The ability to translate user needs to clear requirements documentation is essential. * Technically fluent in APIs, developer workflows, and cloud infrastructure, with strong collaboration skills across Engineering, Customer Success, and GTM teams. * Data-driven with clear communication, strong systems thinking, and the ability to prototype and move fast under ambiguity. * Detail oriented and timely approach to ensuring the team meets product deadlines. You thrive in attention to details while driving schedules across teams. Bonus Points * Experience partnering with early stage teams and building cybersecurity products.  * You thrive in ambiguity and understand the pace of change at a seed stage startup.  * Comfortable taking risks and owning the accountability for managing them. * You have a bias for action. You enjoy solving problems and are naturally curious about the technologies and tools you use.  * Startup experience and an understanding of zero to one ideas. You enjoy attacking complex and novel problems.  Benefits We provide top-of-the-line medical/dental/vision for employees and dependents, and have additional benefits designed to optimize every team member’s vitality, health, and wellness. Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across various geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $200,000/year in our lowest geographic market up to $350,000/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Galvanick is an early stage startup and base salary is only one component of our compensation package. Depending on the position offered, equity may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to medical, financial, and/or other benefits. Location The Galvanick engineering team is based in Seattle. Given that we are an early-stage startup working on an exceptionally hard problem, we expect new team members to be in office. We are happy to cover relocation expenses. ITAR Requirements To conform to US Government export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a US citizen, lawful permanent resident of the US, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the US Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.