Free Resume Audit

Find out why no one is buzzing about your resume.

Upload your resume and get a 100-point ATS audit in seconds. No email required. Powered by AI trained on years of professional resume writing.

years. 1,000+ resumes. One very busy hive.

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DOCX recommended · PDF accepted · up to 5MB

Why DOCX? Real ATS systems (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, Taleo) extract text from DOCX cleanly and index every word. PDF works for our audit, but for actual job applications you should always upload the DOCX. Save the PDF for print, interviews, and recruiter email follow-ups.

Your resume is analyzed and immediately deleted. Nothing is stored on our end.
We recommend uploading a copy with your name, address, phone, and email removed. The audit only needs your experience, skills, and formatting.

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Questions about resumes & ATS

How does the audit work?

Upload

Drop your PDF or DOCX. No account, no email. The worker bees start combing through it the moment it lands.

Audit

AI scans for ATS issues, keyword gaps, and impact language across 100 points. No stone unturned, no cell left unchecked.

Decide

See your score and choose a package if you want a professional rewrite. Every resume that comes through gets the full colony treatment.

Your privacy We never store, share, or sell your resume. The audit processes your file and discards it the moment your results are ready. For the free audit you don't need to tell us who you are. Submit with personal details stripped and the score will be just as accurate. What happens in the hive, stays in the hive.

How does ATS actually work?

Before any human reads your resume, an Applicant Tracking System parses, indexes, and ranks it against every other applicant. Most job seekers write for the human reader and get filtered out before any human sees them.

Parse

ATS extracts all text from your uploaded file and converts it into machine-readable data.

Index

That text is stored and catalogued inside a searchable candidate database.

A human recruiter programs keyword searches. ATS runs them across all indexed candidates simultaneously.

Rank

Candidates are ranked by keyword match and suitability. Top results reach human eyes. Everyone else does not.

What formatting is ATS-safe?

Most advice about ATS formatting is either wrong or oversimplified. Here is what the data actually shows, and where the real danger is.

✓ Perfectly Safe

Color & Styled Text

Most ATS parse color text without issue. Variation in font weight, color, and style is fine. Stripping your resume to plain black text is unnecessary and makes the human read worse, not better.

⚠ Use with Caution

Tables & Text Boxes

Some ATS merge or mangle text inside tables, but the text is still indexable. The risk is reading order. Keep critical content (job titles, dates, skills) outside of table cells.

⚠ Never as Sole Source

Charts & Visual Data

Charts stand out to humans but ATS cannot read them. Any information shown only as a graph (skill bars, a proficiency dial, a timeline) is completely invisible to the system. Always duplicate in text.

✓ Safe to Use

Icons & Symbols

ATS strips decorative icons and symbols, but the surrounding text content survives intact. Icons draw human attention to key information. Use them, just never as the only carrier of critical data.

✗ The Single Biggest Killer

Multi-Column Layouts

This is where the most resumes die. ATS reads across the full page width from left to right, not column by column. A two-column resume becomes a garbled mix of both columns interleaved. Skills listed in your right column may never be indexed at all. Our audit checks for this specifically because it is the most common reason qualified candidates are filtered out before a human ever sees them.

What keywords does ATS actually search for?

Keywords are configured by human recruiters based on the job posting. Your job is to predict them and mirror their exact phrasing back.

Phrases, not just single words

"Project Management" and "B2B Sales" outrank "projects" and "sales." ATS searches for exact multi-word phrases. Include them exactly as written in the posting, not a paraphrase of them.

Industry-specific terms

ATS is configured for the specific role, not the category. Generic terms rank lower than the exact terminology used in that industry. Match the employer's language precisely, not the closest synonym.

Job titles & qualifications

Previous titles, certifications, and degrees carry the highest keyword weight. Include your exact official title as held, and certifications in both full and abbreviated form: "Project Management Professional (PMP)."

Action verbs that signal level

ATS determines competency characteristics from verbs. "Led," "built," "managed," and "delivered" signal seniority. "Assisted" and "supported" signal junior. Match the seniority language to the role you are targeting.

Spelling must match exactly

If the job ad says "B2B," write "B2B," not "b2b" or "business-to-business." If it says "Agile," write "Agile." ATS is not smart enough to know these are the same thing. Exact spelling, every time.

How do I maximize my ATS score?

years of submissions show exactly what separates candidates who get through from candidates who disappear into the stack.

