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SevyDevy

ATS resume checker

An ATS resume checker reads your resume the way hiring software and recruiters do. SevyDevy runs 70 checks: whether an ATS can read your file, which skills from the job post you are missing, how strong each bullet is, and which fixes add the most points. The same resume always gets the same score.

Updated · Written by the SevyDevy team

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Drop your resume and get a free format check right away, no login. Log in and your first full check is on us.

After that, a quick check costs 20 credits and the ATS check 50 credits (Advanced from 30 credits), refunded if a check fails. How credits work

What does this ATS checker check?

Six groups, from whether software can read your file to how a recruiter reads it in a few seconds. Open a group to see every check in it.

Can an ATS read it

13 checks

Whether hiring software can turn your file into clean text, in the right order.

  • Real text, not a scan
  • File type and size
  • Reading order (no two columns or sidebars)
  • Tables and text boxes
  • Contact details in the header or footer
  • Images, icons and skill bars
  • Hidden text
  • Fonts
  • Odd characters and symbols
  • Length for your level
  • Font size
  • File name
  • Links that work

Sections and structure

15 checks

Whether recruiters and parsers find the sections and details they expect.

  • Contact details
  • Professional email
  • Standard headings
  • Essential sections
  • Dates on every entry
  • One date format
  • Newest first
  • Complete job entries
  • Outdated or filler sections
  • Personal details like photo and date of birth
  • Complete education
  • Summary
  • Section order for your level
  • Consistent style
  • A real resume, not a LinkedIn export

Content and impact

16 checks

How strong each bullet is: results, verbs, numbers and the claims interviewers will ask about.

  • Measurable results
  • Results, not duties
  • Strong opening verbs
  • Verb variety
  • Bullet length
  • Bullets per entry
  • Bullets, not paragraphs
  • Buzzwords and clichés
  • Filler and vague words
  • Pronouns and passive voice
  • Tense
  • Spelling and grammar
  • Skills shown, not just listed
  • Skills list size
  • Generic or AI-sounding text
  • Claims an interviewer will probe

Job match

10 checks

How well you match the job post. Without a post, it uses the usual skills for your role.

  • Hard skills from the job post
  • Soft skills
  • Job title match
  • Must-haves met
  • Knockout requirements
  • Seniority fit
  • Education requirement
  • Responsibilities covered
  • Keyword stuffing
  • Usual skills for your role, when there is no job post

Recruiter view

8 checks

What a recruiter sees in a quick scan, and the searches your resume shows up in.

  • 6-second scan
  • Recruiter searches you show up in
  • LinkedIn, GitHub and portfolio
  • Level signal
  • Career progression
  • Leadership and ownership
  • Gaps, pointed out but never scored down
  • Credibility of claims

Fresher and India

8 checks

Rules for freshers and Indian hiring: CGPA, projects, coding profiles, and government vs private jobs.

  • CGPA advice
  • Projects
  • Project depth
  • Internships
  • Coding profiles
  • Certifications and hackathons
  • Headline with a target role
  • Government vs private rules

Every point in the score is worked out from these checks with fixed weights, which is why the same resume always gets the same score.

How does it work?

3 steps
  1. Upload your resume (PDF or DOCX)Use the file you actually send to recruiters. The file itself is not kept; your report is saved privately to your account.
  2. Add the job post, or pick a rolePaste the whole post to match line by line. No post? It compares you with what that role usually asks.
  3. Get your score, your must-haves and fixes ranked by pointsCritical problems come first. Every fix points at the line in your resume it comes from.

How much does a resume check cost?

The format check is free and needs no login: it runs in your browser as soon as you drop your resume. Log in and your first full Standard check is free, one per account. After that, a quick check costs 20 credits and an ATS check 50 credits. Advanced, a deeper review, costs 30 or 75 credits.

  • Format check

    FreeNo login

    Runs in your browser right after you drop your resume.

