Get your resume reviewed the way a recruiter skims it

The score is the sum of six checks, 10 points in all:

• First screen, 2 points. The review estimates the first 12 lines of the page; a pasted line of more than 100 characters counts as several. One point is lost for each of these: your first job starts after line 12; the summary is longer than 60 words; more than 10 skills are listed before any job. If no job with dates is found, the check gives 0.
• Wording, 2 points. Lines under your jobs that contain “responsible for”, “duties included”, “tasked with”, “in charge of”, “helped with”, “helped to”, “worked on”, “assisted with”, “participated in”, “involved in” or “was part of”. None: 2 points. One or two lines: 1. Three or more: 0.
• Numbers, 2 points. The share of bullet points under your jobs that contain a number that is not a year. Half or more: 2 points. A quarter or more: 1. Fewer: 0. Bullet points are lines that start with a dash or a dot; if there are none, lines of eight or more words under a job are used.
• Skills, 1.5 points. Each entry of your skills list is searched for in the text of your jobs. Up to a third missing: 1 point. Up to two thirds: 0.5. More: 0. A list of 20 entries or fewer adds 0.5. With no skills list the check gives 0.5.
• Gaps, 1 point. Date ranges such as “Jan 2021 – Mar 2023”, “2019–2021” and “03/2020 – present” are read wherever they stand, education included. No break of more than six months: 1 point. One break: 0.5. Two or more: 0. If no dates can be read, the check says so and gives 0.5. A range given in years only is counted from January of the first year to December of the last, and the time since your last entry counts as a break when it is longer than six months.
• Length, 1.5 points. 250 to 1,300 words: 1 point (up to 650 words is about one page, up to 1,300 about two). 150 to 249 words: 0.5. Otherwise 0. No line under your jobs longer than 200 characters, about two lines of the page: 0.5.

8.5 and above is labelled “reads well on a first skim”, 6.5 to 8 “solid”, 4.5 to 6 “readable”, anything lower “hard to skim”. The points and thresholds are our own rules of thumb, written down so that you can check them; they are not an industry standard. The review cannot tell whether what you wrote is true, how the page looks or whether you fit a particular job. A break in the dates is a question a reader may ask, not a fault.