How the checker works
An AI model reads the posting and picks out 10 to 25 terms a recruiter could search for: hard skills, tools, certifications, qualifications like a degree or license, and a few soft skills if the posting leans on them. Each one is marked required or preferred, going by the posting's own wording (“must have” versus “nice to have”).
Then it looks for each term in your resume. Anything marked found has to come with a quote from your resume, and the quote is checked against your actual text before you see it. If it isn't there word for word, the term is moved to partly there. A term that does appear in your resume, spelled the way the posting spells it, always counts as found.
Close variants count as partly there. “JS” is JavaScript to you and to most recruiters, but a search for “JavaScript” may not match it.
What to do with missing keywords
First, sort them into two piles: things you have done and didn't write down, and things you haven't done. The first pile goes on the resume. The second pile stays off it, however short the list of matches looks.
For the ones you have, use the posting's exact wording. If they write “Microsoft Excel”, write that, not “spreadsheets”. If both an acronym and the full name are common, use both once, like “certified public accountant (CPA)”.
- Skills section: tools, software, languages and certifications, listed plainly.
- Bullets: the skills that matter most, shown in use (“Built monthly reports in Power BI for the sales team”), not just named.
- Summary: the two or three terms that define the role, if your summary has room for them without turning into a list.
There is no universal ATS score
Applicant tracking systems differ by vendor and by how each employer sets them up. Most of them store applications and let recruiters search and filter; some add knockout questions to the application form. None of them share a score you can look up, so any tool that hands you a percentage is grading against its own rules.
That is why this checker shows terms rather than a number. Covering the required terms you genuinely have helps your resume turn up in a search, and a person reads it after that. More on what these systems actually do in the ATS keywords guide.
Questions people ask
- Is this my ATS score?
- No, and nobody can give you one. Each employer's system is set up differently, and most of them let recruiters search and filter rather than score you. This shows which of the posting's terms a search would find in your resume.
- Do you keep my resume or the job posting?
- No. Both go to the AI for this one check, the result comes back to your browser, and nothing is saved on our side.
- Why is a skill I listed marked as partly there?
- Usually because you wrote it differently from the posting, like “JS” where they wrote “JavaScript”, or the work shows the skill but never names it. A recruiter searching for their exact word may not find yours.
- Should I add every missing keyword?
- Only the ones that are true. A missing keyword you really have is an easy fix. One you don't have stays off the resume; a person reads it after the search, and probably asks about it in the interview.