ATS Resume Checker: How to Score 85+ on Applicant Tracking Systems

What is an ATS resume checker?

An ATS resume checker reviews your resume against factors that commonly affect online job applications. Depending on the checker, it may look at:

• Keywords and skills related to a job description
• Section headings and resume structure
• Missing contact or employment information
• Formatting that could interfere with text extraction
• Measurable achievements
• Spelling, length, and readability
• Whether important job requirements appear in your resume

An employer’s actual applicant tracking system can do something different. Some systems mainly store applications and make them searchable. Others may help recruiters search candidates, compare qualifications, or manage screening questions.

MIT’s career guidance notes that ATS platforms can parse resume information and that some systems may provide ways to rate or compare candidates. It also recommends simple formatting, appropriate file types, and job-relevant keywords.

Use a resume checker as a diagnostic tool, not a prediction machine. It can tell you what may be missing. It cannot tell you whether a hiring manager will choose you.

Is 85 a good ATS score?

For a resume checker that scores out of 100, 85 is a sensible target. It usually means you have moved beyond the obvious problems such as missing sections, weak keyword coverage, unclear experience, or unnecessarily complicated formatting.

But the number needs context. A resume scoring 92 against a marketing job description may still be a poor application if you have never done the work the role requires. A resume scoring 78 may still belong to a strong candidate whose experience closely fits the position. Think of checker scores this way:

These ranges are a Walkin24 preparation framework, not employer ATS thresholds. If getting from 88 to 96 requires awkward keyword repetition, unnecessary sections, or claims you cannot defend in an interview, keep the 88.

The Walkin24 100-point ATS resume scorecard

Instead of asking whether your resume can “beat the ATS,” score the parts you can actually control.

This scorecard gives you a better way to think about an ATS resume checker because every point connects to something you can inspect.

1. Score your job relevance out of 25

This is where many resumes lose the most points. A generic resume may be well written and still perform poorly because it does not answer the requirements of the vacancy. Start with the job description and separate what the employer wants into four groups:

How to calculate the 25 points

If you score 14 out of 25 here, fixing the font will not solve the main problem. Fix the relevance first.

2. Score your experience and evidence out of 20

Recruiters do not only want a list of skills. They want evidence that you have used them.

In NACE’s 2026 survey of 163 employers recruiting new graduates, 85% said they wanted evidence of teamwork on candidates’ resumes, 82% looked for problem-solving skills, 78% for verbal communication and 73% for technical skills. The useful lesson is not to create a larger skills section. Show the skill inside the experience.

The result does not always need a percentage

Resume advice often pushes candidates to put a number in every bullet. That can lead to invented metrics. Do not do that. Use numbers when you know them.

Both provide more evidence than “handled SEO.” Give yourself up to 20 points:

3. Score your ATS-readable structure out of 20

A resume does not need to look boring. It does need a clear reading order. MIT advises applicants to be careful with graphics, text boxes, tables, and other formatting that may cause problems when resume content is parsed. For most online applications, a simple single-column structure is a safe starting point.

A practical order for an experienced applicant:

1. 1Name and contact information
2. 2Professional summary
3. 3Core skills
4. 4Professional experience
5. 5Education
6. 6Certifications

For a fresher:

1. 1Name and contact information
2. 2Summary
3. 3Education
4. 4Skills
5. 5Internship experience
6. 6Projects
7. 7Certifications

The order can change depending on what makes you qualified.

Use familiar section names

Keep important information in the main document

Your name, phone number, and email should be ordinary readable text. Avoid putting critical details inside graphics. Use conventional text for job titles, employer names, dates, qualifications, and skills.

Score the structure

4. Score your skills and keywords out of 15

Keywords matter. Keyword stuffing does not. The goal is to describe your actual background using terminology the employer recognises.

Harvard career guidance recommends identifying keywords and phrases from the job description and using them where they genuinely match your skills and experience. Consider a vacancy mentioning:

• Lead generation
• CRM
• Cold outreach
• Pipeline reporting
• Client communication

If you genuinely performed those tasks, use the same terminology instead of replacing every phrase with a creative synonym.

Use both the skill and the evidence

CRM | Lead qualification | Client communication | Sales reporting

Your experience should then demonstrate at least some of them. A skills section containing 35 tools with no evidence can look impressive to a checker and weak to a recruiter.

Do not add a skill just because the job description contains it

If the vacancy requires Salesforce and you have only used a different CRM, do not write Salesforce. Write the CRM you actually know. If you have studied Salesforce independently, describe that truthfully in a project or training section rather than presenting it as professional experience. Score yourself:

5. Score resume completeness out of 10

Some resumes lose points because basic information is unclear. Your contact section should normally contain your name, phone number, professional email and location. For jobs in India, city and state are usually enough for a general resume. You do not usually need your complete residential address, Aadhaar number, PAN, marital status or family details on a private-sector resume.

Your employment history should show:

• Job title
• Employer name
• Location, if useful
• Start and end dates
• Relevant responsibilities and results

Your education should clearly state the qualification, institution, and completion date or expected completion date. Freshers can also include CGPA or percentage where relevant to campus eligibility or when requested.

Don’t change dates to hide a career gap

If you left the role in March 2025, don’t stretch the role to August just to make the timeline look neater. A brief factual explanation is better:

Career break – Family responsibilities | Apr 2025 – Sep 2025

Accuracy matters more than a seamless timeline. Give yourself the 10 points only when the timeline is internally consistent.

