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 .

R&D Scientist

Impossible Foods · Redwood City, CA

Impossible Foods was founded to transform the global food system and reduce the impact of climate change by making the world’s most delicious, nutritious, and sustainable meat, fish, and dairy — from plants. We’re building a rockstar team of brilliant, collaborative, mission-driven individuals who take pride in using their diverse skills to contribute to saving our planet.

Want to join the movement? You can help us solve the most urgent, important challenge facing the world today (and have fun doing it).


Job Summary:

We are seeking a mission-aligned Scientist, to join the Product Development Team -an interdisciplinary team of food scientists, chemists, designers, and chefs.

You will be working on complex future products and be a technical lead on new material integration while creating prototypes with optimal flavors & textures. You are a curious, analytical, collaborative, and creative problem solver that has deep expertise in food ingredient functionality.

You Will:
● Work as part of a team to deliver complex novel plant-based meat products
● Lead efforts on recreating a variety of animal tissue replicas using plant-based materials.
● Lead efforts to understand the interaction of ingredients and the effect of process parameters in complex food matrices, optimizing the system to deliver against the desired outcome.
● Use meticulous sensory and instrumental assays to guide and validate progress
● Use outside-the-box exploration: playful exploration and de novo prototyping
● Present experimental and project data to both research team and broader audiences
● Proactively collaborate cross-functionally, framing trade-off decisions to balance product targets, timelines, and COGS.
● Mentor research associates on technical approaches and best practices
● Participate in hands-on prototype creation and experimentation
● Participate in team tastings
● Voice ideas, concerns and solutions to teammates
● Keep a detailed experimental notebook and batch records

You Have:
● M.S./Ph.D. in Materials Science, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Science, or similar field with 4+ year of product innovation experience
● Proven track record of innovative research and development projects
● A passion to create delicious plant-based products
● Strong chemical intuition, knowledge of flavor chemistry, gums, starches, and proteins, and how to modulate their characteristics with process, synergistic interactions with other materials, and different conditions within a product.
● Strong skills in designing experiments, data analysis, data interpretation, and communication results to both researchers and broader audiences
● Experience with formulation development
● Experience mentoring junior researchers
● Experience in designing and conducting sensory testing is a nice to have
● Self-starter that is naturally curious and enjoys working in a fast-paced environment
● Ability to continuously challenge assumptions to seek innovative solutions


Impossible Foods Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will  receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national  origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a protected veteran, status as a  qualified individual with a disability, or any other trait protected by law. 

Impossible Foods offers opportunities to all job seekers including job seekers with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your application for employment or interview process, please contact us by sending an email to [email protected] or call 855-877-6365. Resumes or CVs submitted to this email inbox will not be accepted.

If the ability to work remotely is indicated, this role can be performed from any US state except for Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.

This role is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.