Understanding Your Resume Analysis

Upload New PDF Resume Button

Click this button when you are ready to upload another PDF version of your resume after making some of the changes Quinn suggested. Take note of how your score and feedback change after uploading your second resume!

Resume Card

Want to see how your score has changed over time? This card shows you your score, the badge you received, and whether or not you hit your benchmark!

Way to go!

This section tells you whether or not you hit the benchmark set for your grade level. Underclassmen typically have lower benchmarks than upperclassmen. This widget tells you how many more points you need to earn to reach your benchmark or how many points you outperformed your benchmark by! You can increase your score by decreasing your Flags and Improvements to 0.

Breakdown

Your overall resume score is broken down into three categories: General, Content, and Formatting. The score you receive combines all three sections of your resume, and the Breakdown section shows how you scored in each category. The sections compare your score to the top-scored resumes from your university.

History

You will either receive a bronze, silver, or gold badge. There's no need to worry if you don't receive a gold badge, especially as a first- or second-year student! As you gain more experience and skills, your resume will become stronger and eventually lead you to a gold badge!

Your instructor or advisors sets the benchmarks based on your grade level. A first-year student's benchmark may be set at 150 while a fourth-year student's benchmark is set at 250.

Resume Analysis

Each resume analysis breaks down into three categories: General, Formatting, and Content.

General

Quinn assesses whether or not your resume includes all of the key elements like an Education section, corresponding dates, a Work Experience section, and possibly a Summary. The General analysis evaluates those components using the following two categories:

Impact: You should focus your attention on a few key aspects for your resume to resonate with employers. To pass the ATS, focus on interests, summary statements, number of pages, and using images properly.

Target: Write in the same language employers read. Employers scan your resume for relevant skills and experiences, so make sure you highlight them in each of your sections.

Formatting

The way you format your resume is incredibly important. Even the smallest typo can stand in the way of you and your resume reaching the hiring manager. Quinn works hard to ensure that your resume is ATS compliant and stands the best chance of getting in front of the right people. Here’s what Quinn looks for and how she calculates your score:

Format: Quinn looks at things like margins, fonts, and dates. Quinn also considers common questions like Are all the sections of your resume clearly defined? and Are your education and experience sections easy to read? to gauge how parsable your resume is. The better your formatting is, the more points you earn!

Words: This section focuses on your spelling and grammar. Utilize the Microsoft Word or Google Docs tools to ensure that your proofreading game is on point! You earn 10 points for achieving zero spelling errors and an additional 10 points for zero grammatical errors. Mistakes in either area result in 0 earned points for that section. This may sound harsh, but it is for your benefit. When you apply for jobs, spelling and grammatical errors can lead to automatic resume rejections.

Presence: This section is all about you. Quinn looks for your skills, results, and action verbs. You can rack up the points here when you talk about your technical/essential skills and when you mention your experience and results. Make sure each bullet point has quantified results and utilize technical and essential skills to receive the highest score possible. Quinn provides you with great examples in the line-by-line detailed resume analysis.

Content

Now that your resume is formatted properly, it’s time to make sure that it’s filled with relevant information. You can earn more points here by providing information in a digestible format.

Degree: You earn points for including your degree, major, GPA, and coursework. You earn 10 points for each item you include correctly.

Experience: Your experience matters. You earn points for each part-time role, full-time job, or internship that you list. The more the merrier!

Key Details: This is all about your skills and quantified results from your experience. You earn points each time you highlight a technical or essential skill and show quantified results from your experience. You also earn points for dynamic word selection in your bullet points.

Flags and Improvements

Each category of your resume analysis displays how many Flags or Improvements you received within that section.

Flags are edits that you must make for your resume to parse the Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

Improvements are optional recommendations that you can make to improve your resume.

Flags are worth two points and improvements are worth one. You can edit your resume using the Flags and Improvements Quinn suggested.

For every Flag or Improvement, Quinn provides an overview of what you need to update on your resume. Each Flag or Improvement includes a link that directs you to our Helpdesk articles. Sometimes, Quinn even provides you with specific examples to help you edit your resume.

Steps to Improve Score Card

This card provides you with three high-level suggestions to improve your resume based on the document that you uploaded. This section gives you great advice, but you get more specific feedback in the Detailed Feedback section.

Essential and Technical Skills Clouds

These word clouds highlight the most frequently used or prevalent skills listed on your resume. The numbers in the parenthesis indicate how many times that skill showed up throughout your resume. You can easily switch between the two word clouds by clicking on the button at the bottom of the card.

Based on Quinn’s analysis of your resume, the Technical Skills cloud can help identify some of the industries and positions that could be a good fit for you. This is a great starting point and can shape your job search, as well as the conversations you have with your career advisor.

Search for Technical Skills

This search engine helps improve the way you list technical skills on your resume. These skills must be written in a specific way so the ATS can recognize them.

Example: An ATS would not recognize Photoshop as a technical skill. You must list it as Adobe Photoshop.

This is also a great search engine to use if you need to determine what technical skills are connected to specific tools, industries, majors, or general skills.

Need Additional Assistance?

Refer to the help widget in the bottom right corner when you need additional assistance. We have resources that explain Applicant Tracking Systems, what to do and not to do on your resume, and best practices for reviewing your analysis! You can also reach out directly to our support team for help.