How is the match percentage worked out?

We pick up to 30 keywords from the advert — skills, tools, certifications, qualifications and job titles — and count how many of them appear in your resume. The percentage is found keywords divided by keywords picked. It only compares words; it can’t tell how a hiring team will judge your experience.

Where do the keywords come from?

From a list of skills, tools, certifications and job titles in our resume and career examples for 64 professions, plus acronyms such as SQL or ACLS and product names written in capitals in the advert. Degrees such as a bachelor’s or an MBA are matched with their common short forms.

Should I add every missing keyword to my resume?

No. Add a keyword only when it is true for you and you can talk about it in an interview. Tools go in your skills list and in one bullet that shows where you used them; job titles fit your summary; certifications and degrees go under Education or Certifications.

Why is a skill I have shown as missing?

The check looks for the same words. It allows small differences such as plurals, hyphens and “MS Excel” against “Excel”, but not different names for the same thing. If you wrote “client onboarding” and the advert says “customer onboarding”, use the advert’s wording once where it is accurate.

What match percentage should I aim for?

There is no fixed pass mark, and every employer’s system and recruiter works differently. As a rough guide, if most of the skills and tools the advert repeats are missing from your resume, tailor it before you apply — but only with keywords that honestly describe your work.

Should I copy the whole job advert into my resume?

No. Pasting hidden or copied text looks like keyword stuffing, and recruiters read resumes too. Add a missing keyword only where it is true — in a bullet that shows how you used it, in your skills list or in your summary — and be ready to talk about it in the interview.

Is this the ATS keyword checker?

Yes. The ATS keyword checker now lives here: the resume job match runs the same keyword comparison, also reads PDF and Word files, and names the section each missing keyword belongs in. To add the missing skills straight into your resume builder draft, use Tailor Resume to Job.

Are the advert and my resume uploaded?

No. The comparison runs in your browser. Only if you press “Fix it in the free builder” is your resume text sent once to our server so the builder can be filled in, together with the list of missing keywords; nothing is stored.

Resume Job Match & ATS Keyword Checker

Free resume job match and ATS keyword checker

Paste a job advert and upload or paste your resume to see which skills, tools and qualifications from the advert your resume already has, which are missing and where to add them. The tool picks up to 30 keywords from a job advert, such as tools, skills, certifications, degrees and job titles, and shows which ones your resume contains.

What does an applicant tracking system look for?

Many companies and job portals use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to store applications and help recruiters search them. Recruiters often filter by skills, tools, qualifications and job titles, so a resume that uses the same words as the advert is easier to find. This page uses a simple, rule-based keyword match; it is not the software any particular employer uses, and a high match does not guarantee a call.

How does the resume job match work?

The tool reads the advert and picks out the words that usually decide a search: software and tools, technical skills, certifications, degrees and job titles. It then looks for each one in your resume and shows what it found, what is missing and the section where a missing keyword usually belongs.

Tools and software — your skills list, plus one bullet that shows where you used it.
Skills — a bullet under your most recent role, with a result where you have one.
Job titles — your summary or headline, if the title is accurate for your work.
Certifications and degrees — the Education or Certifications section, with the awarding body.

Years of experience the advert asks for are listed but never scored, because words can’t show them. Make your dates and job titles easy to find instead.

Want the missing skills added for you? Tailor your resume to the job adds the ones you tick to your resume builder draft and suggests a summary line in the advert’s words.

What should you do before you apply?

Run the whole resume through the resume checker for length, layout, dates and personal details for the country.
Press “Fix it in the free builder” to open your resume in the resume builder with the missing keywords listed, and add the true ones.
Keep one master resume and save a tailored copy for each job you really want.

Worked example

An accounts executive resume against an advert

What goes in

Advert: Tally Prime, GST returns, MS Excel, B.Com, two to four years in accounts Resume: Tally ERP 9, GST filing, Excel, vendor payments, B.Com

What you get

Excel and B.Com show as found, because the tool treats MS Excel and Excel as the same skill and matches the degree by its short form. Tally Prime and GST returns show as missing, since the resume says Tally ERP 9 and GST filing. The candidate has used Tally Prime since her office upgraded, so she adds it to her skills list and rewrites one bullet to say she filed monthly GST returns. The two-to-four-years line is listed on its own, because words cannot show experience.

Common mistakes

Treating the match percentage as a pass mark, when it only counts shared words and says nothing about the depth of your experience.

Comparing against the short job card from a job board instead of the full advert, which leaves out most of the tools and qualifications.

Adding a certification or degree you are still studying for without saying so, instead of writing expected with the month you will finish.

When to use it: Use the resume job match for each role you apply to; for length, layout, dates and personal details by country, run the resume checker first.