RT
Resume Thrive Editorial Team
Certified Resume Writers & Career Coaches · June 2025
You've applied to dozens of jobs. Tailored your cover letter. Hit send with confidence. And then you wait. And wait. No response. No rejection. Just silence.
The frustrating reality is that your resume may never have been read by a human being. In most cases, the first thing that judges your application isn't a recruiter — it's a piece of software called an Applicant Tracking System. Understanding how ATS works and how it scores your resume is one of the most important things any job seeker can do in 2025.
75%
Resumes auto-rejected
What Is an ATS?
ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System. It's software that employers use to collect, organise, and filter job applications automatically. When you submit an application online — through LinkedIn, Indeed, or a company careers page — your resume goes into an ATS before any human sees it.
The system was designed to handle volume. Large organisations receive thousands of applications for a single role. ATS automates the first round of filtering so recruiters only review candidates most likely to be a good match. The problem: qualified, experienced candidates are routinely eliminated before any human ever has the chance to evaluate them.
Key Fact
Over 98% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS software. If you're applying for jobs at any established company in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, your resume is almost certainly being processed by ATS before a human sees it.
The Most Common ATS Platforms
Not all ATS systems work exactly the same way, but the fundamentals are consistent. These are the six platforms you'll encounter most often across the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand:
Enterprise Workday
Used by hundreds of large corporations in finance, healthcare & tech globally.
Tech / Startup Greenhouse
Popular with fast-growing tech companies and startups in the US and UK.
Mid-market Lever
Commonly used by mid-sized technology companies worldwide.
Large enterprise Taleo
One of the oldest and most widely used — especially at legacy organisations and government agencies.
North America iCIMS
Heavily used by large enterprises across North America and Europe.
Growing fast SmartRecruiters
Increasingly common among mid-market companies globally.
How ATS Actually Works — 3 Steps
When your resume enters an ATS, the system does three things: it parses your document, it scores your application, and it ranks you against other candidates.
01
Parsing — Reading your resume
The system breaks your document into sections and extracts data. This is where design-heavy resumes fail. Tables, columns, and text boxes cause the parser to scramble or skip your content entirely. A beautifully designed resume often arrives as unreadable garbled data inside the ATS.
02
Keyword Scoring — Matching your content
The ATS compares your resume against the job description word by word and calculates a match score. It matches words — not meaning. "Managing projects" and "project management" may score as zero match even though the experience is identical.
03
Ranking — Deciding who gets seen
After scoring all applications, the ATS ranks candidates by match percentage. Most hiring managers only review above 70–80%. Everyone below gets automatically archived — often with no notification whatsoever. This is why so many qualified candidates receive complete silence.
"The ATS doesn't understand context. It recognises patterns. 'Managing projects' and 'project management' may score as zero match — even though the experience is identical."
How ATS Keyword Matching Works
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Upload your resume and get an instant ATS compatibility score. Free, no sign-up, 60 seconds.
Get Free Score → What Affects Your ATS Score?
Your score is calculated across several factors. Keyword match rate is the most heavily weighted, but placement, file format, and section headings all play a role:
The percentage of required skills and qualifications from the job description that appear in your resume. The single most heavily weighted factor in almost every ATS platform.
Fix: Highlight every required skill in the job description. Use those exact words — not synonyms.
Terms in your job titles and section headings carry more weight than those buried in bullet points. The same keyword in two different places on your resume will score differently.
Fix: Include your most important keywords in your professional summary and job titles — not just buried in bullets.
PDFs cause parsing issues on some ATS platforms, especially older Taleo versions. If your content isn't being parsed correctly, your score will be artificially low regardless of your experience.
Fix: Submit as .docx unless the posting specifically requests PDF. DOCX is the most universally compatible format.
Unconventional headings like "My Journey" or "Where I've Been" confuse ATS parsers — the system can't identify which section it's reading and may skip your content entirely.
Fix: Use only standard headings — Work Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications, Professional Summary.
The ATS may search for "PMP" or "Project Management Professional" as two separate terms. Listing only one version means you may miss the match entirely.
Fix: Always list certifications as "Project Management Professional (PMP)" — full name AND abbreviation every time.
2025 Warning
With AI tools making it easier to generate resumes at scale, employers are seeing a dramatic increase in application volume. ATS thresholds are being raised — companies need to filter more aggressively. ATS optimisation matters more now than it ever has.
Your ATS Action Checklist
Before You Submit Any Application
Mirror the
exact keywords from the job description — not synonyms
Use a
clean single-column .docx file — no tables, graphics, or columns
Use
standard section headings: Work Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications
Contact info in the main body — not in Word headers or footers
List every certification with
full name AND abbreviationCustomise your resume for every single application
RT
Certified Resume Writers Resume Thrive Editorial Team
Our certified resume writers and career coaches have helped 2,400+ professionals across the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand land interviews at top companies. Every article is written by real humans — no AI, no fluff.
