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 .

Founding Growth Marketer

Magentic · London

We’re looking for our first Growth Marketer to help define how Magentic goes to market. This is a zero-to-one role: you’ll work directly with the founders to determine who our ideal customers are, what messaging resonates with them, and which acquisition channels actually work.

You’ll be hands-on, running experiments across the full marketing stack — customer research, messaging, campaigns, and distribution — and turn early signals into repeatable growth playbooks. The goal is to build the foundations of a scalable growth engine that we can later expand with a team around you.

We’re pushing the boundaries of AI with next-generation agentic systems that can manage entire procurement workflows. Our mission is to make global manufacturing supply chains robust to an ever-changing world - that’s a $3tn market opportunity.

If that’s not exciting enough - we’re backed by world-class investors including Sequoia Capital, and you’d be working along a super talented team which brings together expertise from OpenAI, Meta, Revolut, NASA and McKinsey (and that’s just the first 11 people!).

What You’ll Do

  • Work closely with our CEO to refine our ideal customer profile and develop clear buyer personas and use cases

  • Build the narrative for Magentic as a category-defining AI platform for procurement

  • Design and run rapid experiments across acquisition channels ****to build our growth playbook

  • Leverage modern AI and automation tools to analyse, track, report and execute

  • Work closely with founders, sales, and product to turn customer insights into product and messaging improvements

You Might Be a Great Fit if You

  • Have experience driving measurable growth at an early-stage enterprise B2B startup.

  • Have a strong bias for execution and ownership

  • Are comfortable operating across the full marketing stack (customer research, messaging, campaigns, analytics).

  • Strong mix of analytical thinking and creative storytelling.

  • Have a highly experimental mindset — able to test quickly, learn, and iterate.

Compensation and Benefits

At Magentic, we recognise and reward the talent that drives our success. We offer:

  • Competitive Equity: play a real part in Magentic’s upside

  • A salary of £90-100k

  • Visa sponsorship available for this role

  • Enhanced parental leave

  • 25 days holiday exc bank holidays, plus an extra day for our Christmas shutdown

  • In-office lunches provided

  • Salary sacrifice pension and nursery schemes

  • Hybrid London HQ (3-4 days in the office/customer site)

  • Annual team retreat—a fully-funded off-site to recharge, bond, and build

Our Interview Process

There are a few components because it's really important that both we and you have all the information to make a great decision at this stage of our journey. We can move quickly through these stages, so let us know if you have any timelines we need to meet.

  1. Initial call (30 mins): this first step is an opportunity for you to hear more about Magentic and the role, and for us to learn more about how your experience aligns with the role.

  2. Skills interview (60 mins with some prep): in this step, we'll ask you to present some of your work to us and discuss it.

  3. a) In-person interview: for the final step, we invite you to come meet the team in-person and work alongside us! We find this is the best way for candidates to get a sense of what working at Magentic is like. This day will include a culture interview, a role-specific task and a discussion of your work with the team.

    b) CEO interview (30 mins): a chance for you to meet Robin, hear about his vision for the company - this may happen at the in-person, dependent on scheduling constraints

Responsible AI Statement

At Magentic, we are committed to developing artificial intelligence that benefits humanity. We push the limits of AI's capabilities and are dedicated to its responsible and safe deployment. Recognising the profound impact of AI, we ensure that its development is centred around human needs and safety, incorporating a wide array of perspectives to fulfil our mission.

Equal Opportunities and Accommodations Statement

Magentic is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity, or any other basis as protected by the Equality Act 2010.

We actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and cultures and believe a diverse workforce enhances our ability to deliver innovative solutions. We also ensure that our employment decisions are based solely on individual qualifications, merit, and business needs.

Magentic is dedicated to providing reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please indicate this in your application or contact us directly.