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 .

Senior Software Engineer

Truework · San Francisco, CA (preferred)

Truework is on a mission to create trust in every financial transaction. Our core product, Truework Income, provides access to crucial employment and income information needed for mortgage loans, apartment rentals, background checks and the like. We are disrupting a $5B+ industry, previously controlled by legacy credit agencies, with a better product and intense customer focus. We handle hundreds of thousands of income and employment verifications every month, and continue to grow our market share in the mortgage lending and tenant screening markets.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our team! Our Engineering team is small but mighty, building and maintaining the product and platform driving >$10M in annual recurring revenue. We enable (and expect) engineers to take on significant ownership and responsibility, including leading projects and initiatives, working with product managers and customers to define and implement features, and collaborating with our sales and marketing teams on launching and scaling products and features. You’ll have a lot of autonomy and will be most successful if you have high agency and are resilient in the face of challenges.

Most of the work we need to do is backend-oriented but we are open to candidates from a broad set of roles (full stack, backend, QA engineers, SREs, etc.) if you meet our requirements. 

At Truework, we will expect you to:

  • Be an independent individual contributor who can solve problems and deliver high-quality solutions with minimal/high-level oversight.
  • Operate effectively within Truework's technology stack throughout the product life cycle (design, development, delivery, operation & maintenance).
  • Understand the desired outcome of your projects, take ownership of deciding the best way to deliver that outcome, and be accountable for ultimately achieving the outcome. 
  • Collaborate effectively within Engineering, with other EPD functions (product/design) and GTM functions (sales/marketing/support) to solve problems, resolve incidents, deliver products and features, and ultimately satisfy customer needs.
  • Intentionally participate in and engage with our hybrid team (and hopefully have fun while doing so!)
  • Participate in our engineering on-call rotation.

What we’re looking for: 

  • 5+ years of relevant coding experience
  • Professional experience developing substantial Python applications
  • Strong analytical & problem-solving skills
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Someone with a high agency and proactivity, who’s led projects and solutions
  • Eagerness to work in a sustainably paced, collaborative environment
  • US work authorization. We can support visa transfers/etc. but can’t currently sponsor new visas.

 

Cash Compensation: 

Our cash compensation for this role is targeted at $180,000 - $210,000 for candidates based at our HQ in San Francisco. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

 

Benefits:

  • Flexible PTO policy
  • Learning & Development stipend
  • Health, Dental, Vision
  • Life Insurance, STD, LTD
  • HRA for Family Planning
  • Equity
  • Commuter, FSA, HSA
  • 401K plan

If you have any questions before applying, please do not hesitate to reach out to the recruiter in charge of this role, Emily Galanti ([email protected]).

Truework is proud to be an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Truework considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Truework is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please let your recruiter know. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

View full listing