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 .

Software Engineer II

Uber · Bangalore, IND

Frontend

Uber's mission is to reimagine the way the world moves for the better. Here, bold ideas create real-world impact, challenges drive growth, and speed fuelds progress. What moves us, moves the world - let’s move it forward, together. Offices continue to be central to collaboration and Uber's cultural identity. Unless formally approved to work fully remotely, Uber expects employees to spend at least half of their work time in their assigned office. For certain roles, such as those based at green-light hubs, employees are expected to be in-office for 100% of their time. Please speak with your recruiter to better understand in-office expectations for this role. \*Accommodations may be available based on religious and/or medical conditions, or as required by applicable law. To request an accommodation, please reach out to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). **About the Role** The U4B Platforms Org in Bangalore is building and evolving the best-in-class business systems for Uber B2B Customers, which enables experiences and tools for reliable, configurable, and intelligent business lifecycle management. The platform enables end-to-end B2B experience enabling cost-efficient business growth through acquisition, retention, and resurrection. The team is full-stack and cross-functional. There will be significant, challenging problems in the Backend, Frontend, Data and ML engineering spaces, and the team will have embedded collaborators from Product Management, Design, and Data Science. As part of the team, you will have direct responsibility for vital systems and processes. You will take ownership of key features and initiatives in crafting and building high-quality, scalable systems to make incentives reliable and efficient. Your work will directly impact the lives of Uber’s partners (drivers, couriers, vehicles), riders, eaters and operations teams across the globe. **What the Candidate Will Need / Bonus Points** \-\-\-\- What the Candidate Will Do ---- 1. You have knowledge of a frontend stack (some examples include: React, Node.js etc). 2. Ability to learn quickly on the go. We're looking for software engineers who thrive while learning new technologies and don't believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. You should be able to easily adapt to meet the needs of our massive growth and rapidly-evolving business environment. 3. Bias toward action. You believe that speed and quality aren't mutually exclusive. You've shown good judgment about shipping as fast as possible while ensuring your products and platforms are built in a sustainable, responsible way--and you're comfortable making mistakes, provided you learn from them. 4. Passion and energy. Because you love what you do, you bring infectious enthusiasm to all your endeavors. You always perform at your absolute best and see new challenges as an opportunity to contribute, make an impact, and grow. 5. Unquenchable thirst for growth. You're not just looking for the next interesting challenge, but looking to push yourself to keep pace in our hyper-growth environment. \-\-\-\- Basic Qualifications ---- • Masters or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or related field • 3+ years full-time Software Engineering work experience, including experience in one or more of the following areas: • Front End Programming and scripting languages • Designing end-to-end solutions and architecture by working with BE engineers \-\-\-\- Preferred Qualifications ---- 1. Delivered multiple end-to-end projects by owning FrontEnd stack and collaborating with BackEnd engineers. 2. Worked with Ux designers and PMs to understand, influence and implement customer experiences 3. Worked on enterprise grade systems built for scale and are latency and availability sensitive 4. Have a data driven approach, understand meaning and impact of KPIs - worked on extracting data from data backends using SQL-like and nosql-like syntaxes Uber's mission is to reimagine the way the world moves for the better. Here, bold ideas create real-world impact, challenges drive growth, and speed fuelds progress. What moves us, moves the world - let’s move it forward, together. Offices continue to be central to collaboration and Uber's cultural identity. Unless formally approved to work fully remotely, Uber expects employees to spend at least half of their work time in their assigned office. For certain roles, such as those based at green-light hubs, employees are expected to be in-office for 100% of their time. Please speak with your recruiter to better understand in-office expectations for this role. \*Accommodations may be available based on religious and/or medical conditions, or as required by applicable law. To request an accommodation, please reach out to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).