The Flags I Received Don't Make Sense

Quinn identifies problems on your resume, as well as places for improvement. If you received flags or improvements on your resume analysis that doesn't make sense, your PDF may be corrupt. 

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) cannot properly read your education, work experience, and skills when a PDF is corrupted. For example, Quinn may tell you that you’re missing information (e.g., dates, job titles, section titles) that is on your resume. This doesn't mean that Quinn isn't functioning properly, it just means that the file corruption is impacting her ability to correctly parse your resume. 

Always upload your resume to online applications in PDF format. Files in PDF format hold their shape when parsing through an ATS. For example, a Word document will likely be jumbled around once it gets into the hiring manager’s hands, but a PDF will look exactly as you formatted it pre-upload. 

Although PDF files are the best way to maintain your resume's formatting, they are at high risk of corruption. Your file may become corrupted because: 

• It’s been sitting on your desktop for too long. 
• You have uploaded it multiple times to different applications or online tools. 
• The original document has been converted to different writing tools. 

For example, your file will become corrupt if you begin writing your resume in a Word document, move it to Google docs (or vice versa), and save it as a PDF. Make all edits and updates to your resume in the original document and convert it to a PDF from there. 

You can check if your PDF is corrupt by copying all of the text in your file and pasting it into a blank Word (or Google) document. If the text holds its shape and format, your PDF is not corrupt. If the text becomes unreadable or jumbled around, it is corrupt. 

To fix a corrupt PDF, all you have to do is access your original Word (or Google) document and resave it as a PDF.