    • Reading order and columns
    • Pages and word count
    • Fonts and contact details
    • Section headings and date format
    • File type and size
    • Hidden text

  • First full check

    FreeOne per account

    Log in, then pick any one Standard check. Lala walks you through it.

    • ATS check for a job
    • Roast
    • Why no calls
    • Fresher check
    • Interview questions

  • Then

    Each check after your first one uses credits. Pick Standard for a fast review, or Advanced for a deeper review with sharper wording.

    20 credits
    Quick checksRoast, why no calls, fresher check, interview questions. Advanced: 30 credits
    50 credits
    ATS checkScore, keywords from the job post, every bullet, fixes ranked by points. Advanced: 75 credits

What’s a credit? See how credits work on the pricing page.

FAQ

How much does a resume check cost?

The format check is free and needs no login. Your first full Standard check is free too, one per account, and you pick which one. After that, a Standard quick check costs 20 credits and the ATS check 50 credits; Advanced, a deeper review, costs 30 or 75 credits. Credits come back if a check fails.

Free format check or full check?

The format check runs in your browser and flags what stops an ATS from reading your resume. A full check reads every line against the job post or your goal.

What the free format check and a full check include
What you getFormat check (free)Full check
Format checksYesYes
Content tipsA few quick onesYes, line by line
Score out of 100NoYes
Job post matchNoYes, with the keywords you are missing
Every bullet judgedNoYes
Fixes ranked by pointsNoYes
RoastNoYes, as its own check
Interview questionsNoYes, as its own check

What does the report look like?

Here is part of a report for a sample fresher resume checked against a backend job post. Your own report is saved privately to your account and has no public link.

Sample reportSample resume · Backend Engineer post
Good3 fixes to 85

Fixes, ranked by points

  1. +8 points
    Add Kubernetes and CI/CD where you actually used them

    Deployed services to production every week

  2. +6 points
    Rewrite as verb + what you built + a number

    Worked on the payments API and fixed bugs

  3. +3 points
    Make your headline say Backend Engineer

    SDE-1 | Java Developer

Skills from the job post

  • Kubernetes · missing
  • CI/CD · missing
  • Spring Boot · found
  • REST APIs · found
Sample only.

ATS myths vs facts

A lot of resume advice is built on claims nobody can trace. Here is what holds up, with where it comes from.

ATS myths, the facts, and their sources
MythFactSource
75% of resumes are rejected by an ATS before a human sees them.No study backs this. It traces to Preptel, a resume-services firm that closed in 2013. In a 2025 recruiter survey, 92% said their ATS does not auto-reject on format, keywords or match score.HiringThing; itbrief.co.uk (Enhancv recruiter survey) HiringThing: ATS are not excluding applicants, itbrief.co.uk: Enhancv recruiter survey (2025)
An ATS cannot read PDF files.Text-based PDFs parse fine. Scanned or image-only PDFs do not.Greenhouse and HiringThing support Greenhouse support: unsuccessful resume parse, HiringThing support: why some resumes will not parse
Every ATS gives your resume a score.Many do not. Recruiters mostly search and filter by job title, skills, location and education.Jobscan guide to Lever; itbrief.co.uk (Enhancv recruiter survey) Jobscan: how Lever ATS works, itbrief.co.uk: Enhancv recruiter survey (2025)
Nothing rejects you automatically.Knockout questions do: work authorisation, location, degree or required certificates can screen you out instantly.Oracle Taleo docs: disqualification questions Oracle Taleo: create a disqualification question
Design does not matter to an ATS.Tables, columns, text boxes, headers and footers can break parsing. Keep contact details in the body.Greenhouse support Greenhouse support: unsuccessful resume parse
Fonts and graphics do not affect an ATS.Use a standard font; fancy fonts can confuse parsers. Images, icons and skill bars are not read, so put that information in text.Greenhouse, HiringThing and Workday guides Greenhouse support: unsuccessful resume parse, HiringThing support: why some resumes will not parse, Workday: what is an applicant tracking system

What is a good ATS score?

