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 Client Consulting Manager

Visa · Helsinki, FINLAND, FI

Consulting Mid-Senior Level REF072123W

Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) is the consulting arm of Visa, and drives tangible, impactful results for clients. Drawing on our expertise in consulting, data analytics, technology, payments and economics, VCA solves the most strategic problems for our clients. VCA's core client segments include issuers, acquirers, merchants, fintechs, payment enablers and governments.

As a Senior Manager, you will work within the Nordic & Baltic Consulting team, leading and delivering projects for visa clients. You will work towards the team’s goals and own the delivery of detailed data gathering, analysis, insight generation as well as the formulation of strategic and practical recommendations to enable the successful delivery of client projects.

Specific Responsibilities include

· Lead consulting initiatives and contribute to closing engagements by identifying potential opportunities with clients.

· Engage in regular strategic & planning discussions, cultivate and manage a pipeline of analytic work.

· Develop analytical frameworks, approaches, solutions and data-led strategies that address impactful opportunities and challenges.

· Partner with peers in other functional areas (e.g., marketing, products, risk, innovation) and across global regional teams to execute projects in ways that leverage the breadth and depth of Visa’s resources.

· Produce insights, analyses, and recommendations to improve client performance, boost growth, drive understanding of client issues, and provide strategic mentorship for client priorities.

· Build new scalable solutions, toolkits, standard methodology documents, and consulting approaches that can be applied across VCA practices.

· Lead team to provide knowledge sharing, coaching and training as well as across functional teams and or regions in the role as an analytics subject matter expert.

· Oversee multiple workstreams + project delivery, meeting objectives and timelines.

· Passionate, self-motivated, results oriented individual with the ability to handle numerous projects concurrently.

· Knowledge and understanding of banking operations and/or payment schemes, including products & services, business systems and processes, and marketing initiatives.

· Excellent client relationship management skills and ability to develop a credible point of view on a variety of industry topics, acting as a trusted advisor.

· Strong analytical skills, with demonstrated intellectual and analytical rigor.

· Executive presence including excellent communication and presentations skills, written and verbal, and ability to communicate at all levels within large organizations.

· Demonstrated leadership, managerial and collaboration capabilities, particularly with those who are not direct reports as may be found in a matrixed organization.

· Experience in several key payments business areas, such as portfolio management, marketing, product management, operations, risk management, for both credit and debit cards.

· Experience using financial indicators to measure business performance with a significant focus on impacting return on investment.

· Ideal candidate will have payments and consulting experience

- Finnish language is preferred

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.