How to Increase Your ATS Score: 10 Proven Ways
A low ATS score means your resume is not making it past screening. Here are 10 specific strategies to increase your ATS score and get more interviews.
If you've checked your resume's ATS score and it's lower than you expected, you're not alone. Most people submit their resume without ever knowing what an ATS sees — and that's exactly why so many qualified candidates don't get callbacks.
The good news: a low ATS score is fixable. Here are 10 specific strategies to increase your ATS score and get your resume in front of more hiring managers.
First: What Is an ATS Score?
An ATS (Applicant Tracking System) score is a compatibility rating between your resume and a specific job description. When you apply for a job, the ATS parses your resume and compares it to the job posting — looking at keywords, experience, and formatting.
A higher score means the ATS sees your resume as more relevant to that role. Some systems use this score to auto-filter candidates before a human sees anything.
You can get your current score with OneResume's free ATS score checker — just paste your resume and the job description.
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10 Ways to Increase Your ATS Score
1. Use Keywords from the Job Description
This is the most impactful change you can make. ATS systems score your resume based on how well it matches the language in the job posting.
What to do:
- Read the job description carefully
- Identify the most-repeated skills and requirements (these are what the employer prioritizes)
- Add those exact terms to your resume in context — not in a keyword dump at the bottom
Example: If the job says "proficiency in Salesforce CRM" and your resume says "CRM experience," you're missing the match. Change it to "Salesforce CRM" to match the keyword exactly.
Tip: Use both the full term and the acronym when relevant (e.g., "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)") — different ATS systems search for different forms.
2. Match the Exact Job Title
If the job posting lists "Marketing Manager" and your resume says "Head of Marketing," you may miss the ATS keyword match for the title.
What to do:
- In your current/recent job titles, you can note the ATS-matching title if it's functionally accurate: "Head of Marketing (Marketing Manager)"
- In your summary, include the target job title naturally: "Marketing Manager with 5+ years..."
- Never invent a title — but mirroring common titles is fair game
3. Fix Your Resume Format
ATS systems can't read content inside tables, text boxes, or two-column layouts. If your resume uses these, you're likely losing content to parsing errors.
What to do:
- Switch to a single-column layout
- Remove all tables (use plain text alignment instead)
- Move contact info out of Word headers/footers into the main document
- Remove graphics, icons, and decorative elements
For the full formatting guide, see: Best ATS Resume Format
4. Use Standard Section Headers
ATS software looks for specific section labels — "Work Experience," "Education," "Skills." Creative section names ("My Journey," "What I Bring") often get skipped.
Standard labels that ATS recognizes:
- Work Experience (or Professional Experience)
- Education
- Skills (or Technical Skills, Core Competencies)
- Certifications
- Summary (or Professional Summary)
5. Quantify Your Achievements
While this doesn't directly affect parsing, ATS systems increasingly use AI to rank candidates — and hiring managers who see your resume look for numbers.
More importantly: quantified bullets often naturally include keywords that match job descriptions.
Before: "Managed social media accounts and grew following" After: "Grew LinkedIn following from 2,000 to 14,000 (600%) over 18 months through targeted content strategy"
The "after" version includes terms like "content strategy" and "LinkedIn" — real keywords that match modern job postings.
6. Add a Skills Section
Many ATS systems have a dedicated keyword match for the skills section. A well-built skills section gives you a dense concentration of relevant terms.
What to include:
- Technical tools and software (exact product names)
- Industry-specific methodologies (Agile, Six Sigma, GAAP, etc.)
- In-demand certifications (PMP, AWS, CPA, etc.)
- Soft skills only if explicitly listed in the job description
Format: A simple bulleted list or comma-separated list in a single column. No skill bars or visual ratings.
7. Tailor Your Resume for Each Application
A generic resume scores lower than a tailored one — by design. The ATS is measuring relevance to this specific job, not to your career in general.
This is the biggest time cost of job searching. The OneResume tailoring tool automates this: paste the job description, and it rewrites your resume to match the keywords and structure of that specific role.
8. Use Both Spelled-Out Terms and Acronyms
ATS systems vary in how they handle acronyms. To be safe, include both forms:
- "Project Management Professional (PMP)"
- "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)"
- "Machine Learning (ML)"
- "Customer Relationship Management (CRM)"
This ensures you match whether the ATS or recruiter searches for the acronym or the full term.
9. Keep Your Resume to 1–2 Pages
Longer resumes don't score better — they just contain more irrelevant content that dilutes your keyword density.
Guidelines:
- Under 5 years experience: 1 page
- 5–15 years experience: 1–2 pages
- Senior/executive (15+ years): 2 pages maximum (cut older roles to bullets or remove)
A tighter resume puts your most relevant experience and keywords closer together, which helps both ATS parsing and human review.
10. Use Action Verbs Aligned With the Job Description
Strong action verbs improve human readability — but picking verbs that match the job description also improves ATS matching.
If the job posting says "drive cross-functional collaboration," use "drove" in your bullets. If it says "build and execute," use "built" and "executed."
This creates natural language alignment between your resume and the job description — which is exactly what AI-enhanced ATS scoring looks for.
How to Know If Your Changes Are Working
Don't guess whether your edits improved your score — check it.
After each round of changes:
- Run your resume through the OneResume ATS score checker
- Note which keywords are still missing
- Prioritize adding the highest-weight missing terms
- Re-check until you hit 70%+ match
What score should you aim for?
- Below 50%: Major gaps — significant rewriting needed
- 50–70%: Good foundation, targeted improvements needed
- 70–85%: Strong match — focus on the highest-priority gaps
- Above 85%: Excellent — your resume should clear most ATS filters
The Fastest Way to Increase Your ATS Score
Manual editing works, but it's slow — especially when you're applying to multiple roles.
OneResume automatically tailors your resume for each job description. Paste the job posting, and it rewrites your resume to maximize keyword match, adjust your summary, and optimize your skills section — all while keeping your original experience intact.
Try the free ATS score checker →
Related reading: How to Pass ATS Screening | Best ATS Resume Format | Resume Keywords Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
A score above 70% is generally strong enough to clear most ATS filters. Below 50% means significant gaps that need rewriting. Above 85% is excellent and should clear even the most competitive screening.
No. Keyword stuffing — long lists of terms without context — looks suspicious to both ATS and humans. Include keywords naturally in your bullets and descriptions. Quality of placement matters more than raw count.
For every application. A generic resume scores lower than a tailored one because the ATS measures relevance to each specific job, not to your career in general. Tailoring is the highest-impact thing you can do.
Yes. Most score improvements come from using the exact keywords from the job description, fixing formatting issues, and reorganizing content. Your experience does not change — the way you present it does.
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