How applicant tracking systems read a resume
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is the software many employers use to collect and sort applications. Before a person reads your resume, the ATS extracts its text, splits it into fields such as experience, education and skills, and makes it searchable for the recruiter.
Two things decide whether you surface. First, the file has to parse: if your contact details sit in a header image or your skills live in a two-column table, the extracted text can come out incomplete or in the wrong order. Second, recruiters search and filter by the skills in the job posting, so the words that matter need to appear in your resume, in context.
Nextrova checks both. Parse checks run on the text that would actually be extracted from your file. Requirement matching takes each skill, tool and qualification from the posting and looks for it in your resume’s text, including abbreviations and translations, so a match is never just the AI’s opinion.
There is no single “ATS score” that every employer uses. What you can control is a clean, readable file and honest evidence for each requirement, and that is what the report helps you fix.