01
Submission
You apply through a careers portal or a job board. The file and the form fields you filled in are both sent to the employer’s tracking system.
Free ATS resume checker
Check your resume against the job ad before you apply
See what an applicant tracking system does with your file — formatting, structure, keyword coverage and measurable results — scored against the specific advertisement, not a generic template.
72/100
Formatting94
Keyword coverage51
Interface preview. Nothing is uploaded or analysed yet — dropping a file shows its name only. The report below is a fixed sample, clearly marked, so you can review the layout end to end.
Your resume
PDF or DOCXThe job ad
Paste the full listing
Include the responsibilities and the “what you'll need” section — that's where the terms worth matching live.
Step 2 of 2 — add the job ad, then analyse
Ready
Report export opens with accounts
Guide
What is an ATS resume checker?
A plain explanation of what these tools measure, what they cannot see, and how much weight to give the number.
The short definition
An ATS resume checker compares your resume against a specific job advertisement and reports how readable and how well matched it is. It does two separate jobs: a technical check on whether the file parses cleanly, and a language check on how much of the employer’s own vocabulary appears in your document.
Both matter, but for different reasons. A file that parses badly may never reach a recruiter’s search results at all. A file that parses perfectly but describes the same work in different words will reach the database and then never surface for the searches recruiters actually run.
What a checker measures
The technical half is objective. Does the text extract in the right reading order? Are your name, email and phone found in the body rather than a page header? Do the section headings match labels parsers recognise? Are the dates in a consistent format that reads as a continuous history? These have right answers, and fixing them takes minutes.
The language half is comparative. The checker extracts terms from the advertisement — job title, tools, methods, qualifications — and reports which appear in your resume and which do not. It is a coverage report, not a verdict on whether you are qualified.
What it cannot measure
No checker can tell whether your experience is genuinely relevant, whether a career gap needs explaining, or whether your strongest achievement is buried on page two. It cannot judge tone, and it cannot tell that the phrase you matched describes something you did once, briefly, five years ago.
It also cannot see the parts of hiring that decide most outcomes: internal candidates, referrals, timing, and whether the role is genuinely open. A high score is a removed obstacle, not a prediction.
Is it worth running?
For any application you actually care about, yes — because the formatting problems it catches are invisible from your side. A resume can look immaculate on screen and arrive in a database with your job titles scrambled, and you would never know. That check costs a minute.
The keyword half is worth taking seriously and not literally. Match the advertisement’s language wherever it honestly describes your work. Where it does not, leave it alone — a term you cannot defend in an interview is worse than a missing one.
How it works
What happens to your resume after you press submit
Six stages, in order. Only the last one involves a person reading your document.
02
Parsing
The system extracts text from the file and guesses which chunks are your name, employers, titles and dates. Reading order matters more than visual layout here.
03
Field mapping
Extracted values are written into structured database fields — one row per candidate, searchable by title, skill, location and dates.
04
Search and filter
A recruiter searches the database rather than reading every application. Your record either appears in their results or it does not.
05
Ranking
Some systems order results by how closely a record matches the requisition. This is a sort, not a rejection — everyone stays in the database.
06
Human review
A person opens the shortlisted files and reads the first third of page one. This is where the actual decision is made.
Systems differ in detail, and most employers configure them differently. This is the shape common to nearly all of them.
Score breakdown
The eight things we check
Scores shown are from the example report above. Formatting and structure are within your control; keyword coverage depends on the specific advertisement.
94 / 100
Formatting
Whether the file survives text extraction: reading order, columns, tables, embedded images and font encoding.
- What lifts itSingle column, no text inside graphics, no tables holding job history.
51 / 100
Keywords
How much of the advertisement’s own vocabulary appears in your resume — the score most people are losing points on.
- What lifts itMatch their wording where it honestly describes your work. Never pad with terms you cannot defend.
63 / 100
Skills
Whether the specific tools, methods and qualifications named as requirements appear anywhere in your document.
- What lifts itList the tools by their real names. “Microsoft Excel” and “advanced spreadsheets” are not the same search.
88 / 100
Readability
Sentence length, bullet density and how quickly a human can extract your value from the first third of page one.
- What lifts itOne idea per bullet, verb first, number last. Cut anything over two lines.
100 / 100
Contact information
Whether name, email, phone and location were found in the document body and parsed into the right fields.
- What lifts itKeep them in the body. Header and footer regions are frequently skipped entirely.
