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 .

Director, Data Solution Engagement

Visa · Shanghai, CHINA, CN

Other Director REF072404W

Team Summary

Data Science team is a key part of decision management engine at Visa; this is a high-performing team of data scientists, data analysts, statisticians, and business analysts from a variety of countries – serving major FIs and merchants in Asia Pacific. Analytics & Data Products is looking for a hands-on person that earns trust and respect of the team. The person must be results oriented, highly organized, and must, must be focused on delivering innovative analytics work.

What a Director Data Solution Engagement does at Visa:

The Director will be working together with other members in the team to design and deliver projects with the appropriate analytic methodologies and techniques to solve client’s business objectives. The team closely collaborates with business stakeholders to understand the business problem in order to determine the most appropriate analytic approach that provides meaningful results to clients. Responsibilities include delivering projects on time and within scope with an in-depth knowledge of data analytics and cutting-edge data mining techniques as well as the use of predictive, classification and alternate analytic algorithms for modeling and segmentation. These analyses are foundational to corroborate or refute stated hypotheses and are incorporated in the final client-facing solutions. The team is responsible for continuously creating and protecting analytic IP resulting from project learning.

Responsibilities

  • Directing the execution of medium to large analytic projects along with rest of the stakeholders in both internal and external
  • Collaborating with the different teams to fully understand business requirements and desired business outcomes
  • Defining detailed analytic scope and methodology, and creating analytic plan
  • Executing on the analytic plan with appropriate data mining and analytic techniques
  • Performing QA on data and deliverables by analysts and own deliverables
  • Ensuring all project documentation is up to date and all projects are reviewed per analytic plan
  • Ensuring project delivery within timelines and budget requirements
  • Building on team’s analytical skills and business knowledge
  • Work as independent contributor mostly and as a team lead if needed by providing guidance to other team members where needed
  • Enhancing existing analytic techniques by promoting new methodology and best practices in analytics field
  • Providing subject matter expertise and quality assurance of complex data driven analytic projects

What you will need:

Business

  • Results oriented with strong analytical and problem solving skills, with demonstrated intellectual and analytical rigor
  • Good business acumen with strong ability to solve business problems through data driven quantitative methodologies. Experience in payment, retail banking, or retail merchant industries is preferred
  • Understanding of Cards/Payments and Banking business model would be a plus
  • Team oriented, collaborative, diplomatic, and flexible style, with the ability to tailor data driven results to various audience levels
  • Detailed oriented, is expected to ensure highest level of quality/rigor in reports & data analysis
  • Proven skills in translating analytics output to actionable recommendations, and delivery
  • Experience in presenting ideas and analysis to stakeholders
  • Exhibit intellectual curiosity and strive to continually learn
  • Proficient in Chinese( Cantonese / Mandarin) language

Technical

  • Minimum of 5-10 years of analytical experience in applying statistical solutions to business problems
  • Quantitative field such as Statistics, Mathematics, Operational Research, Computer Science, Economics, or engineering or equivalent experience preferred
  • Hands on experience with one or more data analytics/programming tools such as /Hadoop/SQL/Python/Hive
  • Proficiency in some of the following statistical techniques: Linear & Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Random Forests, K-Nearest Neighbors, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Gibbs Sampling etc., Evolutionary Algorithms(e.g. Genetic Algorithms, Genetic Programming), Support Vector Machines, Neural Networks etc.
  • Working knowledge in advanced data mining and modeling: Predictive modeling techniques (e.g., binomial and multinomial regression, ANOVA); Classification techniques (e.g., Clustering, Principal Component Analysis, factor analysis); Decision Tree techniques (e.g., CART, CHAID)
  • Demonstrated experience in planning, organizing, and managing multiple analytic projects with diverse cross-functional stakeholders
  • Demonstrated ability to innovate solutions to solve business problems

Visa is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.