Read the job ad three times, then read it again

The recruiter configured the ATS based on this exact posting. Every repeated term is a keyword signal. Every listed qualification is something the system is programmed to find.

Mirror exact phrasing, never paraphrase what you can quote

"Client Relationship Management" and "CRM" are two different search terms. If the posting uses both, use both. The ATS was configured with the employer's language. Give it back verbatim.

Include target keywords more than once, in context

Keyword frequency affects ranking. Place your most important keywords in your summary, in your experience bullets, and in your skills section. Natural repetition in context, not keyword stuffing.

Submit in .docx format when possible

PDF is widely supported but .docx is the native format most ATS systems parse most accurately. When the posting does not specify a format, .docx is the safer default. Always follow explicit employer instructions first.

Balance ATS optimization with human readability

A human recruiter programs the ATS keywords. A human recruiter reads your resume after it passes. A resume that wins the machine stage but reads like a keyword list loses at the human stage. Both matter equally.

Does ATS make hiring decisions?

The ATS does not make hiring decisions. Humans do, at both ends.

A human recruiter decides which keywords the ATS searches for. A human recruiter reads your resume once it passes. Anyone claiming it is easy to game a wide array of ATS systems should be listened to with extreme caution. Genuine keyword alignment with the job posting, written in readable and well-structured prose, is the only strategy that survives both stages.

Which resume level applies to me?

Your career stage determines which keywords carry the most weight and how your experience should be framed. Getting this wrong signals misalignment before a human ever reads your name.

Entry Level

Graduate

Up to 1 year total experience

Emphasize education, internships, relevant coursework, and transferable skills. Keywords should mirror the entry-level requirements in the posting. Avoid senior-level language as it reads as misalignment.

Early Career

Junior

Up to 5 years total experience

Focus on recent roles and measurable growth. Keywords signal individual contribution and learning velocity. Start quantifying results. Numbers outperform adjectives at every ATS level.

Mid Career

Intermediate

Over 5 years total experience

Accomplishments over responsibilities. Keywords signal leadership, ownership, and cross-functional influence. ATS weight shifts from what you did to what you actually delivered.

Senior

Senior / Executive

All work experience relevant

Strategy, scope, and business impact. Keywords shift to P&L ownership, team size, executive stakeholders, and organizational transformation. The ATS is looking for scale. Give it scale.

100 SEO 100 Security 100 Performance Accessibility 100 Best Practices

Audited May 2026Site enhanced by droptimize.org →

Last step · optional

Add the job posting (optional)

Have a specific job in mind? Paste the description or upload it as a Word (.docx) file and we'll score how well your resume matches it. No posting? Skip it and get your full ATS audit anyway.

Scanning your resume...

The hive is on it. Combing through every line: ATS compatibility, keywords, impact language, and structure.

ATS Compatibility
Keyword Density
Impact Language
Structure & Completeness

Working through the rubric...

Elapsed 0:00

PDFs take longer because we extract text exactly the way ATS systems do. If you have a DOCX of this resume, it scores in about a third of the time, and it's also what you should be sending to real employers.

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The free audit is running hot right now. Please try again in a little while, capacity resets daily.

Your Resume Audit

resume.pdf Scored May 16, 2026

61 / 100

Getting There

ATS Compatibility 14 / 25

Keyword Density 16 / 25

Impact Language 18 / 25

Structure & Completeness 13 / 25

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ATS audit and score
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What We Found

ATS Compatibility

Column layout detected. Most ATS parsers read left to right and will skip your right column.

Contact info missing from page 2 header. Some parsers lose it on multi-page splits.

Keyword Density

Missing high-value terms for your industry: "project management," "cross-functional," "stakeholder alignment"

Skills section uses broad terms. Be specific: "Python 3.11" not "Python," "AWS EC2/S3" not "cloud"

Impact Language

7 bullet points start with a weak verb (worked, helped, assisted). Replace with led, drove, reduced, grew.

Only 2 of 18 bullets include a quantified result. Add metrics: revenue, time saved, team size, percentage.

Structure & Completeness

No professional summary or executive profile. Recruiters spend an average of 6 seconds on first scan.

Education appears before experience. Standard for professionals with 5+ years is experience first.

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Your Resume Audit

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What We Found

Job Match Analysis

What Employers Ask For