6. Score the final file out of 10

Do not judge the resume only inside your editor. Check the actual file you will upload. MIT recommends ensuring that the resume can be saved in the file format required by the employer and that the information still displays correctly. A simple final test catches many avoidable problems:

1. 1Open the exported file.
2. 2Select the text.
3. 3Copy it.
4. 4Paste it into a plain-text editor.
5. 5Check whether the information remains in a sensible order.

Pay particular attention to your name, email, phone number, job titles, dates, education and skills. If your contact information disappears or experience appears in a strange sequence, simplify the document. Then upload it to the application portal.

If the portal automatically fills fields from your resume, inspect those fields before submitting. A successful file upload does not mean every extracted detail is correct.

Example: improving an ATS resume score from 64 to 88

Think of a hypothetical candidate for an SEO executive job. Their experience includes bullets such as “Worked on various websites on SEO,” “Keyword research,” and “Worked on web traffic.” These statements are not wrong. They are just too vague.

After comparing the resume to the target job, the candidate rewrites one entry:

• Researched commercial and informational queries for 40 landing pages with search data and competitor SERP analysis.
• Updated titles, headings, internal links, and on-page copy for 25 priority URLs.
• Tracked clicks, impressions, and query changes in Google Search Console and prepared a monthly SEO report.
• Increased non-branded organic clicks from 3,100 to 4,000 over six months after refreshing declining category pages.

The last result is fictional for this example. A real applicant should use only numbers they can verify. The candidate also removes a two-column skills sidebar, changes “What I Do Best” to “Skills,” fixes inconsistent employment dates and checks the exported PDF.

Notice what did not happen:

• The candidate did not paste the job description into the resume.
• They did not hide keywords.
• They did not add tools they had never used.
• Most of the improvement came from explaining existing experience better.

Fresher ATS checker example

Freshers often believe they cannot score well because they have little or no full-time experience. That is not necessarily the problem. The resume needs evidence from the experience you do have. Suppose a marketing fresher has completed a college SEO project:

Experienced candidate ATS checker example

An experienced resume has a different problem: too much information. A candidate with eight years of experience may have six roles, dozens of responsibilities, several tools, and old projects that no longer help the application.

Do not give every job equal space. The most recent two or three relevant positions should usually receive the most detail. An older SEO role might need only two bullets if your recent experience already demonstrates stronger technical SEO, analytics, and strategy work.

Both are useful.

Career-change ATS checker example

Career-change resumes often score poorly because the candidate changes the headline but leaves the rest of the resume written for the old career. Imagine an SEO professional moving into sales. Changing the summary to “Aspiring Sales Professional” is not enough. Look through your actual experience for transferable work:

• Client presentations
• Lead qualification
• Customer research
• CRM updates
• Commercial conversations
• Follow-ups
• Reporting
• Stakeholder communication

Seven ATS checker warnings you should take seriously

Use this final checklist before you submit:

1. 1Your target job is unclear from the resume.
2. 2Important job requirements you genuinely possess are missing.
3. 3Your skills section contains claims that your experience does not support.
4. 4Important details appear inside graphics, unusual layouts or text boxes.
5. 5Employment dates or titles are inconsistent.
6. 6Achievement numbers cannot be explained or verified.
7. 7The final exported file does not preserve the content correctly.

Fix those problems before worrying about whether your score is 87 or 91.

What not to do for a higher ATS score

Some optimisation tactics can increase a checker score while making the resume worse.

• Do not paste the job description at the bottom of the file.
• Do not hide keywords using white text.
• Do not repeat the same keyword in every bullet.
• Do not change your official job title into a more senior one.
• Do not add software you have never used.
• Do not invent percentages because quantified bullets “look better.”

A high resume checker score built on inaccurate information is useless once the interview begins.

Does resume length affect your ATS score?

Length itself is not the main question. Relevance is.

• A fresher may be able to present the important information on one page.
• An experienced candidate may need two pages.
• Someone with extensive senior experience may need more space.
• Do not remove an important achievement simply because you are trying to obey a one-page rule.

At the same time, do not keep outdated responsibilities merely because you want the resume to look substantial. The strongest resume is usually the shortest version that still communicates the evidence needed for the target role.

Does the ATS reject resumes because of graphics?

Avoid absolute claims here. Different systems handle files differently. The practical reason to prefer a simple resume is that complex formatting introduces another thing that can go wrong.

MIT advises candidates to be careful with images, text boxes, tables, and decorative elements because they may interfere with ATS processing. If you are applying for a design role, your resume can still remain simple while your portfolio demonstrates your visual work.

Should you use PDF or DOCX?

Follow the job posting. If it asks for PDF, submit PDF. If it asks for DOCX, submit DOCX. If both are allowed, use the version you have checked carefully.

The file should contain real selectable text. Do not take a screenshot of your resume and save the image as a PDF. Before submitting a PDF, try selecting your name and a few experience bullets. If you cannot select the text, investigate how the file was created. Our guide to writing an ATS-friendly resume covers formats in more detail.

Check your resume before your next application

A resume checker works best when you use it to answer a simple question: “What should I fix before I submit this resume?”

1. 1Start with relevance.
2. 2Then check the evidence behind your skills.
3. 3Clean up the structure.
4. 4Review the keywords.
5. 5Open the final file.
6. 6Read the application form before pressing submit.

When you want to check and improve your resume against the role you are targeting, use Walkin24’s ATS resume checker. Aim for 85+, but do not chase the score at the expense of accuracy. The resume still has to make sense when a recruiter reads it and when an interviewer asks you about every line.