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Before you send a resume, open Check in the editor. It shows how reliably an applicant tracking system (ATS) can read your resume, pins each problem to the line it’s about, and compares your resume with a job posting. Everything except the optional writing review runs in your browser.
Check with Reads cleanly, 23 of 23 checks pass, Issues, Job match and Writing

Check leads with a verdict and passed checks

Open Check

In the editor bar, select Check, or press 3 when you aren’t typing in a field. The tab shows how many issues are open, or a check mark when there are none. Check updates as you edit. Switch to Write, change something, and the verdict and issues follow straight away.

Read the score

The panel starts with a verdict, such as Reads cleanly, Mostly readable or Hard for software to read, followed by the number of checks passed. The verdict still uses the share of checks passed: 80% and above reads cleanly, 50–79% is mostly readable and below 50% is hard for software to read. An entry that Looks like part of the entry above prevents the clean verdict until reviewed.
Check with Reads cleanly, 23 of 23 checks pass, Issues, Job match and Writing

Check leads with a verdict and passed checks

The score is the share of checks your resume passes, for example 19 of 23 checks pass. There are 23 checks, grouped into five categories: The heading check only runs when your resume’s language is English, so resumes in other languages have 22 checks.
The score measures how reliably software can read your resume. It doesn’t predict whether you’ll be shortlisted.
Below the issues, Checks by category lists each category with how many checks pass, or how many need a look. Select a row to read what it covers.
Check with Reads cleanly, 23 of 23 checks pass, Issues, Job match and Writing

Check leads with a verdict and passed checks

Fix issues

The Issues tab lists every open issue as a numbered card, most serious first. Each card names its category, says what’s wrong in plain words, and offers a fix.
1

Find the issue on the page

Each issue about a specific part of your resume has a matching numbered pin in the page margin, with a wavy underline under that part. Select a card, or its Show on page button, to outline the line on the page and scroll to it. Select a pin on the page to jump to its card.
Check issue selected and outlined at its location on the fictional sample page

Jump from an issue to its place on the page

2

Apply the fix

Many issues fix in one step. The card’s main button says what it does, for example Hide the photo, Use one column, Switch to one column or Use the standard heading. A message confirms the change and offers Undo.Other issues need you to write something, such as a missing phone number or a role with no description. Their button, for example Add a phone number or Describe the role, switches to Write and opens the right field.After a PDF import, a bullet can arrive as an entry of its own: no dates, and a company or title cut out of a sentence. It ends on a comma or a word such as “by”, or starts with a word such as “and”. It can also run on for more than 10 words right after a line cut on a comma, a dash or a word such as “by” or “through”, or read as prose, opening on an ordinary lower-case word, right after a line left without a full stop. Bullets written without full stops throughout don’t count as left open, and a name that starts lower-case, such as eBay or iOS, isn’t prose. Check reports it as Looks like part of the entry above instead of asking for dates, because dates would make it look like a separate job. A long or lower-case heading on its own, such as eBay or Senior Vice President of Global Engineering Operations, is a real entry, and Check asks for its dates. An entry with dates, a link or roles of its own is never reported this way, so merging never loses them. Merge into previous entry adds its text to the end of the entry above it and removes it; Undo in the message puts it back until you make another edit, and the builder’s Undo after that. If it really is its own entry, select Ignore and add its dates in Write.
Issue card in the Writing category titled Looks like part of the entry above, quoting an entry that ends mid-sentence with processing time by, explaining it has no dates and reads like a sentence cut off the entry above, with Merge into previous entry, Show on page and Ignore

A sentence an import split off the entry above

3

Or set the issue aside

If an issue doesn’t apply to you, select Ignore. For a choice that is yours to make, such as a two-column design, the button reads Keep instead. Ignored issues no longer count against the score. To bring them back, select Show them again under the list.
When every check passes, the tab reads Nothing to fix.
On a phone, selecting a pin opens a bar at the top of the page that reads “Issue 1 of 3”. Use the arrows to step through the issues and fix each one from the card at the bottom, without leaving the page.

See what a parser reads

Select See what a parser reads at the bottom of Check. The page is replaced by the text software pulls out of your resume’s PDF, in the order it comes out, with the name, email, phone, location, links, section headings and dates it recognized.
Check with the parser reading view, recognized fields and Back to the page

Read the text extracted from the PDF

Use it to spot content that lands in the wrong place, for example a sidebar read after your experience, or a field picked up from the wrong line. Use the back control to return to the page.

Match your resume to a job

The Job match tab picks out the terms a job posting stresses and shows which ones your resume already has. It isn’t part of the score.
1

Give it a posting

If the resume is linked to an application that has a saved posting, Job match uses that posting. If the linked application has no posting yet, paste it into the box and select Save to the application. Otherwise, choose an application from the list, or paste the posting into the box and select Match this posting.A pasted posting is kept for this visit only. To keep it, select Save as a job… and enter the Company and Role. Save job and make a copy saves the job and a copy of this resume linked to it, together (if either can’t be saved, neither is), and opens the copy on Job match, so you tailor the copy and this resume stays as it is for other jobs. Trying again after a dropped connection doesn’t save the job or the copy twice. Save and link this resume links this resume itself instead.Choosing an application for a resume that isn’t that job’s copy asks the same thing: Make a copy for this job or Link this resume. Unsaved edits are saved before the copy is made.
Job match with a pasted posting, Company Northwind Labs and Role filled in, Save job and make a copy, Save and link this resume and Cancel, above 5 of 19 posting terms appear and the missing and covered terms

