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 .

Character Artist (Contract Position)

Nightdivestudios · Remote

OBJECTIVES OF THIS ROLE

We are in the process of staffing up our development team with outstanding talent to tackle a brand new sci-fi project using Unreal Engine 5. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is tired of being a cog in a larger machine but would rather be directly responsible for crafting high-quality characters for the final game while working with a lean team.

To capture and preserve the essence of the games we all grew up with, we welcome applicants with unique skill sets and backgrounds. If you are passionate about making a meaningful contribution to some of the most significant games in the industry, we’d love to hear from you!

REPORT STRUCTURE

  • This role reports directly to the Project Lead, Lead Artist and Producer while working closely with other artists.
  • This role is responsible for liaising with Design, Engineering, Animation, Audio, and QA to integrate features smoothly across disciplines and to fulfill the shared vision of the project.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Create high-quality character models (hero characters, NPCs, creatures, etc.) across all phases: sculpting, retopology, UVs, baking, texturing, and in-engine setup.
  • Maintain strong visual consistency with the project’s art direction, ensuring characters feel cohesive across the entire cast.
  • Build clean, animation-friendly topology and silhouettes that support expressive motion and gameplay readability.
  • Author textures, materials, and shader setups that balance visual fidelity with performance requirements.
  • Collaborate with Tech Art and Animation to troubleshoot skinning, deformation, and character performance issues.
  • Implement characters in-engine, ensuring proper scale, materials, and naming conventions.
  • Be highly collaborative with other team members and willing to provide timely and constructive criticism to submissions from colleagues.
  • Respond well to feedback and constructive criticism to their submissions and workflows and be willing to quickly iterate on assets and systems.
  • Be self-motivated and highly adaptable to new workflows and processes while willing to learn new skills and insert into gaps within the team structure. We are looking for that “Indie dev” mindset.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Ego-free, highly motivated, action-oriented, curious learn-it-all with a growth mindset
  • Comfort operating in ambiguous and unregimented environments
  • Experience with hard-surface character elements (armor, robotics, cybernetics, etc.)
  • Familiarity with rigging tools, skinning workflows, and ensuring meshes meet deformation, weighting, and technical constraints.
  • Proven knowledge of character art pipelines: sculpting, retopology, UV unwrapping, baking, texturing, and material creation using tools like Blender, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer.
  • Strong understanding of anatomy, form, proportion, and silhouette across humans, creatures, robotics and stylized/realistic hybrid styles.
  • Shipped at least one AA+ title
  • Eager to take ownership over individual characters or features and see them through to completion.
  • Likes Sci-Fi and Horror media.

We are on the lookout for rockstars that are highly self-accountable. As this is a smaller team, there won’t be a lot of hand-holding as production begins to ramp up. If this kind of challenge excites you, we invite you to apply! 

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