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 .

Systems Architect

Reliable Robotics · Mountain View, CA

We're building safety-enhancing technology for aviation that will save lives. Automated aviation systems will enable a future where air transportation is safer, more convenient and fundamentally transformative to the way goods — and eventually people — move around the planet. We are a team of mission-driven engineers with experience across aerospace, robotics and self-driving cars working to make this future a reality.

As a Systems Architect at Reliable Robotics, you will be a part of the Systems team and will report to the Systems & Safety Manager. The Systems & Safety Team is responsible for architecting systems which support novel safety-critical functions, establishing development methodologies for new technologies, and complying with the federal regulations.

As part of an experienced multi-disciplinary team, you will contribute to expanding the aircraft's operational and functional capabilities. Your professional experience in system design and development will further strengthen the team's ability to meet rigorous expectations of stakeholders and certification authorities. You will collaborate with members from other groups within Reliable Robotics to architect new and novel systems necessary for unmanned aircraft operations.

Responsibilities

In your role as a Systems Architect you will be responsible for the development and architectural design of prototypes and certifiable safety-critical flight systems in a dynamic start-up work environment.

You will have the following responsibilities:

  • Define new/novel functions necessary to control autonomous aircraft and manage contingencies

  • Define the relationship between the vehicle, pilot, and support system for remotely operated autonomous aircraft

  • Perform the decomposition of aircraft, system and LRU functions, define the system physical / logical architecture and allocate functionality

  • Perform trades studies to assess performance, complexity, risk, and cost of competing technical solutions

  • Work closely with system and safety analysts to define system architectural features to meet safety and security requirements

  • Derive and validate requirements and interfaces based on the architecture to ensure correct and complete implementation at the next design level

  • Support product development all the way through development up to production, test, and certification

You’ll also have the opportunity to interact with other domains within Reliable Robotics and become involved in a broad task spectrum not limited to typical system engineering activities.

Basic Success Criteria

  • Bachelor’s Degree of Science or Engineering in Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, or related discipline, or equivalent experience at a minimum

  • Broad experience from 7+ years of designing and integrating various complex safety-critical aerospace systems

  • Demonstrated self starter with the ability to solve problems from first principles

  • Ability to work well independently and cross-functionally across multiple organizations

Preferred Criteria

  • Advanced Degree of Science or Engineering in Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, or related discipline

  • Demonstrated ability to justify novel architectural solutions to regulators

  • Experience certifying flight critical systems, hardware, and software via ARP4754A, ARP4761, DO-254, and DO-178C respectively

We are developing and building high-integrity safety-critical systems for automated flight, and your role is critical to what we do at Reliable Robotics. With the support of the entire team, you will be making key aircraft architectural design decisions to drive our core mission forward.

This role can be remote, or located at our facility in Mountain View, California.

Must be willing to travel up to 20% of the time.


This position requires access to information that is subject to U.S. export controls. An offer of employment will be contingent upon the applicant’s capacity to perform in compliance with U.S. export control laws.

All applicants are asked to provide documentation that legally establishes status as a U.S. person or non-U.S. person (and nationalities in the case of a non-U.S. person). Where the applicant is not a U.S. person, meaning not a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident, (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or not otherwise permitted to access the export-controlled technology without U.S. government authorization, the Company reserves the right not to apply for an export license for such applicants whose access to export-controlled technology or software source code requires authorization and may decline to proceed with the application process and any offer of employment on that basis.

At Reliable Robotics, our goal is to be a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, creed, ancestry, sex, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability or medical conditions, national origin, military or veteran status, genetic information, marital status, or any other basis covered by applicable law. All employment and promotion is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to [email protected]