Saving a pasted posting as a job, with a copy to tailor

2

Review the terms

The tab shows how many posting terms appear, for example 19 of 25 posting terms appear. Terms under Not in your resume · add only if true are missing. Terms under Already covered are there already: select one to highlight where it appears on the page.The count leaves out what a resume shouldn’t claim: the employer’s name, the job’s title and the job’s location (from the linked application, or from a pasted posting: “Fieldnote is hiring”, “Engineer at Fieldnote”, or a title’s tail after a dash that the posting also names as the employer or that ends like a company name, such as “Acme Corp”; a tail such as “Staff Engineer — Observability” is the field and still counts), plain numbers such as “12+”, lines about pay and perks such as salary, equity, holiday and relocation, and single generic words such as “drive”, “grow”, “evolve”, “analyze” or “background”. A hyphenated phrase in your resume counts both ways: “checkout-flow” covers “checkout flows”. A skill that contains one counts whole, such as “big data”, “hybrid cloud” or “technical lead”, and so does a pair the posting repeats, such as “help desk” or “early childhood”. A tool named after one of those words still counts when the posting writes it as a name: “Experience managing Workday” counts Workday. Everyday words that are also tool names, such as “rails” or “next”, count only when the posting writes them as a name, such as “Go, Java” or a bullet starting “Go and Kubernetes”. This is a word comparison, not a judgement of fit.
3

Add a missing term, if it's true

Select a missing term to see how often the posting uses it, then choose:
  • Add to Skills to add it as a keyword on your first visible skill, which the button names (for example Add to Skills · Unity Engine). If you have no skills, it creates one. It’s offered only for known skill names; a phrase from the posting, such as “accessibility audits”, belongs in an entry instead.
  • Ask the assistant to work it in to open the Assistant, which asks you before it adds anything. A pasted posting is sent with the request, since the assistant can’t otherwise see it.
  • Not true for me, hide it to leave it out of the match. Hidden terms are listed under the tab with Show again.
Job match tab ready to compare resume text with a job posting

Compare your resume with a posting

Once a resume is linked, the top of the tab names the application. Select Change to link a different application or to unlink it. You can also arrive from an application’s Fit result with Tailor resume for this job. Job match uses that application’s posting, including after a web reload. If it differs from the resume’s saved application link, For this visit only identifies the temporary context; Change and Unlink are unavailable for that context, so the other saved link stays intact.
Job match for the fictional Lumen application, beside its tailored resume

Use the linked job’s posting in Job match

Job match for the fictional Lumen application, beside its tailored resume

Use the linked job’s posting in Job match

Check the exported PDF

The checks above read your resume’s content and settings. To test the actual file a recruiter receives, select Also check the exported PDF at the bottom of the Issues tab. Reactive Resume creates the PDF in your browser and runs the full file check on it, the same one the ATS checker uses. Nothing is uploaded. A message tells you whether the PDF reads cleanly or how many more things there are to look at. Anything it finds is pinned to the page with a PDF icon and a dashed outline.
Check after generating the actual PDF, with Exported PDF checked: 1 more to look at and Show

The file check reports an item; Show opens its report

Select Show in the message, or any PDF pin, to open the full report. It gives a score out of 100, a score for each category (Readability, Layout, Sections, Contact details, Dates), and each finding with what to do about it. Writing holds tips that don’t affect the score.
The exported PDF report with score 100, category scores and a date-format warning for the fictional resume

Review the actual PDF report and each finding

The pins show while the Issues tab is open, until you change the resume. After an edit, run the check again.

Get a second opinion on your wording

The checks are mechanical. The Writing tab asks an AI model how a reader might react to your summary and bullets, and suggests rewrites. It needs your own AI provider; see Connecting an AI provider. Without one, the tab shows one Set up AI line that opens setup in place. Issues and Job match work without AI.
1

Choose the model

The tab says where your resume’s text goes, for example “Sends your resume’s text only to OpenAI · gpt-5-mini, with your key.” To use another of your providers, select Change and pick it.
Writing tab with the named AI connection and Review writing button

Review wording separately from readability checks

2

Run the review

Select Review writing. The review reads up to 120 bullets and paragraphs.
3

Accept or reject the suggestions

Rewrites of your own bullets appear as Proposed edits, numbered in the page margin. Select Accept or Reject on each, or Accept all or Reject all. Undo next to a rejected edit makes it undecided again. With an edit focused, A accepts it, R rejects it, and ↑ ↓ move between edits.Advice that isn’t a rewrite appears as a note marked High, Medium or Low, with Show on page. What’s working lists your strengths. Select Run again for a fresh review.
A model’s opinion can be wrong, and the review never changes the score. Accept only the rewrites that are true to your experience.

Using the ATS checker

Check any resume PDF, from any tool, without signing in.

Tailoring a resume for a job

Copy a resume for an application and adjust it to the posting.

Using the Assistant

Ask the AI assistant to rework parts of your resume.

Arranging the layout

Move sections between columns and pages.

Reopen a Writing review

The latest Writing review is saved with its input and review time. It remains readable after reload or when its provider is off. If the resume has changed, the review is marked out of date; original passages and suggestions remain visible. Review again before applying an out-of-date suggestion. Issues and Job match remain available without AI. Accepting a rewrite keeps that saved review’s recorded AI sources with the resume, visible in History on web and mobile. Undo restores the previous wording and sources together. Saving, reopening, Undo and accepting the same saved rewrite again do not run another review. Older reviews without recorded sources remain usable with unknown request history.
Saved fictional Writing review with review time, original summary, proposed rewrite and Set up AI repair action.

A saved Writing review remains available with its provider off.