ATS checkers and resume scores – Page 2

Check each one, and keep the ones that are correct. Spellcheckers often do not know software names, standards, medical terms or acronyms.

How to be sure:

• Compare the spelling and capitals with the official product or standard name: "PostgreSQL", "AutoCAD", "ISO 9001".
• Check how the job advert writes the term.
• Fix only genuine typos.

Correct, official spelling also helps recruiters who search for that exact term.

Not necessarily. "Organised" and "organized" are both correct English; the checker is probably set to American spelling. Choose one style and use it consistently.

How to choose:

• Applying in the USA: American spelling is a natural choice.
• Applying in the UK, Ireland, Australia, India or the Gulf: British or international spelling is common.
• If the job advert uses one style, follow it.

What matters most is consistency. Mixing "organised" and "organized" in the same resume looks careless.

No, it is optional, though often helpful. Checkers may suggest it because many recruiters look candidates up online.

Add it if:

• Your profile is complete, up to date and consistent with your resume.
• You use a short custom profile address.

Skip it if your profile is empty or outdated; that can do more harm than leaving it out. If you are in a hands-on role where LinkedIn is less common, a missing link is not a problem.

Fix problems that stop your resume being read, then problems that hide your fit for the job, and only then style suggestions. This order gives the biggest improvement for the least effort.

A practical priority list:

• Readability: text that cannot be extracted, jumbled order, contact details not found. These can affect every application.
• Structure: missing or unrecognised sections, unclear job titles, missing dates.
• Relevance: important skills and qualifications from the advert that you have but did not mention.
• Evidence: bullets without results, vague duties, buzzwords.
• Style: bullet length, repeated verbs, pronouns, spelling preferences.

Skip suggestions that ask you to add skills you do not have, include irrelevant words from the advert, or stretch your resume beyond what is normal for your experience. After each round of fixes, read the resume yourself from top to bottom. If it reads better to you, the changes were worth making, whatever the score says.

It matters to the human who downloads it, so it is worth a quick fix. A clear name makes your resume easy to find and looks organised.

Good examples:

• "Lina-Haddad-Resume.pdf"
• "Lina-Haddad-Marketing-Manager-CV.pdf"

Avoid:

• "CV final final (2).pdf"
• "Document1.pdf"
• File names in all capitals or with random symbols.

Some checkers flag the file name; others ignore it. Either way, a tidy name costs nothing.

No. Recruiters work inside their employer's applicant tracking system, which stores applications, runs searches, tracks stages and sends messages. Job seeker checkers are separate tools that try to imitate parts of that process, mainly text extraction and keyword overlap.

What this means:

• A checker can reveal technical problems a recruiter's system might also have.
• It cannot show you the recruiter's search terms, filters or notes.
• The recruiter's decision depends on their judgement and the employer's process.

Use checkers for preparation, not prediction.

It means that job board's own tool found overlap between your profile and the advert, usually based on titles, skills and location. It is the job board's estimate, not the employer's assessment.

How to use it:

• Treat it as a hint about which jobs to look at first.
• Read the advert yourself to check the real requirements.
• Tailor your resume anyway; the employer may read it differently.

A "weak match" label does not mean you should never apply. If you meet the core requirements, the label may simply reflect wording differences.

Yes. A resume written mainly to satisfy a tool can read like a list of keywords, with repeated phrases and long skills lists but little evidence. Recruiters notice this quickly.

Signs of over-optimisation:

• The same skill appears five or six times.
• The summary is a string of buzzwords.
• The skills list is longer than your experience section.
• Phrases are copied word for word from the advert.

Balance it by keeping each keyword where it naturally belongs and adding specific results. Write for a reader first; software will still find the terms.

Include only the skills that matter for the jobs you want, grouped clearly; there is no fixed correct number. Long lists hide your strongest skills and may include things a recruiter does not care about.

How to trim:

• Remove outdated or basic items, such as "Microsoft Word" for a senior analyst.
• Remove skills you could not discuss in an interview.
• Group related tools: "Accounting software: SAP, Oracle, Tally".

Technical roles may need longer lists, but grouping still helps readers scan.

Often yes. Hard skills, such as tools, methods, languages and certifications, are easy to search for and verify. Soft skills are better shown through examples than listed.

A balanced approach:

• Skills section: mostly hard skills relevant to the role.
• Experience bullets: show soft skills in action.
• Summary: one or two soft skills that the advert stresses, backed up later.

Example bullet showing a soft skill: "Trained four new cashiers on the POS system and store procedures."

Yes, this is one of the better uses of a checker. Running both versions through the same tool against the same job advert shows which one covers the requirements and reads more cleanly.

How to compare fairly:

• Use the same tool and the same advert for both.
• Look at the specific issues, not just the totals.
• Read both versions yourself and choose the one you would want to interview.

If the scores are close, pick the version that is clearer and more specific. A small score difference is not meaningful.

Expect a lower match, because your past job titles and tools differ from the new field. The score shows a vocabulary gap, which you can partly close with honest wording, not proof that you are unsuitable.

How to improve it honestly:

• Use a headline that names your target role with your background: "Teacher moving into learning and development".
• Highlight transferable skills in the new field's language: "designed training materials", "assessed learner progress".
• Add relevant courses, certifications or projects.

Some gap will remain, and a cover letter that explains your move helps close it.

That is your choice, but understand why they ask: often to send marketing or offer paid services. If you give it, use an address you are comfortable receiving promotions on, and read what they do with your data.

