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 .

Other Careers

Sumofus · Remote

Summary

Don’t see a current job posting that matches your skillset and interest? We’d still love to hear from you! We’re always on the look out for talented people as we continue to challenge and disrupt corporate power globally. Let us know what you’re looking for and we’ll reach out if there’s a fit. We also encourage you to check back frequently and apply for future openings. 

About Ekō

Ekō is a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers standing together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new and sustainable path for our global economy. We are a movement of more than 20 million people, brought together by a global team of 40+ campaigners, fundraisers, engineers and operations staff. Our purpose is to challenge corporate power everywhere. We hold the biggest corporations in the world (and their political allies) to account by mobilizing millions of people to take collective action.

We are aiming to fundamentally reshape the global economy to put people and planet over profit, but we know we can not do it alone. We build partnerships with on-the-ground activists and organizers, and we follow their lead. We innovate, experiment and embrace professional and organizational growth. We invest in people and we invest in how we work, because our vision calls on us to build the most effective, global, diverse, and talented team possible.

We highly value a diverse team and an equitable work environment where every member of our team is set up to thrive. We have taken steps to nurture this environment including an Anti-Oppression Leadership Team that leads work to transform injustice within the organization and in our campaigning work. We expect all team members to take responsibility for co-creating an equitable work community where everyone is able to do impactful, world-changing work. We review our policies and practices for equity frequently. We encourage people identifying with marginalized communities to apply.

Benefits 

At Ekō, we strive to offer a work environment where every member of our team is set up to thrive. With this in mind, we are happy to offer the following benefits:

  • Ekō is a fully remote and distributed team, as such we offer stipends to offset cell phone and internet costs;

  • We offer stipends to set-up home offices or to rent space in a coworking environment;

  • We offer five weeks paid vacation (plus additional sick leave and all major public holidays off and 6 months paid parental leave);

  • Contributions to retirement;

  • Ability to work from home and work with a degree of flexibility outside our core hours of operation;

  • We cover private health insurance premiums for employees and dependents who live in countries without public insurance.

Requirements

All roles at Ekō require you to:

  • Be dedicated to building a fairer and more sustainable global economy;

  • Demonstrate an active commitment to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive work community; 

  • Communicate in English (English is our primary working language);

  • Work remotely.

How to Apply

We don’t find cover letters particularly helpful. Instead, use the form below to upload your resume and your answers to a series of questions, in English, to help us best match you to a role. 

Your answers to the application questions will only be used for recruitment purposes. If you have already applied for a more specific opening, please do not apply here for a second time.