Value Engine
Analysis Tool+ Job Match

ATS Resume Checker

Is my resume ATS-friendly for this job?

Over 75% of resumes are rejected by ATS before a human sees them.Check your resume + compare it against a job description.

Paste Your Resume

0 words

Analyzed locally in your browser. Your data never leaves your device.

ATS Compatibility Score

Paste your resume to begin analysis

Switch to the "Your Resume" tab

This information is for general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and are subject to change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice regarding your specific situation.

Recommended Next Steps

Continue your journey with these related tools

Cover Letter Builder

Create a professional cover letter tailored to your target role.

Interview Follow-Up

Write professional follow-up emails after interviews.

Resume Builder

Build an ATS-friendly, professional resume in minutes.

ATS Optimization Checklist

Contact Info in Body

Put name, email, phone in the main document body—not in headers/footers (ATS may skip those).

Standard Section Names

"Experience" not "Where I've Worked." "Skills" not "What I Bring." Keep it standard.

Mirror the Job Posting

Use exact phrases from the job description. "Project Management" not "PM."

No Tables or Columns

Multi-column layouts break ATS parsing. Use single column with clear line breaks.

Quantify Everything

"Increased revenue 35%" beats "significantly increased revenue" for both ATS and humans.

Save as .docx

Word format is most reliable. If PDF, ensure it's text-based (not image scan).

The Invisible Resume: Decoding the Machine

Key Insights & Concepts

You are writing two resumes at once. One is for a human (Visual). The other is for a robot (Structural). If the robot can't read it, the human will never see it.

98% of Fortune 500 companies use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). It is not AI judgment; it is a **database query**. If your resume is a PDF image or formatted with invisible tables, the query returns "Null", and you are auto-rejected.

The Parser's Reality: What They See vs. What You See

The Human View (PDF)
Senior Developer2019 - Present
Google | New York, NY
• Led team of 5 engineers
• Increased latency by 50%
• Skills: React, Node
• Award: MVP 2023

Looks beautiful to a human eye.

The ATS View (Parsed Text)

ROLE: Senior Developer 2019 Present Google New York NY

ERROR: Column_Break_Detected. Text_Flow_Interrupted.

BODY: Led team of 5 engineers Skills: React, Node Increased latency by 50% Award: MVP 2023

WARNING: Date ranges ambiguous. Company name not linked to job title.

Columns merged lines. Context lost.

The Header Dictionary

Creativity in header names kills parsing. If you label your "Work History" as "My Journey," the ATS assigns zero years of work experience to your profile. Use standard keys.

Section Use These (Safe) Avoid These (Unsafe)
ExperienceWork Experience, Professional Experience, Employment HistoryProfessional Journey, Career Arc, My Background, Where I've Been
EducationEducation, Academic BackgroundScholastic Achievements, University Days, Learned Knowledge
SkillsSkills, Technical Skills, Core Competencies, TechnologiesTech Stack, My Toolkit, Capabilities, What I Do
SummaryProfessional Summary, Executive Summary, ProfileAbout Me, Bio, Intro, Objective (Avoid objectives entirely)

The File Format Matrix

.DOCX (Word)

The Gold Standard. 99.9% parse rate. It retains structure while being easily machine-readable. Always upload a .docx unless explicitly told otherwise.

.PDF (Text)

Acceptable but Risky. Modern ATS handle simple text PDFs well. But complex vector PDFs (from Canva/Figma) often crash parsers. Verify text selectability.

.PNG / .JPG

The Death Sentence. An image is a blank page to an ATS. Unless the system has advanced OCR (rare), your application is empty. Never submit an image.

Keyword Density: "Stuffing" vs. "Context"

"Keyword Stuffing" (hiding 'SEO' 50 times in white text) gets you banned. "Keyword Context" gets you hired.

The Spam Approach
"I am great at Python. Python is my favorite language. I use Python for data science. Python, Python, Python, SQL, SQL."

Result: Flagged as spam/manipulation.

The Context Approach
"Developed automated data pipelines using Python and pandas libraries, reducing processing time by 40% for SQL databases."

Result: High relevance score + Proof of skill.

Frequently Asked Questions

Absolutely not. This is an outdated trick from 2010. Modern ATS systems highlight hidden text in a specific 'Manipulation Warning' color to the recruiter. It is an immediate rejection and can get you blacklisted from the company database.
Often, no. Many older parsers strip headers/footers to avoid processing logo images or page numbers repeatedly. Always put your Name, Email, and Phone at the very top of the *main document body*, not in the document header tool.
No. Functional resumes (focusing on skills, hiding dates) are nightmare fuel for parsers. The ATS expects a chronological link between [Job Title] + [Company] + [Dates]. If you break this link, the system assumes you have zero years of experience.
For the US market: No. Photos can trigger anti-discrimination filters that auto-reject the application to protect the company from bias lawsuits. Graphics (skill bars, proficiency charts) are unreadable images to the parser.
To the robot? No. It can read 100 pages in a microsecond. To the human? Yes. If you pass the robot, a human spends 6 seconds scanning. Stick to 1-2 pages maximum unless you are an academic (CV) or executive (15+ years).
Stick to the classics. Sans-serif: Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Roboto, Open Sans. Serif: Times New Roman, Georgia, Garamond. Avoid 'creative' fonts or thin weights that might fail OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
Format them as a job. 'Career Sabbatical' or 'Independent Study' with dates. This keeps the chronological timeline intact for the parser so it doesn't return an error for 'Time accounting mismatch'.
Single column is safest. Two columns *can* work if using a modern parser, but it's a gamble. If the parser reads left-to-right across the whole page, it will merge your 'Skills' column into your 'Experience' bullets, creating gibberish.
No. They are outdated. Use a 'Professional Summary' instead (3-4 lines). An Objective says what you want; a Summary says what you offer. The ATS searches the Summary for high-value keywords immediately.
Name_Surname_JobTitle_Resume.pdf. Do not use 'Resume_Final_V3_EDIT.pdf'. The filename is often the first thing a recruiter sees in the system list view.