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 .

Machine Learning Engineer

Quincus · Toronto

“Make every logistics journey your best one yet” The Company. Founded in 2014, Quincus is a B2B supply chain operating SaaS platform headquartered in Singapore. We solve today's global supply chain challenges with groundbreaking technology. Using AI and machine learning, we have digitized and optimized the logistics process while giving customers full transparency into their supply chain.    Quincus was founded by two visionary entrepreneurs who possess more than a decade of experience in tech. Chief Product Officer Katherina-Olivia Lacey is leading a tech revolution in this space while empowering women in the supply chain industry. Jonathan E. Savoir, Chief Executive Officer, appeared on Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia List in 2020, and also serves on the boards of several startups.   Overview. Quincus Research is building the next generation of intelligent systems for all Quincus products. To achieve this, we’re working on projects that utilize the latest computer science techniques developed by skilled software engineers and research scientists. Quincus Research teams collaborate closely with other teams across Quincus, maintaining the flexibility and versatility required to adapt new projects and focuses that meet the demands of the world's fast-paced business needs.  Job Overview.  We are looking for a highly motivated and experienced machine learning engineer to join our team and help us develop and deploy deep learning and reinforcement learning algorithms at scale. As a machine learning engineer, you will be responsible for designing and implementing scalable systems for serving models, optimizing inference performance, and managing production workflows.  Responsibilities:  - Design and implement scalable systems for serving deep learning and reinforcement learning models. - Optimize inference performance of deep learning and reinforcement learning models using techniques such as quantization, pruning, and distillation. - Utilize GPU computing to accelerate model training and inference. - Develop and deploy production workflows for training and serving machine learning models. - Collaborate with data scientists and software engineers to design and implement machine learning systems. - Monitor and improve the performance of machine learning models in production. - Stay up-to-date with the latest research and techniques in deep learning and reinforcement learning.  Qualifications: - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field. - 3+ years of experience in software engineering or machine learning engineering. - Strong programming skills in Python (C++ or Java a plus) - Experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch. - Experience with GPU programming using CUDA, OpenCL, or similar libraries. - Experience with distributed systems and cloud computing platforms such as Kubernetes, Docker, GCP, and AWS.  Preferred Qualifications:  - Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field. - 5+ years of experience in software engineering or machine learning engineering. - Experience with reinforcement learning algorithms and frameworks. - Experience with production deployment of machine learning models and implementation of APIs for big data. - Strong understanding of computer architecture and performance optimization. - Strong communication and collaboration skills.  If you are passionate about developing and deploying machine learning algorithms at scale, and want to join a dynamic team working on cutting-edge technology, we encourage you to apply for this position.