How ATS Scoring Actually Works (and How to Beat It)

What is an ATS?

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are software that recruiters use to filter, rank, and organize incoming resumes. Over 90% of large companies use one, which means your resume often has to pass a robot before it ever reaches a human.

What they actually score

1. Keyword match — how many required skills and job-title synonyms appear in your resume.
2. Section structure — clean headers like *Experience*, *Education*, *Skills* parse better than creative labels.
3. File format — plain PDF or DOCX with selectable text. Never image-based PDFs.
4. Job title alignment — recent titles that resemble the target role rank higher.

What they ignore

• Fancy fonts, colors, tables, and graphics — most parsers strip them.
• Two-column layouts often scramble the parse order.
• Icons and images embedded as decoration.

Beating the system

• Mirror the exact keywords from the job description (where honestly applicable).
• Use a single-column layout with standard section headers.
• Quantify results — numbers survive parsing and convince humans.
• Run your CV through an ATS analyzer before submitting.

Our ATS analyzer scores your CV against a target role and tells you exactly what to change. Upload yours and see your score in seconds.