Run an ATS stress test on my resume

Act as an Applicant Tracking System parser. I'll paste my resume as plain text.
Run it through a stress test and tell me what an ATS would flag.

Check for and report on:
1. Missing standard section headings (should have at least: Summary, Skills,
   Projects, Education).
2. Bullet points that don't start with action verbs.
3. Skills that are mentioned only in prose but not listed in a Skills section.
4. Dates in inconsistent formats.
5. Contact info completeness (name, email, phone, LinkedIn, GitHub).
6. Any use of tables, columns, text boxes, or special characters that ATS
   parsers often mangle.
7. Bullet points longer than 2 lines.
8. Missing quantifiable outcomes.

Output format:
PASSED: [list items that are fine]
WARNINGS: [list items that could be improved]
CRITICAL: [list items that will likely hurt ATS parsing]
TOP 3 FIXES TO MAKE FIRST: [ranked list]

Here is my resume:
[PASTE RESUME HERE]

Who this is for

This prompt is for freshers who have been applying to jobs on Naukri, LinkedIn, Instahyre, or company career pages and getting no responses. Not rejections. No responses at all. If your resume disappears into a void every time you click "Apply," there is a good chance an ATS is filtering you out before a human ever sees your resume.

Most large Indian companies and virtually all product companies use Applicant Tracking Systems. These systems parse your resume into structured data: name, email, skills, experience, education. If the parser cannot read your resume correctly, your application is effectively dead on arrival.

This prompt is especially important if you used a Canva template, a multi-column layout, or a resume with icons, graphics, or creative formatting. Those designs look great on screen but often break completely when an ATS tries to parse them.

Even if you used a simple template, this prompt catches issues you might not think about: inconsistent date formats, missing section headings, skills buried in paragraphs instead of listed cleanly.

How to use it

Step 1: Get your resume as plain text. Open your resume in Word or Google Docs, select all, and copy. Paste it into a plain text editor to strip any hidden formatting. This is what an ATS actually sees.

Step 2: Copy the prompt and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Then paste your plain-text resume where it says "[PASTE RESUME HERE]." Do not paste a screenshot or a PDF. The AI needs to read the text the same way an ATS would.

Step 3: Read the report and fix critical issues first. The output is organized by severity: PASSED, WARNINGS, and CRITICAL. Start with the critical items. These are the ones most likely to cause your resume to be filtered out entirely.

Example before and after

Before (common ATS problems):

A student pastes their resume and the ATS stress test returns:

CRITICAL: No "Skills" section heading found. Skills mentioned in project descriptions but not listed separately. ATS cannot extract skill keywords.

CRITICAL: Dates use three different formats ("Jan 2024," "2024-01," "January 2024"). ATS may misparse employment timeline.

WARNINGS: Two bullet points start with "Responsible for" instead of an action verb. Contact section missing LinkedIn URL.

PASSED: Section headings for Education and Projects found. Email and phone number present. All bullet points are under 2 lines.

TOP 3 FIXES: 1. Add a dedicated Skills section listing all technical skills. 2. Standardize all dates to "Mon YYYY" format. 3. Replace "Responsible for" with action verbs.

After fixing: The student adds a Skills section, fixes the dates, and rewrites the weak bullets. Running the prompt again shows all items in PASSED with zero critical issues.

Common mistakes to avoid

Pasting a formatted version instead of plain text. If you paste from a designed template, the AI might not see the same formatting problems an ATS would. Strip your resume to plain text first. That is the version that matters for ATS compatibility.

Fixing only the warnings and ignoring the critical items. Warnings matter, but critical items are the ones that can get your resume rejected outright. Fix those first, even if the warnings feel easier to address.

Running this test only once. Run it again after making fixes. Sometimes fixing one issue (like adding a Skills section) can change the overall structure in ways that create new warnings. A second pass takes two minutes and catches those.

Assuming a clean ATS test means your resume is good. This prompt only checks parseability. A resume can pass every ATS check and still have weak content. Use the critique and review prompts separately to assess quality.

When not to use this prompt

Skip this prompt if you are applying only through referrals or direct emails to hiring managers. In those cases, your resume goes directly to a person, not through an ATS. Focus on content quality instead.

Also skip this if you have not written your resume yet. This is a diagnostic tool, not a writing tool. Write your resume first using the other prompts in this toolkit, then run the ATS stress test as a final check before you start applying.