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 .

Coordinator, People Team

Privategdcareers · Remote

Priority Application deadline: March 15, 2026

Location: This role is fully remote but must overlap with an East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time. We have a strong preference for candidates based in one of our Africa countries of operation (Kenya, DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda, Liberia).

About this role

GiveDirectly is hiring two exceptional Coordinators to join our growing People Team. If you’re passionate about building world-class employee experiences and want to be part of a mission-driven organization that cares for its people, this is the role for you.

As a Coordinator, you’ll play a critical role in enabling our People function to scale its impact. Whether you're supporting the end-to-end hiring process, or ensuring smooth and consistent People Operations for our global team, your work will directly contribute to making GiveDirectly an outstanding place to work.

While we’re not necessarily looking for candidates with concrete experience in Recruitment, we are looking for detail-oriented problem-solvers who love to create structure, move quickly, and take pride in delivering high-quality work. You’ll thrive in this role if you’re energized by operational excellence, love collaborating across teams, and bring a strong sense of ownership to your work.

Reporting lines:

  • The Recruitment Coordinators will report to the Recruitment Manager

Level:  Coordinator

Travel Requirement: Must be able to travel ~1-2 times per year to one of our countries of operation for team retreats or field visits

The Recruitment Coordinator will:

  • Find top talent: Proactively source, attract, and engage a diverse, high-quality candidate pipeline, internally and externally, and convince them to join the team
  • Review CVs, conduct interviews, and coordinate schedules: Serve as the face of the organization as candidates' first point of contact, providing a seamless and supportive hiring experience
  • Operationalize a streamlined, first-class talent acquisition process: Build and continuously improve the talent acquisition process, including providing high quality support and communications to both candidates and hiring teams
  • Field and quickly close support tickets: Respond to all inbound inquiries, requests, and complaints via the People Team Ticketing System regarding recruitment requests, meeting SLAs
  • Contribute to recruiting initiatives focused on equity, process improvement, and team enablement

You'll be a top candidate for this role if you bring:

  • Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve. We have a strong preference for candidates based in our countries of operation. 
  • Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple processes and stakeholders simultaneously
  • Clear communication — both written and verbal — with internal teams and external stakeholders (e.g. candidates)
  • Comfort navigating ambiguity and adjusting to rapidly changing priorities
  • Customer service orientation and extremely high follow-through
  • Strong attention to detail and a systems-oriented mindset
  • Discretion in handling sensitive and confidential employee information
  • A process improvement mindset and a willingness to suggest and test new approaches

Language requirement

  • Candidates must be fluent in English
  • Strong preference for professional fluency in French

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to calculate what we believe to be competitive pay based on role, location, and cost of living. We also have a no-negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. Read more about our compensation philosophy here.

Unless otherwise noted, the benefits stipend may be used to cover benefits or taken as additional taxable income.

Kenya

  • Base Salary: $30,000
  • Bonus at Target Performance: 10% (~$3,000 with potential for upside. For reference, with the organization’s current performance multiplier, this amount would be $3,510)
  • Estimated Total Compensation at Target: $33,000

This role is fully remote, so if you are not based in Kenya, we will share an estimated salary benchmark for the country you are based in during the hiring process.

Why work at GiveDirectly?

At GiveDirectly, we work to ensure that you have everything you need to excel in your role and on your team, including:

  • A supportive team that works hard and cares hard
  • A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
  • Flexible paid time off that staff is encouraged to take
  • Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development

 #LI-REMOTE