88 / 100
Sections
Whether standard headings are present and recognised, and whether anything expected is missing.
- What lifts itUse Summary, Experience, Education and Skills. Invented headings map to nothing.
92 / 100
Education
Whether qualifications, institutions and dates parse into a structured record.
- What lifts itOne qualification per line, with the institution and year in a consistent format.
63 / 100
Experience
Whether roles, employers and date ranges form a continuous history, and how many bullets carry a measurable result.
- What lifts itEvery role needs a title, employer and date range. Aim for a number in most bullets.
Common mistakes
Twelve things that break an ATS read
Every one is invisible from the writer’s side, and every one takes minutes to fix.
- Problem: Your name is inside a header graphicA designed banner containing your name is invisible to a parser, so the record arrives with no candidate name at all.
- SolutionKeep every word as selectable text. Design with typography and spacing, never with a picture of type.
- Problem: Contact details sit in the page headerMany parsers skip header and footer regions entirely, so your email never reaches the database.
- SolutionMove name, email, phone and location into the first lines of the document body.
- Problem: Job history is inside a tableTables are frequently flattened into a single unreadable line, or dropped completely depending on the system.
- SolutionUse plain paragraphs and bullet lists. Alignment can be achieved with spacing rather than table cells.
- Problem: Two columns hold the main contentSome parsers read straight across the page, interleaving your skills list with your employment dates.
- SolutionUse a single column for anything a recruiter needs to read. Keep a designed version for humans who see it first.
- Problem: Invented section headings“My journey” and “What I bring” map to no recognised field, so those sections are read as body text.
- SolutionUse Summary, Experience, Education and Skills — the labels every parser already knows.
- Problem: Dates in three different formatsInconsistent formats break the continuous-history calculation, which can make a steady career look fragmented.
- SolutionPick one format and use it everywhere. Month and year is enough; be consistent about which.
- Problem: Job titles that do not match the marketAn internal title like “Growth Ninja” matches no recruiter search, however accurate it felt inside the company.
- SolutionUse the recognised title, with the internal one in brackets if it matters. Match the advertisement where honest.
- Problem: Keyword stuffing or white textHidden terms are detected by modern systems and read as dishonest by the person who opens the file afterwards.
- SolutionMatch language only where it describes work you actually did. A term you cannot defend is worse than a missing one.
- Problem: Skills listed only as a wall of nounsA comma-separated block of forty skills dilutes every one of them and proves nothing.
- SolutionName the important ones and show them inside achievements, where context makes them credible.
- Problem: No numbers in any bulletWithout scale, a reader cannot tell whether you led two people or two hundred, or moved a metric at all.
- SolutionAdd scale, timeframe or outcome to most bullets. Team size and volume count when growth data is not yours to share.
- Problem: Uncommon fonts or a scanned PDFUnusual encodings garble on extraction, and a scanned image contains no text whatsoever.
- SolutionExport a text-based PDF from a standard typeface. Never scan or photograph a printed resume.
- Problem: One resume sent to every advertisementEmployers use different words for similar roles, so a generic file matches none of their searches well.
- SolutionChange the target title and two or three skill terms per application. It is the highest-value edit available.
Step by step
How to improve your ATS score
Six steps in the order that saves the most time. The first two do most of the work.
Fix the file before the words
Run the checker once with no changes. Formatting and contact-information scores are objective and usually take under ten minutes to bring above 90. Do these first — there is no point tuning language in a file that parses badly.
Match the job title exactly
If the advertisement says “Product Manager” and your resume says “Product Lead”, add the recognised title. This single edit moves keyword coverage more than any other.
Pull the requirements list apart
Copy the “what you’ll need” section into a list. Mark each item as: I have this and it is on my resume, I have this and it is missing, or I do not have this. Only the middle group needs work.
Put missing terms where they belong
Add them inside an achievement, not to a skills wall. “Ran quarterly forecasting in Excel and Looker” is credible; a comma in a list is not.
Add a number to weak bullets
Any bullet without scale, timeframe or outcome is a duty. Aim for a figure in most of them — team size and volume count.
Re-run and stop at good enough
Above 85 on formatting, structure and contact information every time. Keyword coverage varies by how well you fit the role, and chasing 100 means overstating something.
A score is not a prediction. It tells you your resume is likely to be read, not that it will win. Screening decisions are made by people weighing experience, timing and internal candidates — see the disclaimer.
