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Free ATS resume checker

See which of the posting's key terms your resume already uses.

  • Free
  • Scored in your browser
  • Files read, not kept

Add both and your match appears here. It updates as you edit, so you can fix your resume and watch it change.

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How it works

  1. Add your resumePaste it, or upload a PDF or Word file.
  2. Add the job postingThe whole posting, requirements included.
  3. See what's missingYour match, the terms you cover, and the ones to add where they're true.

What an ATS actually does with your resume

An applicant tracking system (Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby and the rest) turns your resume into plain text, stores it against the job, and lets recruiters search and filter what came in. Most don't auto-reject on a score. What they do is make you findable, or not, when a recruiter searches for the skills the posting asked for.

So the useful question isn't "will a robot reject me?" It's "when someone searches for what this job needs, does my resume contain those words?" That's what this checker measures.

How the score works

The checker pulls the skills, tools and qualifications out of the job description, ignoring filler like "team player" and "fast-paced". Then it looks for each one in your resume, matching whole words so "Java" doesn't count as "JavaScript". Your score is the share of those terms your resume already contains.

The scoring runs entirely in your browser: text you paste isn't sent or stored anywhere. If you upload a PDF or Word file instead, it's read on our server to get the text out, then discarded; the file and its text are never kept.

What to do with the missing keywords

A missing keyword is a question, not an instruction. For each one:

  • If you have the skill, say so in words the posting uses. "Built REST services in Go" is findable; "backend work" isn't.
  • Put it where it's true: in the bullet for the job where you used it, not only in a skills list.
  • If you don't have it, leave it out. Keyword stuffing is obvious to the human who reads the resume next, and they're the one who decides.
  • Aim for the obvious gaps first: the tools and skills named in the posting's requirements section.

What a good score looks like

There's no magic number. Around 60–80% usually means your resume speaks the posting's language. Under 40% usually means either the role is a stretch or your resume describes the right experience in the wrong words, and the second is fixable in ten minutes. 100% on everything usually means the resume has turned into a keyword list, which reads badly to people.

Questions

Is this ATS checker really free?

Yes, with a free account and no limit. It runs in your browser, and text you paste never leaves your device. Uploading a PDF or Word file is optional: it's read to text and not kept.

Does a low ATS score mean I'll be rejected automatically?

Rarely. Most ATS software doesn't auto-reject on keywords; it decides whether you come up when a recruiter searches. A low score means you're harder to find for this job, which is worth fixing when the experience is genuinely there.

Should I copy the job description's keywords into my resume?

Only the ones that are true for you, written where you actually used them. Adding skills you don't have gets you an interview you can't pass.

Does formatting matter for ATS?

Some. Use a simple layout with standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills), real text rather than text inside images, and avoid putting key information in headers, footers or text boxes, which some systems skip.

Should I tailor my resume for every application?

For roles you really want, yes. A few minutes aligning your wording to each posting usually moves the score more than any template change. JobFiend AI automates that step if you apply to a lot of jobs.