Question 1

What is an ATS, and why does my CV need to get through one?

Accepted Answer

An Applicant Tracking System is software employers use to receive and search applications. Before anyone reads your CV, the system has to extract it into text — and layouts built from columns, tables or text boxes can lose parts of it along the way. This page checks whether yours survives that step.

Question 2

How does this checker work?

Accepted Answer

Drop in the PDF or Word file you already send to employers. To run the check it is read in your browser and never uploaded. We extract it the way a parser does, then show you a parse score and every formatting problem we found, worst first.

Question 3

Is it free? Do I need an account?

Accepted Answer

The check is free and needs no account. The whole thing runs in your browser, so there is nothing to upload for it and nothing to charge you for. Opening your CV in the editor afterwards is a separate step you choose, and that one does need an account.

Question 4

Do you give me an ATS score?

Accepted Answer

No — and be wary of sites that do. No major applicant tracking system publishes a portable 0–100 score: Taleo rates candidates on a handful of stars, and Workday and iCIMS use internal models nobody outside can reproduce. What you get here is our own parse rubric — scored only out of the checks we could actually run on your file, and every problem behind that number.

Question 5

Can you check my CV against a specific job?

Accepted Answer

Not on this page. Matching needs a job description, and nothing can rank a CV without one. Add the CV to a PromptCV account, then paste a job to get a keyword match against it — building and editing your CV stays free, and a full job match costs 5 AI credits.

Question 6

What do I do once I have the results?

Accepted Answer

Every problem we find comes with what to do about it. Fix your CV wherever you built it, or import it here and fix it in the editor — importing does send the file to us, so the editor can read it. Our templates are single-column and use real, selectable text by default.

Question 7

What happens if I fix it in the editor?

Accepted Answer

That is a separate step, and it only happens if you choose it. Importing sends your CV file to us so the editor can read it — the check itself stayed in your browser — and builds an editable copy with everything already filled in, so you don't retype it. You need an account for that part.

See what an employer's software reads from your CV

What you get, free

How it works

Drop in your CV

We read it like a parser does

See what to fix

What our ATS checker looks at

ATS checker — common questions

Ready to see what a machine reads?