No ATS gives one universal score. Each company's system works differently, and many do not score resumes at all.

Our score measures readiness: can software read your resume, does it match the job, and will a recruiter see results. Use it to decide what to fix next, not as a pass mark.

  • 85+Strong. Ready to send. Polish only.
  • 70–84Good. A few fixes will lift it.
  • 50–69Needs work. Fix the critical items before you apply.
  • Below 50Rewrite. Start again from a clean, single-column layout.

Resume tips for Indian freshers and campus placements

  • Projects with links and results. Link the repo or live demo, name the stack, and say what changed: users, speed or accuracy.
  • Show CGPA when it clears 6.0 or 60%. Below that, leave it out and let projects lead.
  • Keep it to one page. Cut anything a recruiter would not miss.
  • Add a coding profile with a number. Problems solved or a contest rating says more than "active on LeetCode".
  • No photo or date of birth for private jobs. Keep them for government forms, which ask for them.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is an ATS?

An ATS, or applicant tracking system, is the software companies use to collect applications and help recruiters search them. It turns your resume into text, sorts it into fields like name, skills and experience, and lets recruiters filter by title, skills and location. Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Taleo and Naukri Resdex are common examples.

What is a good ATS score?

No ATS gives one universal score, so treat any checker's number as a readiness guide. On SevyDevy, 85 or above is strong, 70 to 84 is good, 50 to 69 needs work, and below 50 means a rewrite. The same resume always gets the same score, so you can see exactly what each fix changes.

Can an ATS read a PDF resume?

Yes, if the PDF has real text in it. PDFs exported from Word, Google Docs or LaTeX usually parse fine. Scanned resumes and image-only PDFs do not, because there is no text to read. A quick test: if you can select and copy the words in your PDF, an ATS can most likely read them too.

Do two-column resumes fail ATS checks?

They often cause trouble. Many parsers read straight across the page, so two columns or a sidebar can mix lines from both sides. A recruiter may then see your skills next to the wrong job. A single column with clear headings is the safest choice, and this checker shows you what the ATS actually reads.

Does an ATS automatically reject resumes?

Mostly no. In a recruiter survey, most said their ATS does not reject on format or match score; recruiters search and filter instead. Knockout questions are the exception: answers about work authorisation, location, degree or required certificates can screen you out at once. Answer them honestly and read the post's hard requirements before you apply.

Should I copy keywords from the job description?

Yes, where they are true. Use the post's exact words for skills you really have, and show each one in a bullet about real work, not only in your skills list. Keyword stuffing and hidden white text get flagged, by recruiters and by this checker, and they fall apart the moment an interviewer asks about them.

Should freshers put CGPA on a resume?

Show it when it clears 6.0 out of 10 or 60%, because campus recruiters often look for it first. If it is lower, leave it out and let your projects, internships and coding profiles do the talking. Some mass recruiters also ask for Class 10 and 12 percentages, so keep those ready.

Is my resume stored?

The file itself is not kept. The text read from it and your report are saved privately to your account, so you can reopen a report and compare it with a newer one. Only you can see them: there is no public link, nothing is shared and nothing is indexed by search engines. Delete any check from Your checks.

Is the ATS resume checker free?

The format check is free and needs no login: it reads your file in your browser and flags what breaks an ATS. Your first full Standard check is free too, one per account. After that, the full ATS check against a job post costs 50 credits, and a roast or other quick check costs 20 credits. Advanced from 30 credits.

How much does a resume check cost?

The format check is free and needs no login. Your first full Standard check is free too, one per account, and you pick which one. After that, a Standard quick check costs 20 credits and the ATS check 50 credits; Advanced, a deeper review, costs 30 or 75 credits. Credits come back if a check fails.

Your file is not kept. Your report is saved privately, and only you can see it.