Free tool

ATS resume checker: see what the software reads.

Drop your resume PDF to see it the way an applicant tracking system does: every line it reads, in its order, and what goes wrong. No score made up, no sign-up, nothing uploaded.

Runs in your browser. Your files are never uploaded.

Want the real check? In Sochen, paste a posting and it checks each requirement against your resume, quoting the line that proves it, then writes a tailored copy without inventing anything.

Check a job against your resume, free →Build a resume that reads back cleanly →

What trips up an applicant tracking system

Before anyone reads your resume, the ATS pulls the text out of your PDF and files it: name, contact details, jobs, dates, skills. If the text comes out empty, scrambled or full of symbols, the profile it builds is wrong, and a recruiter's search for your skills can miss you.

The usual causes: a scanned or image-only PDF (there's no text to read), icons and fancy fonts that come out as symbols, two columns or tables read straight across, contact details only inside a header picture, and creative section names where a parser expects Experience, Education and Skills.

The fix is plain: one column of real text, standard headings, your email and phone written out, and each role with its years. Then use the words of the job where they're true.

Questions

Is it free, and is my resume uploaded?+
It's free with no sign-up, and nothing is uploaded: your browser reads the PDF itself, so your resume never reaches Sochen or anyone else.
Why is there no ATS score out of 100?+
Because applicant tracking systems don't share one. Each reads and ranks resumes its own way, and many recruiters search the text for words rather than look at a score. A number would be made up, so this shows what was read and what's likely to go wrong instead.
How does it read my resume?+
With PDFium, the PDF engine inside Google Chrome: it takes the text out of your PDF top to bottom in the order the file stores it, which is the first step every parser takes. What each ATS does after that is its own, so the checks look for problems that trip up most of them.
My resume has two columns. Is that bad?+
Not always. If the reading above shows each column read on its own, top to bottom, that's what you want; but parsers differ, and some read straight across the page and mix your sections together. One column of text is the safe choice.
Can it compare my resume with a job description?+
Paste the posting and it splits the words the posting leans on into those your resume uses and those it doesn't. That's a word check, not a fit check. In a Sochen chat, the posting is checked requirement by requirement, with the line of your resume that proves each one.