ATS Score Checker: How I Finally Beat the ATS in 2025 (And How You Can Too)

If you’ve ever applied for dozens of jobs and heard nothing back, you’re not alone. A year ago, I was in that exact spot — sending out application after application, wondering why I wasn’t even getting rejected. I wasn’t getting anything.

I eventually learned what most people never find out:

Your resume usually isn’t getting ignored by a human. It’s getting filtered out by an ATS.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) scan your resume before a recruiter ever sees it. If your resume doesn’t match the right keywords, formatting, or structure, it gets scored low… and tossed aside automatically.

That discovery is what led me to build a simple ATS score checker for myself — one that could actually fix the resume, not just criticize it.

That tool ultimately helped me land my job with:

• $42/month Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance

• A four-day work week

• Paid federal holidays from day one

• A competitive salary for my experience level

• Vacation and sick time included immediately

And now I’m making the same tool available for free so other job seekers don’t have to go through the same silent rejection cycle I went through.

In this guide, I’ll break down:

• What an ATS score really is

• How ATS score checkers actually work

• The truth about Jobscan, Resume Worded, Teal (and what they don’t tell you)

• Why most resumes fail the scan

• And how you can beat the ATS in 2025 — even if you’re not a writer

What Is an ATS Score? (Simple Explanation)

Your ATS score is a number (usually 0–100%) that measures how well your resume matches:

• The job description

• Required skills

• Job-specific keywords

• Formatting rules

• Experience-level signals

Recruiters don’t have time to manually read 300+ resumes, so the ATS filters them first.

Most companies use systems like:

• Workday

• Taleo

• iCIMS

• Greenhouse

• Lever

Every one of these systems likes resumes in a slightly different format — and most job seekers have no idea.

That’s why an ATS score checker matters.

How ATS Score Checkers Work

What Makes a Good ATS Score Checker?

Here’s the part most people don’t know:

✔ ATS checkers don’t all measure the same things.

✔ Some only check keywords.

✔ Some give vague feedback without fixing anything.

✔ And some tools (including mine) actually rewrite the resume for you.

To understand your score, here are the five parts an ATS actually scans:

1. Keyword Match (most heavily weighted)

The ATS compares your resume to the job description and checks for:

• Hard skills

• Certifications

• Tools/software

• Experience level terms

• Industry-specific terminology

2. Content Relevance

Does your experience align with the role’s responsibilities?

3. Structure + Formatting

ATS-friendly formatting means:

• No tables

• No text boxes

• Simple section headers

• Standard fonts

• Proper chronology

4. Length & Section Organization

The ATS wants:

• Summary

• Experience

• Skills

• Education

• Select accomplishments

If you’re missing sections, your score drops.

5. File Type Compatibility

Example: Workday hates PDFs with embedded graphics.

Yes, it’s that picky.

Why Most Resumes Fail the ATS in 2025

After helping rewrite hundreds of resumes, the biggest failure points I see are:

❌ Missing job-specific keywords

Most job seekers use the same resume for every job. This kills your score instantly.

❌ Overusing buzzwords

Words like “dynamic,” “results-driven,” “team player” do nothing for ATS scanning.

❌ Wrong format (InDesign, Canva, table layouts)

These look pretty, but machines can’t read them.

❌ No accomplishments

Resumes that only list duties rank low because they lack measurable impact.

❌ Wrong file type or embedded formatting

PDFs exported from Canva are notorious for breaking ATS parsing.

Why I Built My Own ATS Score Checker

When I was job searching, I had two major problems:

1. Tools kept telling me “what” was wrong, but not “how to fix it.”

I didn’t want feedback. I wanted a rewritten resume.

2. Everything was too expensive.

I was unemployed — I couldn’t spend $50/month.

So I built a tool that:

✔ Scores your resume against the job ✔ Highlights missing keywords ✔ Automatically rewrites the resume in your voice ✔ Creates a matching cover letter ✔ Emails you everything in clean, ATS-safe formatting

This tool helped me land interviews again — then helped me land the job with:

• $42/month BCBS insurance

• Federal holidays immediately

• A four-day work week

• A salary aligned to my experience

When I say I built this tool to help myself survive the job search, I mean it literally.

Now it’s helping others do the same.

I Tried Every ATS Checker Available (Here's What I Learned)

Before building my own tool, I tested everything on the market.

Resume Worded gave me great feedback on clarity and suggested improvements — but then wanted $49/month to actually help me fix anything. When you're unemployed, that's not happening.

Jobscan was really strong at keyword matching. It would tell me exactly which words I was missing from the job description. The problem? It showed me what was wrong but didn't help me fix it. I still had to manually rewrite everything myself. At $49.95/month, I expected more than a report card.

Teal had a beautiful interface with job tracking and a full dashboard. It was impressive — and completely overwhelming. I didn't need a project management system for my job search. I just needed my resume to work.

Here's what frustrated me about all of them:

They all had the same problem: They told me my resume was broken, but they didn't actually fix it.

I'd get a score like "42% ATS compatible" with a list of missing keywords and formatting issues. Then I'd spend 2-3 hours manually rewriting everything, re-scanning, adjusting, re-scanning again.

I was doing all the heavy lifting. The tools were just pointing and judging.

That's when I realized: What job seekers actually need isn't another scoring tool. It's a tool that does the rewriting for you.

So I built one.

How to Beat the ATS in 2025 (My Exact Method)

If I had to break it down into one simple, repeatable formula:

STEP 1: Find a job you want

Copy the job description.

STEP 2: Scan your resume against it

You can use my tool or another ATS checker.

STEP 3: Add missing hard skills

These matter more than soft skills.

STEP 4: Rewrite bullets using accomplishment formulas

Like:

• [Action] + [Task] + [Result]

• [Verb] + [Skill] + [Impact]

STEP 5: Re-scan until your score hits 70%+

(Above 80% is ideal.)

Try My Free ATS Score Checker (The Same One I Used to Fix My Resume)

If you want to see exactly how your resume stacks up — and get a tailored version back in minutes — you can try it here:

👉 Upload your resume and check your ATS score for free (No credit card required. 3 tailored scans included.)

I built this tool because I needed a way out of the silent rejection loop. If you’re in that same place now, I want to make the path easier for you.

Next Article in This Series

“How I Built My Resume Tool When I Was Struggling to Get Interviews (And How It Helped Me Land a 4-Day Work Week Job)”