Things to watch:

• Pre-ticked boxes agreeing to newsletters or sharing with partners.
• Requests for payment card details for a "free" trial.
• No clear way to delete your data.

You can also use tools that show results without sign-up.

Check whether the trial turns into a paid subscription automatically, how much it renews at, and how to cancel. Many people forget to cancel and are charged for months.

Before starting a trial:

• Read the renewal terms on the checkout page.
• Set a reminder a few days before the trial ends.
• Prefer one-off payments if you only need a single result.

For comparison, ResumeBuilder.ae has no subscription: checks are free, and you pay US$1.00 only for each PDF export, with nothing renewing.

It usually means the template avoids common formatting problems: it uses real text, standard headings, a simple structure and usually one column. It is a design label, not a certificate from any ATS vendor.

What it does not mean:

• That every employer's system will read it perfectly.
• That your content will be judged well.

Still check the result yourself: export a PDF, copy the text into a plain text editor and confirm everything appears in a sensible order.

You can do a reliable basic check with nothing but your PDF and a plain text editor. It takes a few minutes.

Steps:

• Open your PDF and select all text. If nothing highlights, it is an image and needs rebuilding.
• Copy and paste the text into a plain text editor such as Notepad.
• Read from the top: your name and contact details should come first.
• Check that each job title, employer and date stays together.
• Look for strange symbols where bullets, icons or special fonts were.
• Search for the key skills from the job advert and confirm they appear.

If something is missing or jumbled, simplify that part of the layout. This test does not imitate any specific employer's system, but it catches most of the problems that matter.

Add the target title where it is truthful, most naturally in your headline or summary, without changing your official past titles.

Examples:

• Headline: "Operations Coordinator | Logistics and Inventory" when applying for "Logistics Coordinator" roles and your work covered logistics.
• Summary: "Logistics professional with four years coordinating shipments and stock levels."

If you have never done the role at all, the honest headline is your current title plus the direction you are heading. Do not rename past jobs.

Months are helpful and often expected, especially for recent roles and short jobs. Year-only dates can make it hard to tell how long you stayed, and some checkers flag them.

Simple format: "Mar 2023 – Present" or "03/2023 – 11/2024". Use one format throughout.

Year-only dates can be acceptable for older roles or long tenures, but be consistent within each section. Never hide gaps by switching formats; recruiters notice.

Spell out abbreviations that a recruiter outside your company or country might not know, at least once. Common ones in your field can stay short.

Examples:

• "KPI" is widely understood in business; usually fine.
• "PRO services (government relations)" helps readers outside the Gulf.
• Internal names like "Project Falcon" or "the OTR report" mean nothing to outsiders; describe them instead.

Writing "Health, Safety and Environment (HSE)" once also helps if a recruiter searches for either form.

Some templates use invisible tables, with borders hidden, to line up dates, columns or contact details. You see neat alignment, but the file contains a table.

How to deal with it:

• In Word, turn on gridlines or table borders to reveal hidden tables.
• Convert the table to normal text, or rebuild that part using tabs or a simpler layout.
• Re-export and copy the text into a plain editor to check the order.

If the extracted text already reads in the right order, the hidden table may be harmless, but a simpler layout removes the doubt.

Most checkers use colours to show severity: red for problems that may stop parts of your resume being read or that the tool weights heavily, amber for improvements, and green for checks you passed. Each tool defines them differently, so read its explanation.

How to act:

• Red: check each one and fix the real problems first.
• Amber: fix where it improves clarity or relevance.
• Green: leave alone.

A red item can still be wrong for your situation, such as a length warning for an experienced professional. Use judgement.

It matters for readers more than software. Starting five bullets with "Managed" makes your resume sound flat, and the checker is pointing that out.

Fix it by choosing verbs that describe what you actually did:

• Instead of "Managed" each time: "Led", "Supervised", "Scheduled", "Coordinated", "Trained".
• For results: "Reduced", "Increased", "Cut", "Improved".
• For creating: "Built", "Designed", "Launched", "Introduced".

Pick the most accurate verb, not the most impressive one.

It depends on your situation. For recent graduates, the year is useful and expected. For experienced professionals, it is optional in many countries, and some people leave it out.

Consider:

• If you graduated recently, include it.
• If an application form asks for it, provide it there.
• If you are an experienced professional, you may leave it out, but be ready to give it if asked.

Being consistent matters more than the checker's preference. If you include years for one qualification, include them for others.

Only if you have certifications or licences relevant to the job. A checker may suggest it by default, but an empty or irrelevant section adds nothing.

Add one if you have:

• Professional qualifications, such as ACCA, PMP or CCNA.
• Required licences for your role, with number and expiry date where the regulator requires it.
• Recent, relevant courses with a recognised provider.

Example: "Basic Life Support (BLS), American Heart Association, valid to 2027."
If you have none yet, leave it out.

Yes. Importing reads text from your old file, and sections can land in the wrong place, lose characters or merge. A check after import, plus your own careful review, catches these problems.

In ResumeBuilder.ae, you can import a PDF or Word (.docx) file up to 5 MB, read in your browser, and you are asked to check each imported section. After that:

• Run the ATS-readiness check to find missing sections or details.
• Compare each job's title, employer and dates with your original.
• Look for leftover symbols from the old design.

Scanned or password-protected files cannot be imported, so retype those.