How to read the result
Contact details are what a tracking system fills a candidate profile with first. If your email or phone is missing here, it is usually sitting in a header, a text box or an image, and a parser skips those.
Sections are found by their headings. Plain headings such as Experience, Education and Skills are the ones parsers expect. A creative heading ("My Journey") can leave a whole section unfiled.
Dated roles counts lines with a recognisable date range, such as "Jan 2021 - Present". Dates are how a parser works out tenure; a role with no readable dates can drop out of the timeline.
Layout issues are the specific things that commonly go wrong: columns, tables, text boxes, contact details in the header, skill-rating graphics, images and icons. Each one comes with the fix.
What the parser read is the raw text, in the order it came out. If two columns are interleaved there, that is what the recruiter's screen may show too.
Does a bad parse mean an automatic rejection?
Rarely on its own. Most applicant tracking systems do not reject a resume for its format; rejections usually come from knockout questions or a recruiter's quick read. What a bad parse does is garble the profile that recruiter sees, so it is worth fixing. More on what the sources say in why you're not hearing back.
There is no single "ATS score" to chase: Workday, Greenhouse, Lever and the rest each parse differently. This check shows one careful reading and the problems most of them share.
Common questions
Will an ATS read my resume PDF?
Most applicant tracking systems read a PDF fine when its text can be selected. Problems come from layout: columns read out of order, tables, text boxes and headers that get skipped, and scans or images that hold no text at all. This check shows what a parser actually gets out of your file.
Is a PDF or a Word document better for an ATS?
Either works when the text is real text in a single column. A DOCX is the safer choice when a posting asks for one, or when your PDF was exported from a design tool that draws text as shapes.
Is my resume uploaded?
No. The file is read in this browser tab and is not sent to JobShifu or anyone else. Close the tab and it is gone.
Does an ATS reject resumes automatically?
Rarely on format alone. Most rejections come from knockout questions or from a recruiter reading quickly. What a bad parse does is garble the profile a recruiter sees, which is worth fixing before you apply.
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