You ran your resume through an ATS checker and got a 64%. Now what?
The number itself is almost meaningless without understanding what drove it. A resume scoring 64% because of keyword mismatches is a fundamentally different problem to one scoring 64% because of formatting issues. The fixes are completely different.
Here is a breakdown of what each section of your ATS score means and the specific actions to improve each one.
Contact Information (Usually 100% — but Check Anyway)
This section should be automatic, but ATS parsers fail on it more than you would expect. Common mistakes:
- Email address in the header image or text box (ATS cannot read images)
- Phone number formatted inconsistently (some ATS struggle with +91-999-888-7777 vs 9998887777)
- LinkedIn URL is too long — shorten your LinkedIn URL in your settings
Summary / Objective (High Impact on First-Pass Ranking)
Your summary is where you control the narrative. ATS systems weight the summary heavily because it typically contains the highest density of relevant keywords.
A weak summary: "Experienced professional with a background in finance seeking new opportunities."
A strong summary: "Senior Financial Analyst with 6 years of FP&A experience at Series B-D SaaS companies, specialising in revenue modelling, board reporting, and cross-functional budget management. Skilled in Excel, SQL, and Tableau."
The difference: the strong version contains the exact job title, years of experience, industry context, core skills, and specific tools. Every element is a keyword the ATS is scanning for.
Work Experience (The Highest-Weight Section)
This is where most resumes lose points. The two biggest killers:
- Duties-based bullets vs results-based bullets. "Managed a team of 5 engineers" tells the ATS very little. "Led a team of 5 engineers to ship 3 features in Q3 2024, reducing customer churn by 18%" contains quantified impact, timeline context, and an outcome metric.
- Missing keywords from the JD. Copy the job description into a word cloud tool. Identify the 10 most frequent relevant terms. Make sure each one appears at least once in your work experience.
Skills Section (The Quick Win)
The skills section is the easiest place to pick up 10–15 ATS points quickly. Best practices:
- Use the exact tool names from the JD (React.js, not "React" or "ReactJS" — check which version the company uses)
- Group skills by category: Technical, Languages, Tools, Methodologies
- Do not list soft skills like "team player" or "strong communicator" — save those for your bullet points with context
Education
ATS parsers look for degree names, institutions, and graduation years. Common issues:
- Abbreviating your degree incorrectly — "B.Tech" vs "Bachelor of Technology" (use the full name)
- Missing the graduation year — parsers use this to estimate experience level
- Listing irrelevant coursework instead of relevant certifications
How Gaply's Spark AI Diagnoses These Issues
Rather than guessing which section is dragging your score down, Spark AI parses your resume the same way an ATS does and shows you the exact score for each section alongside the specific phrases you are missing. Most users improve their score by 20–30 points in a single editing session.
The goal is not to game the system — it is to ensure your genuine qualifications are presented in a format the system can actually read. That is not manipulation. That is communication.