An applicant tracking system (ATS) is the software most mid-size and large companies use to collect applications. It turns your resume into plain text, sorts it into fields such as experience and education, and ranks it against the job by how many of the required keywords it finds. Recruiters usually read only the top of that list.
Every employer's ATS is set up differently, so no tool can tell you the exact score a company will see. This checker follows the rules most of them share, and the habits recruiters look for once your resume reaches a person.
What the score is made of
- Job description match (35 points). The skills and repeated terms in the job post, and how many of them appear in your resume. Without a job description, the other four parts share these points.
- Sections (20 points). Headings an ATS recognises, such as Experience, Education, Skills and Projects.
- Achievements and wording (20 points). Points that start with an action word and include a number, no filler phrases, and no personal details the employer does not need.
- Contact details (10 points). An email address, a phone number and a profile link, in plain text.
- Length and readability (15 points). A sensible length, and text that comes through cleanly, without icons, junk characters or spaced-out headings.
What the score means
80 or more means your resume is easy for an ATS to read and matches the job well. Between 60 and 79 it will be read correctly, but a few changes would move it up the list. Below 60, fix the red items first: missing sections, contact details or keywords cost the most.
How to raise your score
- Copy the exact skill names from the job description into your skills section and into the points where you used them, but only skills you really have. Interviewers ask about them.
- Use a single-column layout. Tables, text boxes and two-column designs are often read out of order.
- Save your resume as a PDF exported from Word, Google Docs or a resume builder. A scanned or photographed resume has no text an ATS can read.
- Keep your contact details in the body of the page, not in the header or footer, which some systems skip.
- Make a copy of your resume for each kind of role and check it against that job description before you apply.
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Is my resume stored?
No. An uploaded file is read once to get its text and deleted at once, even if it could not be read. The text, the job description and your score exist only in your open browser tab, and are gone when you close it or press Start over.