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 .

Business Strategist

Imc · Chicago, United States

Experienced Business Operations us

Polar Operations LLC (d/b/a IMC Markets) is seeking a Business Strategist in Chicago, IL. 

Your Core Responsibilities

The US Business Strategist will develop and implement strategic priorities in close collaboration with IMC’s Chicago leadership and strategy team, the global Management Board, and Global Business Strategy head in Amsterdam.

Job duties include:

  • Support identification and definition of strategic priorities in close collaboration with IMC leadership to help IMC achieve its rapid growth ambitions over the next years;
  • Apply structured problem-solving methodologies to assess challenges, evaluate opportunities, and recommend solutions;
  • Lead or become involved in specific projects relevant to the business and have a “seat at the table” with IMC Chicago’s leadership team;
  • Work closely with leadership, business units, and cross-functional teams to align on project goals, secure buy-in, and drive execution;
  • Monitor market trends, industry developments, and best practices to inform project execution and strategic decision-making.

Partial telecommuting permitted.

Business Strategist (Requisition ID: 453346101)

Your Skills and Experience

This position requires a Master’s degree, or foreign equivalent, in business, finance, economics or similarly technical or quantitative field and four (4) years of experience in the job offered or a strategy consultancy role or a related position.

Must have four (4) years of experience in each of the following skill(s):

  • Leading structured problem solving on growth-critical questions for existing and new businesses, including creative market sizing under sparse data (proxy modeling, expert elicitation, bottom-up builds) and diligence of new markets with global and regulatory considerations; informed go/no-go and investment decisions;\
  • Complex operational skills including understanding key areas to explore, identifying different operational set ups, and the pros and cons for each and building a roadmap with the optimal approach;
  • Operating autonomously in a fast-paced environment, leading multiple concurrent workstreams by owning workplans, driving analyses, coordinating cross-functional stakeholders, and producing decision-ready materials and recommendations on tight timelines;
  • Managing senior stakeholders, facilitating alignment through structured updates, risk-based options, and clear trade-off narratives that accelerated decision-making; and
  • Driving end-to-end execution across a broad initiative portfolio: scoped problems, built workplans, collected/validated data, ran quantitative/qualitative analyses, synthesized insights, and communicated recommendations through executive-ready narratives and visuals to internal and external stakeholders.

#LI-DNI

The Base Salary range for the role is included below. Base salary is only one component of total compensation; all full-time, permanent positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and benefits, including paid leave and insurance. Please visit Benefits - US | IMC Trading for more comprehensive information.

Salary Range
$190,000$255,000 USD

About Us

IMC is a global trading firm powered by a cutting-edge research environment and a world-class technology backbone. Since 1989, we’ve been a stabilizing force in financial markets, providing essential liquidity upon which market participants depend. Across our offices in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, and India, our talented quant researchers, engineers, traders, and business operations professionals are united by our uniquely collaborative, high-performance culture, and our commitment to giving back. From entering dynamic new markets to embracing disruptive technologies, and from developing an innovative research environment to diversifying our trading strategies, we dare to continuously innovate and collaborate to succeed.