How ATS scoring works
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) parse your resume into structured fields — name, email, employer, dates, skills — then store the result in a searchable database. Recruiters filter on those fields. If the parser can't extract a section reliably, your resume effectively doesn't have that section, no matter how nicely it looks on screen.
This tool checks the most common parsing failure modes:
- Contact information — email and phone present and parseable.
- Standard section headings — "Experience", "Education", "Skills" are recognised; "About Me", "Where I've Been" usually aren't.
- Real text vs. images — flattened image PDFs from Canva / Figma score zero with most ATS engines.
- Action verbs and quantified results — bullets that start with verbs ("Built", "Led", "Reduced") and include numbers ("by 30%", "$1.2M") rank higher in keyword search.
- Length — one to two pages for most roles; three is acceptable for senior / academic.
- File format — PDFs and DOCX both work in 2025; legacy .doc and image-only PDFs frequently fail.
Grammar & style
The grammar tab uses LanguageTool's free public API (US English) for live checks, with a local fallback if the API is unreachable. Suggestions are advisory — your industry context matters more than the model thinks.
Privacy
The PDF/DOCX is read locally inside your browser tab — neither the file nor its extracted text is uploaded to any server. The extracted plain text is briefly sent to LanguageTool only when you open the Grammar tab, and only the text, never the file. To disable that round-trip, switch the grammar mode to "local only" using the toggle on the Grammar tab.
FAQ
Will this give me the same score as the ATS at company X?
No — every ATS (Workday, Greenhouse, Taleo, Lever, etc.) parses slightly differently. This tool reflects rules they all share. If you score 80+ here, you'll likely parse well in any of them.
Why does my Canva resume score badly?
Canva exports flatten text into image layers in many templates. Re-export with the "Add downloadable text" / "PDF Standard" option, or paste the content into Google Docs and export from there.
Can I check multiple resumes at once?
Not in this version. Refresh the page or drop a new file when you're ready for the next.
Is the .doc (Word 97–2003) format supported?
Not in the browser — its binary format isn't readable in JavaScript. Save as .docx or PDF.