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 .

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About Reactivate ☀️

Reactivate, an Invenergy company, is a mission-driven organization that develops, owns, and operates renewable energy solutions that are designed to improve quality of life for communities, with a focus on meaningful benefits for working-class people across the country. Focus areas include community solar, commercial & industrial solar, small utility-scale solar, energy storage, and EV charging projects. By delivering economic development and energy resiliency with renewable energy solutions, Reactivate provides energy cost savings, job opportunities, workforce training, and opportunities for businesses, while creating positive social and environmental impact.

Reactivate was founded by Invenergy and Lafayette Square. 

To learn more, visit us at www.reactivate.com.

We are thrilled to become ✨Great Place to Work Certified✨! The Great Place to Work Certification is the most definitive "employer-of-choice" recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience - specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place to Work Certified.

If you’re passionate, creative, and driven to make a difference, we’d love to hear from you—even if there isn’t an open role with your name on it (yet!).

We’re firm believers that the best people don’t always follow a traditional path—and the best opportunities often start with a simple hello. So, reach out, even if you’re just testing the waters. Who knows? This could be the start of something amazing!

 

Why Reactivate ⚡ 

To support our incredible team and their families beyond the workplace, Reactivate provides an outstanding benefits package effective day one of employment. In addition to medical benefits, 401(k) options, professional development opportunities and a competitive paid time off policy, we allow work flexibility to contribute to a valuable work-life balance.

At Reactivate, we build our teams, cultivate our leaders, and foster an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to be their authentic selves. These values are at the core of our organization, strengthening our team and fueling innovation and progress 

We strive to create workplaces that reflect the communities we serve, and we believe that our differences enable us to be a better team. We are not just looking for a culture fit — we are looking for a culture add. If you’re looking for a career where your unique talents are celebrated, your voice is heard, and your contributions make an impact, Reactivate is the place for you.

➡️Upon submission, we want to empower you to record your name via the Name Pronunciation Tool so that our hiring team can ensure they are pronouncing your name correctly and that you feel properly acknowledged.

Reactivate is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions at Reactivate are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, sex (including pregnancy), age, gender identity or expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics

🚨By submitting an application, you acknowledge that we may disclose the contents of your application with certain of our third-party applicant tracking systems including, without limitation, Greenhouse’s applicant tracking system, and you expressly consent to such disclosure.

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