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 .

Software Engineer

Lovelace · Lovelace HQ

About Us:

Lovelace AI was born from the desire to apply state of the art AI and systems engineering to the question of human safety, especially in dangerous conditions such as conflict, disaster response, anti-terrorism and deterrence against AIs designed by adversaries to harm civilians.

How many lives can be saved by taming the information overload, confusion and conflicting priorities experienced by the people responsible for dealing with dangerous situations around the world? We believe the answer is potentially dramatic, and we are determined to create a team with the wisdom, skills, brainpower, thoughtfulness and experience to make this vision real.

Job Summary:

  • As a Software Engineer at LovelaceAI, you will play a crucial role in the development of AI-driven solutions to address complex challenges in national security and emergency management. You will be part of a team of enthusiastic experts combining their expertise in software engineering, algorithm development and AI integration with highly performant system engineering.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Software Development: Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, develop, test, and maintain software applications and systems that support defense and emergency response operations.

  • Algorithm Development: Create and optimize algorithms for real-time data analysis, pattern recognition, and predictive modeling, ensuring the highest level of accuracy and efficiency.

  • Security and Compliance: Ensure the security and compliance of software systems with stringent defense and emergency response industry standards and regulations.

  • Documentation: Maintain detailed documentation for code, algorithms, and software architecture to facilitate collaboration and future development efforts.

  • Testing and Quality Assurance: Conduct thorough testing, debugging, and optimization to ensure the reliability and performance of software applications.

  • Continuous Learning: Stay updated on the latest advancements in AI, machine learning, and defense technologies to propose and implement innovative solutions.

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.

  • Proven experience in software development in a dynamic and collaborative environment.

  • Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Go, or C++.

  • Knowledge of machine learning fundamental and frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, XLA, JAX) a plus.

  • Familiarity with software development best practices, version control systems, and agile methodologies.

  • Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.

  • Ability to work collaboratively in a team and adapt to fast-paced, mission-critical situations.

  • Must be a US Citizen.

Benefits:

LovelaceAI offers competitive compensation packages, comprehensive benefits. We provide a supportive and inclusive work environment where your skills and expertise can make a significant impact on the safety and security of our communities.

Lovelace’s founding team includes:

Andrew Moore, who has a track record of building impactful AI systems, designing them with human rights impact assessments as a top priority, leading the AI division of one of the world’s foremost cloud companies, and actively participating in machine learning and AI research over the past two decades.

Brendan Dunne, a career Special Operations veteran and retired Army officer who has led high performing cross functional teams the past 20 years in the country’s premier national mission force. He was most recently in charge of US Special Operations Command’s Global Analytics Platform (aka the GAP), one of DoD’s leading technology platforms.

Toby Smith, well known in the Pittsburgh Tech community for his engineering leadership and design skills, and who has led many of the most ambitious and complex system infrastructure projects in Google Pittsburgh and NetApp.

Here is a note from Andrew Moore to people who are reading these Job Postings:

“Hi folks, I’m so glad you are potentially interested in Lovelace AI. This area means a lot to me because while I am an AI optimist, I also think that we technologists owe it to a rightly skeptical world to show that modern intelligent systems can actually be useful. Usefulness comes in many guises: from life sciences to education and from transportation to entertainment and many others. For many of us, security and public safety is also very high on that list. That reasoning leads to this conclusion: I’m determined to make sure that the people building Lovelace AI gain a lot from the experience, including the chance to solve fascinating problems in computer science, AI, business development, customer success and product management. I also hope that we all learn from each other in a highly enriching work environment. But my main hope is that we have a shared sense of accomplishment as we see an increasing number of national security and public safety domains made safer through sensible and robust use of advanced computer science."