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 .

IT Systems Engineer

Neuralink · Austin, Texas, United States

About Neuralink:

We are creating devices that enable a bi-directional interface with the brain. These devices allow us to restore movement to the paralyzed, restore sight to the blind, and revolutionize how humans interact with their digital world.

Team Description:

For Neuralink's Information Technology team, the corporate environment is production. It is where our groundbreaking research and development takes place and hosts our assembly lines, neural recording training and processing, and many other functions. The team builds critical systems and processes that safely accelerate our progress along the company's critical path.

Job Description and Responsibilities:

IT Systems Engineers set the bar for technical leadership and customer service at Neuralink and help identify the most impactful projects to prioritize the team's roadmap. They regularly span the entire work environment stack, from the physical hardware the company runs on to the custom tooling built to facilitate neural recordings and scalable cloud services powering many of our critical functions.

Neuralink has a diverse user base, from highly technically proficient engineers to non-technical scientists and doctors. Still, they all need solid systems, rugged networking, and bullet-proof software to do their jobs. IT Systems Engineers thrive by proactively finding opportunities for impact and collaborating to accomplish amazing things. The job responsibilities will include:

  • Identifying, building, and deploying open-source, off-the-shelf, or custom-built systems and policies that meet our demanding requirements
  • Monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing the performance and security of all IT systems, including servers, networks, cloud infrastructure, and applications
  • Providing expert technical support to end-users as part of a tier-1 rotation
  • Providing mentorship to team members and operating as a tier-2/3 support resource for challenging technical issues
  • Ensuring compliance with data protection regulations and internal security policies by implementing robust security measures and conducting regular audits
  • Creating and maintaining comprehensive documentation for systems, processes, and procedures to support knowledge sharing and business continuity

Required Qualifications:

  • Systems administration expertise on Linux, macOS, and/or Windows
  • Firm grasp of networking protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP, ARP, DNS, DHCP, and PXE
  • Strong understanding of on-prem networking solutions and cloud provider networking technologies, such as VPCs, IPsec VPNs, Wireguard, and IAM security policies
  • Expertise in procuring and maintaining physical computer infrastructure
  • Flexibility to partner with many teams at Neuralink to design business processes, such as the manufacturing and Animal Care teams
  • Empathetic and patient, especially when collaborating with non-technical colleagues or mentoring teammates
  • Ability to solve immediate problems while designing and prioritizing systemic solutions

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Expertise in designing and scaling large-scale data storage solutions that meet stringent latency, durability, and availability guarantees
  • Can develop tooling and automation with at least one of POSIX sh, Bash, Python, or another programming language for tasks such as end-user asset management or provisioning
  • Ability to design comprehensive security policies and best practices and implement them in day-to-day business operations
  • Working knowledge of major cryptographic protocols and authentication schemes such as TLS, X.509, 802.1x, U2F, SAML, and WebAuthn
  • Experience using IaC tools, CI/CD, and modern cloud-native tooling, such as Terraform, Docker, Packer, Ansible, Cloud-Init, Git, Helm, and GitLab CI
  • Experience administering SaaS applications like Microsoft Entra, Google Workspace, and Slack

Expected Compensation:

The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the following range. Your actual base pay will be determined by your job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. We also believe in aligning our employees’ success with the company's long-term growth. As such, in addition to base salary, Neuralink offers equity compensation (in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSU)) for all full-time employees.

Base Salary Range:
$85,000$130,000 USD

What We Offer:

Full-time employees are eligible for the following benefits listed below.

  • An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and most talented experts from different fields
  • Growth potential; we rapidly advance team members who have an outsized impact
  • Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance through a PPO plan
  • Paid holidays
  • Commuter benefits
  • Meals provided
  • Equity (RSUs) *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
  • 401(k) plan *Interns initially excluded until they work 1,000 hours
  • Parental leave *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
  • Flexible time off *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded