Resume score.

A score of 70% or higher typically passes ATS screening. Scores above 80% are competitive. Below 60% means your resume is missing critical keywords from the job description. Focus on matching exact phrases the employer uses.

ATS systems parse your resume into structured fields (name, experience, skills, education) and match keywords against the job description. They rank candidates by match percentage. Simple formatting, standard section headings, and relevant keywords improve your parse rate.

Common failures: tables and columns that break parsing, images or graphics the system cannot read, creative section headings it does not recognize, missing keywords from the job description, and file formats other than PDF or DOCX.

Yes. Tailoring your resume to match each job description increases your ATS score by 20 to 40 percentage points on average. Focus on the specific skills, tools, and qualifications mentioned in the posting. Use the same terminology the employer uses.

Include 15 to 25 relevant keywords from the job description. Place them naturally in your experience bullets and skills section. Keyword stuffing hurts readability and some ATS systems penalize it. Quality placement matters more than quantity.