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 .

Experienced Quantitative Researcher

Selinicapital · London, New York, Singapore

Selini Capital - Job Description  

Role: Quantitative Researcher

Location: London, Singapore or NYC

Working Pattern: Office-Based

About Selini:

Selini is a global trading firm focused on systematic trading and venture investing, all within the digital assets space. 

The Role:

Selini Capital is seeking a highly analytical and technically gifted Quantitative Researcher to join our high-frequency trading team. In this role, you’ll focus on refining features, designing better models, and advancing core research pipelines. You’ll collaborate closely with other researchers and engineers to push the boundaries of what’s possible in highly competitive electronic markets.

The ideal candidate is a curious, rigorous thinker with a strong technical foundation and a bias toward empirical validation. You enjoy working with data, building systems to understand it, and using that understanding to drive performance.

Responsibilities:

As a Quantitative Researcher, you will:

  • Design, test, and refine features and model architectures to improve prediction and execution performance
  • Develop and improve research pipelines and tools for large-scale strategy simulation and optimization on a cutting-edge compute cluster
  • Conduct deep-dive analyses of market data, live strategy behavior, and model outputs to guide iterative improvements
  • Stay up-to-date on advances in quantitative methods, ML, and optimization — applying new insights to real-world challenges

Why This Role Is Unique:

  • Research First - This role is research-heavy — you’ll be focused on signal improvement, model fidelity, and hypothesis generation, not plumbing infrastructure or devops.
  • Breadth and Depth - You’ll work at every level of the alpha stack: from feature design and statistical modeling to optimizer tuning 
  • Direct Feedback Loop - We deploy and iterate quickly. Your work will feed directly into live strategies and have measurable real-world impact
  • World-Class Environment - Join a high-talent, low-ego team with experience across elite trading firms, olympiads, and academic research

Core Qualifications:

  • 2-7 years of experience in quantitative research, applied ML, or statistics
  • Fluency in Python and/or C++, with the ability to translate research concepts into performant, production-ready implementations
  • Strong knowledge of algorithms, linear algebra, statistics, and optimization techniques
  • Ability to uncover meaningful structure in noisy, high-frequency market data — from alpha signal extraction to modeling order book behavior
  • Can take research ideas from concept to experimental evaluation with minimal supervision

Signals of Excellence:

  • Track record of PNL generation using model-driven strategies
  • Outstanding academic record in a quantitative field
  • Strong performance in competitive programming or quantitative olympiads

Company Culture & Team Fit:

We’re a close-knit team that values:

  • High ownership and initiative
  • Curiosity, intellectual honesty, and rapid learning
  • Clear, direct communication
  • Working together toward shared goals — no ego, no politics

We hire people who love building, solving, and improving — and who want to learn from and contribute to a team of exceptional peers.

Compensation & Benefits:

  • Very competitive compensation with strong upside based on contribution and performance, comprehensive benefits package.
  • Free lunch ordered to the office every day.
  • Opportunity to work with cutting-edge technology in a challenging and rewarding environment.
  • Chance to make a significant impact on the firm's trading performance.
  • Collaborative and intellectually stimulating work environment.
  • Competitive Annual Leave and Pension Contribution
  • High-spec office with state of the art equipment and standing desks
  • Monthly team breakfast
  • Regular London onsites with focus groups in different business coinciding with team dinners and evening events
  • Annual Company Offsite in luxury location
  • Inter-office travel encouraged to promote the Selini culture and cross-business unit collaboration