What Is an ATS Score & Why It Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
Most scanners give you a number. We give you direction—so humans want to talk to you.
What ATS Really Does
Applicant Tracking Systems parse your resume, index keywords, and help recruiters filter. Helpful, yes—but limited.
- 🧾 Parsing: Extracts titles, dates, employers, skills into fields.
- 🧭 Matching: Looks for role terms from the job description.
- ⚖️ Filtering: May rank candidates or route by basic rules.
Why Many “Free ATS Scans” Mislead
- 📊 Generic scoring not tied to a specific role or seniority.
- 🧩 Overweights exact keywords; ignores synonyms and outcomes.
- 🖼️ Can’t explain why parsing failed or what to change.
Result: false confidence—or unnecessary panic. See Mid-Career Resume Fixes for impact-first rewrites.
How to Read Any ATS Score (Sanely)
| Score Band | What It Means | What To Do |
|---|---|---|
| 0–49 | Parsing/structure issues; missing core terms | Move to a clean single-column layout; add target role terms in plain text |
| 50–74 | Readable but shallow match | Map bullets to outcomes using role language; add synonyms/tool clusters |
| 75–100 | Solid machine match | Sharpen human value: results, scope, and credibility markers |
ATS-Safe Formatting Checklist
- Use standard headings (Summary, Experience, Education, Skills).
- Single column; avoid text inside images, shapes, or complex tables.
- DOCX upload preferred; clean PDF exported from DOCX often OK.
- Job titles, employers, dates in plain text (MM/YYYY–MM/YYYY).
- Fonts 10.5–12pt; consistent bullet style; clear section order.
Keywords Without Stuffing
Mirror target-role language where it belongs—summary, recent roles, skills. Use clusters and synonyms honestly:
- Data: SQL • Snowflake • dbt • BI dashboards
- Product: roadmap • discovery • A/B testing • analytics
- Security: IAM • SOC2 • threat modeling • incident response
Example: From Tasky to ATS-Clean + Impact-Led
Before: “Managed multiple projects with cross-functional teams; responsible for delivery and stakeholder updates.”
After: “Shipped 2 enterprise releases in 2 quarters; 0→120k MAU. Introduced CI and release checklist, cutting lead time ~35% and defects ~40%.”
Now you have plain-text keywords and outcomes recruiters care about.
Why WisGrowth Goes Beyond a Number
- 🔎 Layered analysis: ATS hygiene + job-fit + outcome quality.
- 🧠 Role-aligned prompts: Translate your story to target language.
- 📈 3-step action plan: Fix parsing, add proof, tighten positioning.
Run the Honest ATS Resume Check to get a score and what to do next.
Your resume deserves more than a number.
Make it ATS-clean and human-compelling—so the right people call back.
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