Benefits
Why use the Sicurs ATS checker
Scored against the actual advertisement
Generic checkers grade you against a template. This one compares your file with the specific job ad, which is the only comparison that changes what you should edit.
Nothing is uploaded or stored
Checks run in your browser. Your resume, your employment history and the job you are applying for never leave the page.
Plain-English findings
Every check says what is wrong and what to do about it. No score without a reason, and no jargon you have to look up.
Built on the same structure as the builder
Fixes you make flow straight into the resume builder, which already produces the layout the checker rewards.
Works for US, UK, CA, AU and EU conventions
No photo, no date of birth, reverse chronological order — the conventions those markets share, with warnings where local practice differs.
Free, with no account
No sign-up, no credit card and no email wall in front of the result. Report export is the only thing that needs an account.
Who it is for
Who should use this tool
Six situations, each with a different first move.
Students
The situation: Applying to graduate schemes that run everything through a portal.
Where to start: Check formatting first — with a short history, a parsing error removes most of what you have.
Graduates
The situation: Competing against everyone in your year with a similar degree.
Where to start: Coverage is where you win. Match the tools and methods named in the ad, using your project work as evidence.
Professionals
The situation: Sending the same file to every opening and wondering why it goes quiet.
Where to start: Run each application separately. The score difference between two ads for the same title is often twenty points.
Executives
The situation: Senior roles are often filled by search, but portals still gate the applications.
Where to start: Check that scope and outcomes parse. Two pages, impact first, everything older than a decade on one line.
Freelancers
The situation: Twelve clients in three years confuses a system expecting one employer per date range.
Where to start: Group under a single practice entry so the history parses as continuous rather than fragmented.
Career changers
The situation: Your experience is relevant; the vocabulary belongs to a different industry.
Where to start: Coverage will start low, and that is the point. Use the missing-terms list as a translation checklist.
Reading the score
What the four numbers mean
Formatting
Whether the file survives extraction: reading order, fonts, columns, tables and images.
Section structure
Whether standard headings exist and dates parse into a continuous history.
Keyword coverage
How much of the ad's own language appears in your resume — the number most people are missing.
Measurable results
The share of bullets carrying a number, a scale or a timeframe rather than a duty.
Frequently asked questions
No. Hidden keyword stuffing is detected by most modern systems and reads as dishonest to the human who sees the file afterwards. Match the ad's language only where it describes work you've actually done.
Above 85 on formatting, structure and contact information every time, because those are entirely within your control. Keyword coverage varies with how closely your background fits the role, and pushing it to 100 usually means claiming something you cannot defend.
Yes. Checking is free with no account and no card. Downloading the report as a file is the only part that opens with an account.
No. In this build nothing leaves your browser — dropping a file shows its name only. When analysis ships it will run locally, and anything stored will be opt-in and covered by the privacy policy.
PDF, DOCX and plain text. Export a text-based PDF rather than scanning a printed page — a scan contains no extractable text at all.
No. It means your resume is likely to be read rather than lost in a database. Screening decisions are made by people weighing experience, timing and internal candidates.
Rarely, despite what most advice implies. In common configurations they sort and filter rather than reject. The realistic risk is a parsing error that keeps you out of a recruiter’s search results.
Yes, where they honestly describe work you have done — recruiters search the database using the advertisement’s own words. Never add a term you could not discuss in an interview.
No. Hidden white text and skill walls are detected by modern systems, and they read as dishonest to the person who opens the file afterwards. The downside is far larger than the upside.
It is a risk you cannot measure in advance. Some parsers read straight across the page and scramble the order. Use a single column when applying through a portal; keep the designed version for a human.
Not for the US, UK, Canada or Australia, where it raises discrimination concerns and is often stripped. Parts of Europe still expect one — check the convention where you are applying.
Once per application you care about. Two advertisements for the same job title routinely produce scores twenty points apart, because they use different words.
Yes. The checks reflect conventions shared across the US, UK, Canada, Australia and much of Europe: reverse chronological order, no photo, no date of birth, standard section headings.
Above 85 on formatting and structure every time — those are within your control. Keyword coverage varies by how closely your background fits, and chasing 100 usually means bending the truth.
It means your resume is likely to be read, not that it will win. Screening decisions are made by people weighing experience, timing and internal candidates — see the disclaimer.
Related career tools
Check Your Resume Before You Apply
One minute of checking removes the formatting problems you cannot see from your side.