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 .

Manager/Senior Associate

Instiglio · Rabat

Who we are

Instiglio’s mission is to build public institutions that truly work for societies and the planet. We exist to unlock the potential of public institutions — not by chasing marginal gains, but by reimagining and rebuilding them from the inside out.

We partner with governments and development actors (e.g., the World Bank, FCDO, Hilton Foundation) to align public funding with measurable outcomes and strengthen the systems, incentives, and capabilities that drive sustained impact. Over the past decade, we have worked in more than 30 low- and middle-income countries, helping institutions design and embed reforms that make every cent of public funding deliver public value.

To scale our impact, we incubated the Government Empowerment Network (GEN) —  a globally networked, AI-powered, and government-led reform accelerator designed to empower civil servants to incubate reforms that transform government institutions, strengthen service delivery, and improve citizens’ lives. GEN combines a six-month in-person reform incubator with an AI-enabled learning and collaboration platform, equipping champions to diagnose systemic challenges, design reforms, and strengthen delivery capabilities across ministries. Following a successful first cohort in Uganda with over 30 public servants from six ministries, we recently launched in Colombia, followed by Morocco later this year. In 2026, we plan to consolidate learnings and expand to at least two additional countries in 2026, while continuing to support current countries. 

Our team

A core contributing factor to the influence Instiglio has had thus far includes our collaborative, highly skilled and diverse team. We are a team of 80+ people, representing 15+ nationalities, with offices in Colombia, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius and Uganda. Our team brings together experience from government, management consulting, multilateral institutions, and the social sector; united by a mission to help governments perform better for their people.

Please note that we are not actively recruiting for this role at the moment. However, if you choose to submit your application, your profile will be included in our pipeline for this position should an opening arise. If your profile aligns well with the requirements once a vacancy becomes available, we will reach out to you directly.

How you will make an impact 

Managers and Senior Associates at Instiglio are a core part of project teams, overseeing most aspects of project execution and team management in close collaboration with Project Leads. You will gain expertise in results-based approaches and deepen your consultancy skills, translating complex concepts into easy-to-understand insights. You will advise clients on difficult, yet important, adaptations of their practices and lead teammates to deliver impactful projects that enhance development outcomes across Africa and the MENA Region. You will also play a leading role in growing the Rabat office, from recruitment and capacity building to nurturing stakeholder relationships with both the donor community and government partners that lead to project growth. Managers will also be asked to make wider contributions to Instiglio’s global management and strategy as an integral part of the management team. 

Some of your tasks will include: 

  • Senior Associates are likely to act as project managers of 1-3 project workstreams (reporting to a Manager) or stand-alone projects (reporting to a Lead), while Managers are likely to oversee 3+ stand-alone projects at any given time.
  • Leading and overseeing the development of technical components of RBF instruments and data-driven performance management systems.  
  • Leading the creation of proposals and client deliverables, articulating technical concepts in an eloquent and accessible manner.  
  • Managing project budgets and contracts with clients and subcontractors, anticipating issues, and proactively addressing them.  
  • Planning, delegating and overseeing tasks to effectively and efficiently achieve the best results within the team.
  • Proposing, structuring, and overseeing data analyses to draw actionable insights/hypotheses.
  • Preparing and delivering clear and effective presentations to stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
  • Coordinating and motivating project teams and supporting team growth through coaching and mentorship within and outside of projects.
  • Actively improving our RBF and Performance Management services and our delivery approaches. 

Who you are 

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