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 .

Associate Director, Experience Design

Method · Tokyo

Method is a global design and engineering consultancy founded in 1999. We believe that innovation should be meaningful, beautiful and human. We craft practical, powerful digital experiences that improve lives and transform businesses. Our teams [based in Japan, Bengaluru, New York, Charlotte, Atlanta, London and remote] work with a wide range of organizations in many industries, including Healthcare, Financial Services, Retail, Automotive, Aviation, and Professional Services. This is a Tokyo-based position. 

Method is part of GlobalLogic, a digital product engineering company. GlobalLogic integrates experience design and complex engineering to help our clients imagine what’s possible and accelerate their transition into tomorrow’s digital businesses. GlobalLogic is a Hitachi Group Company, and there is extensive collaboration between all group companies. 

As Associate Director of Experience Design, you will lead multidisciplinary design projects from experience definition through execution. Your tasks will include framing opportunities with clients, structuring and running research activities, planning and facilitating collaborative workshops driving concept explorations, prototyping the future of our client’s products and services and overseeing the creation of high fidelity design solutions. You’ll guide your team and others in communicating complex concepts in written, diagrammatic and visual formats and support product and engineering teams in bringing digital products and services to market by translating strategies into actionable outcomes.

Responsibilities:

  • Define and design multi channel digital solutions with different disciplines in a highly collaborative environment
  • Partner closely with clients, serving as an internal champion to ensure our work meets their needs and also serving as an advisor to further their business aspirations through design. 
  • Lead multidisciplinary teams through complex projects 
  • Plan, conduct, and interpret primary and secondary research to inform the user interaction and visual direction of a product or service. Research methods include user and business stakeholder interviews, generative customer research, usability evaluations, concept validation, and user testing
  • Collaborate on and influence the different stages of a digital product—this includes shaping project scope, driving  internal and external strategy, and conducting research
  • Plan and host collaborative workshops and work sessions with internal and external teams
  • Lead teams in the creation of experience or product design artifacts including archetypes, customer journeys, service blueprints, ecosystems, initial concepts, prototypes, design directions, design systems and detailed design documentation. 
  • Mentor and/or manage others in the experience design discipline
  • Impact Method through common missions that create a diverse organization, further the quality of our work and support the growth and success of our business
  • Practice responsible design (accessible and inclusive)
  • Foster a culture of curiosity across design, product and technology that manifests in how projects are framed and executed.

Qualifications:

  • Demonstrated success in defining, creating, and launching digital products and services
  • 7+ years experience in design research, digital strategy, digital product design and/or service design. Your story/portfolio reflects a solid foundation in understanding the complexity and intricacies of business problems. Your work to solve these is an appropriate mix of pioneering and pragmatic.
  • 1+ year team management experience either in HR capacity or project team leadership
  • Functionally bilingual in business Japanese (e.g. N2)  and English (e.g. ~TOEPIC 750)
  • Undergraduate and/or Masters Degree in Design[product, visual/interaction, architecture, industrial], Human Factors, Engineering [mechanical] or equivalent professional experience
  • Effective time management skills to balance project schedule with fast-paced deadlines
  • Excellent verbal/written communication and presentation skills, with the ability to successfully articulate design concepts and intent to your team and your client
  • Ability to collaborate with Technologists as it pertains to developing digital products

Location

  • Remote first working with occasional need to be in our Tokyo office
  • International travel for team and client meetings is required, typically up to 15%.

Why Method?

We look for individuals who are smart, kind and brave. Curious people with a natural ability to think on their feet, learn fast, and develop points-of-view for a constantly changing world find Method an exciting place to work. Our employees are excited to collaborate with dispersed and diverse teams that bring together the best in thinking and making. We champion the ability to listen, and believe that critique and dissonance lead to better outcomes. We believe everyone has the capacity to lead and look for proactive individuals who can take and give direction, lead by example, enjoy the making as much as they do the thinking, especially at senior and leadership levels.

We believe in work/life balance. Seriously. We offer a ton of competitive perks, including:

  • Continuing education opportunities 
  • Flexible work from home policies
  • Commuting allowance
  • Housing allowance
  • Family allowance
  • Wellness allowance
  • Additional benefits include support for life events, natural disasters, and annual health check-ups.

Next Steps

If Method sounds like the place for you, please submit an application. Also, let us know if you have a presence online with a portfolio, GitHub, Dribbble or other platform.

 

You can find more information about how we process your personal data and what your rights are in the Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Any data subject requests received by the TAG team are immediately forwarded to the Privacy team under the TAG Procedure: Data Subject Request. This applies regardless of how the DSR was received (e.g., email, LinkedIn chat, during an interview).

Any privacy incidents that occur during the recruitment process must also be reported to the Privacy team in accordance with our established procedure.