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 - Jobs Platform

Latitudeinc · Pittsburgh, PA, Palo Alto, CA, Detroit, MI

Latitude AI (lat.ai) develops automated driving technologies, including L3, for Ford vehicles at scale. We’re driven by the opportunity to reimagine what it’s like to drive and make travel safer, less stressful, and more enjoyable for everyone.  

When you join the Latitude team, you’ll work alongside leading experts across machine learning and robotics, cloud platforms, mapping, sensors and compute systems, test operations, systems and safety engineering – all dedicated to making a real, positive impact on the driving experience for millions of people. 

As a Ford Motor Company subsidiary, we operate independently to develop automated driving technology at the speed of a technology startup. Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh with engineering centers in Dearborn, Mich., and Palo Alto, Calif.

Meet the team:

At Latitude, the Overwatch team builds the systems that run and manage large amounts of computing work across the organization. This work helps engineers train models, test software, and move data reliably at scale. The team owns the platforms that schedule and monitor long-running jobs and keep shared computing resources running efficiently. In addition, the team develops systems that deliver software and data to vehicles and collect logs and telemetry from real-world driving.

What you’ll do: 

  • Build and improve systems that orchestrate, schedule, run, and monitor large numbers of ML jobs used across the company for training automated driving features
  • Design reliable software that handles failures, retries, and high load while keeping results accurate and timely
  • Build and maintain backend services and APIs that support job submission and reliable execution of long-running work
  • Investigate production issues, identify root causes, and implement fixes that prevent repeat failures
  • Review designs and code to ensure solutions are simple, reliable, and scalable over time
  • Collaborate closely with infrastructure, machine learning and data science teams to ensure computing systems are reliable and being optimally used
  • Build with scale and maintainability in mind, while rapidly iterating on new ideas

What you'll need to succeed:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics or a related field and 4+ years of relevant experience (or Master's degree and 2+ years of relevant experience, or PhD)
  • Experience in designing high-scale distributed systems that meet user requirements
  • Prior experience building or operating large-scale job scheduling or workload orchestration platforms, such as container-based or batch computing systems used to manage shared compute resources
  • Expertise in back-end languages (e.g., Kotlin, Java, Go, Python) and frameworks
  • Experience designing and building distributed systems using modern backend patterns for reliability, coordination, and asynchronous processing
  • At least 6+ years of experience in a related field where actively coding & designing 80% of the time
  • Comfort working in a fast-moving environment with evolving requirements, where ideas are tested quickly and real user impact guides decisions

Nice to have: 

  • Exposure to performance tuning, cost optimization, or capacity planning for compute-intensive workloads
  • Experience working on large-scale computing platforms that manage shared resources and competing workloads

What we offer you:

  • Competitive compensation packages
  • High-quality individual and family medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • Health savings account with available employer match
  • Employer-matched 401(k) retirement plan with immediate vesting
  • Employer-paid group term life insurance and the option to elect voluntary life insurance
  • Paid parental leave
  • Paid medical leave
  • Unlimited vacation
  • 15 paid holidays
  • Daily lunches, snacks, and beverages available in all office locations
  • Pre-tax spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses
  • Pre-tax commuter benefits
  • Monthly wellness stipend
  • Adoption/Surrogacy support program
  • Backup child and elder care program
  • Professional development reimbursement
  • Employee assistance program
  • Discounted programs that include legal services, identity theft protection, pet insurance, and more
  • Company and team bonding outlets: employee resource groups, quarterly team activity stipend, and wellness initiatives

Learn more about Latitude’s team, mission and career opportunities at lat.ai!

The expected base salary range for this full-time position in California is $179,200 - $268,800 USD. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Latitude employees are also eligible to participate in Latitude’s annual bonus programs, equity compensation, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.

Candidates for positions with Latitude AI must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status.