ATS Parse Check of a Resume

Find formatting that may break applicant tracking systems.

Added October 15, 2026. Written with AI assistance and checked for clarity and placeholders; not reviewed by a lawyer, accountant, clinician or other professional. How these prompts are made

The Open buttons send the prompt text as currently shown below to that site only when you click. Fill in the placeholders first.

[VERIFY] is an editorial flag, not a blank to fill. Wherever the prompt shows [VERIFY], check that item against a reliable source before you use it (what [VERIFY] means).

Check whether my resume is likely to parse cleanly in an applicant tracking system. Paste the plain text exactly as extracted from my PDF: [EXTRACTED_TEXT]. Describe the visual layout (columns, tables, icons, text boxes, headers and footers): [LAYOUT_DESCRIPTION]. File format: [FILE_FORMAT].

Look for scrambled order, merged lines, missing section headings, dates that run into titles, special characters, skill graphics, contact details in headers, and non-standard section names. Say which problems you can see from the text and which you can only suspect from the layout.

Present findings as red, amber or green with the evidence quoted, give a corrected plain-text version of the top section, and list three tests I can run myself, such as copying the text into a plain editor. Do not promise that any system will accept the file.

Add a short review of the file name, the document properties and the way links appear in the extracted text. Suggest a plain-text test, copying the text into a basic editor, and a way to confirm that dates, titles and employers stay in the right order after extraction.

Then build a testing routine that I can repeat for each version of the resume. List the steps: export to the file type requested, copy the text into a plain editor, check order and headings, upload to a free parser if one is available to me, and record the result. Provide a template for recording the version, the date, the problems seen and the fix made. Explain which problems matter and which are cosmetic, and which are known to vary between systems, marking those claims [VERIFY]. Suggest a plain-text version that I can paste into forms, and a short list of rules for keeping the designed version and the plain version in step. Add advice on file naming, on avoiding images of text, and on writing dates and job titles in a form that is easy to read for both people and software. Remind me that no formatting guarantees an interview.

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Optional: type your details and the prompt above updates. Nothing is saved or sent.

Replace each bracketed placeholder with your own details, then paste into Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT or another assistant.

Sample report (invented extracted text)
Red: the extraction places "Skills" text before the name, so the header block is scrambled; two columns merged into one stream.
Amber: dates run into job titles ("Analyst 2019 2022 Acme Ltd"); the phone number sits in the page header and was dropped.
Green: section headings are standard; no tables remain; fonts are plain.
Corrected top section (plain text): Name, city, email, phone on separate lines, then Summary, then Experience with title, employer, dates on one line each.
Tests to run: paste into a text editor; upload to a free checker if available; search for each date and title.

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