Straight answers about resumes and hiring software.

Every article carries a receipt: the evidence behind it, the date we checked, and a free tool so you can see it on your own resume.

What the robot reads

How a resume parser treats tables, columns, text boxes and other layout choices, measured on our own scoring engine.

Are two-column resumes bad for ATS?How our check detects columns in Word and PDF resumes, what they cost, and a second check that catches columns merged into long lines.
Do tables break ATS?A plain answer on tables in resumes: when our check takes points off, how many, and why a single column of plain text is the safer choice.
Do text boxes break ATS?Text boxes can hide your content from a parser. Here is when our check flags them in a Word resume, what it costs, and what to use instead.
Does hidden text help a resume pass ATS?White, tiny or off-page text does not help. Our check flags it, takes points off and cuts the keyword score. Here is what counts as hidden.
Why a scanned PDF resume fails ATS checksA resume saved as a picture has no real text for a parser to read. See how our check spots it, what it costs, and how to fix the file.

How the Passthrough scan scores a resume, with every deduction published.

How Passthrough scores resume formattingEvery formatting deduction in the Passthrough scan, listed with its points and the file types it applies to, straight from the scoring engine.

Tick what your resume does and watch the formatting score fall. These are the real deductions in the Passthrough scan, with what each one costs.

Paste a job posting to see which parts a resume scan weighs most, which count least, and the words that rank highest. No account needed.

Four quick questions about your job search. Get the likeliest reason for the silence, even when the answer is that it is not your resume.

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