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 .

Associate

Samainc · Bangalore, India

About the Job: 

The Associate will be part of the Service Delivery team in India, reporting to a Team Leader. The role involves reviewing and classifying industry product data to support accurate product search and discovery on client platforms. The Associate will follow defined guidelines, meet quality and productivity targets, work closely with the team, and adapt to changing processes and tools in a fast-paced environment.

Key Responsibilities: 

  • Review, tag, and classify retail product data (including product titles, descriptions, images, and attributes) to improve search relevance and product discoverability.
  • Apply standardized guidelines and classification rules consistently across tasks.
  • Identify data discrepancies, missing attributes, or ambiguous cases and escalate them to the team lead when necessary.
  • Maintain high standards of data accuracy, completeness, and consistency while meeting defined quality thresholds and turnaround times.
  • Perform quality checks by reviewing, correcting, or reprocessing data to ensure compliance with program requirements.
  • Remove duplicate or incorrect entries to maintain a clean and reliable product catalog.
  • Collaborate with team members and contribute to shared goals and continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Perform additional related tasks as assigned to support product search and classification programs.
  • Demonstrate flexibility by adapting to changes in guidelines, tools, or workflows, and transitioning to new processes or task types as required by business needs.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in any discipline.
  • Strong attention to detail with the ability to follow structured guidelines and taxonomies.
  • Basic understanding of e-commerce or retail product catalogs.
  • Ability to process repetitive tasks accurately while meeting quality and productivity targets.
  • Proficiency with computers and common tools (spreadsheets, web-based platforms).
  • Good written communication skills in English.
  • Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Prior experience in e-commerce, retail operations, data annotation, search relevance, or product catalog management.
  • Familiarity with product taxonomies, ontologies, or classification systems.
  • Experience working on search relevance, query-product matching, or product attribute enrichment tasks.
  • Comfort working with large datasets and rule-based decision frameworks.
  • Exposure to quality assurance processes or audit-based workflows.
  • Ability to quickly learn new tools, guidelines, and domain-specific concepts.
  • Be inquisitive and eager to learn in a dynamic and fast-paced environment
  • Have strong communication skills, both verbal and written
  • Take pride in everything they do and be motivated to go above and beyond what is expected
  • Possess excellent web research skills
  • Demonstrate keen attention to detail
  • Have the ability to work with a sense of urgency
  • Have good time-management skills
  • Have the ability to communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
  • Be a strong team player.

About Sama 

Sama provides high-quality training data that powers AI technology for Fortune 2000 companies such as Google, Walmart, Ford, Microsoft, and Marriott. We’re experts in data annotation, supporting text, 2D, 3D image, video, and sensor data for machine learning algorithms and generative AI models. Sama offers the highest quality SLAs in the industry, along with cutting-edge ML-assisted annotation tools, QA processes, and security and compliance standards.

Founded in 2008 on the belief that “talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not”, Sama is driven by the mission to expand opportunities for those who are underprivileged. As a certified B-Corp, Sama has provided worker training programs to increase economic opportunity for more than 15,000 people from underserved communities. By connecting our customers with amazing talent in East Africa, we've impacted more than 69,000 workers and their dependents.

Today, our vision is to provide data scientists, ML engineers, and data operations teams with an indispensable, integrated platform for AI data preparation, labeling, and collection. 

For more information, visit www.sama.com.

More information can be found at:

Our Culture:

Sama is quite unique. We are a technology company with a social mission. People that thrive in a high-growth environment, love working on the bleeding edge of technology, and really care about having a positive impact on the world are a great fit for the Sama culture. Our core values are One Team, One Goal - Deliver. Period. - Trust & Transparency - Customer First - Humanity.

Our Benefits:

Sama offers competitive compensation commensurate with experience and a full benefits package, including: medical, dental, and vision insurance, long-term disability insurance, life, and AD&D insurance, employer-matching Group RRSP, generous holiday and vacation policies, a monthly fitness stipend, monthly cell phone reimbursement and professional development opportunities. Our Talent Acquisition team would be happy to discuss our benefits packages with you in more detail during the interview process.

At Sama, we pride ourselves in being a diverse and equal opportunity employer.