Free resume keyword checker

What this checker does, and what it does not

Most medium and large employers, and portals such as Naukri, store applications in an applicant tracking system (ATS). Recruiters then search or filter those applications by skills, tools and job titles. If the words a recruiter searches for are not in your resume — or your resume is a PDF whose text cannot be read — your application is harder to find, however good your experience is.

This checker takes the terms that appear most often in the job ad (single words and two-word phrases such as "power bi" or "project management"), leaves out words found in almost every ad ("team", "experience", "strong"), and looks for each one in your resume. The percentage is weighted: a term the ad repeats five times counts more than one it mentions once.

It does not reproduce any employer's software, predict whether you will be shortlisted, or judge the quality of your writing. Treat it as a fast second pair of eyes on wording, not as a score to chase.

A worked example

A fresher applying for a Junior Data Analyst role pastes an ad that repeatedly mentions SQL, Excel, Power BI, dashboards, data cleaning and stakeholder reporting. Their resume lists "Python, SQL, MS Office" and a final-year project on sales prediction. The checker shows SQL as found, but Power BI, dashboards, data cleaning and reporting as missing.

The student did clean the project's dataset and built charts for the project review, so they rewrite the project bullet as: "Cleaned 12,000 rows of sales data in Python and SQL, and built an Excel dashboard of monthly trends presented to the project panel." They have not used Power BI, so they leave it out and mention Excel instead. The match goes up for honest reasons, and every word can be defended in an interview.

Before you upload: make sure the text can be read

Keywords only help if the portal can read your file. Open your PDF, press Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C, and paste into Notepad. If the text comes out in a sensible order, software can read it. If nothing is selected, the PDF is an image. In our resume builder, the "Text PDF (ATS)" button gives a PDF with real text; our formatting guide covers layouts that read well for both software and people.

Questions about the checker

Is this the same as a real ATS?

No. Applicant tracking systems used by employers are different products with their own settings, and none of them publishes a "score" formula. This tool does one thing they all depend on: it checks whether the words the job ad uses for skills and tools also appear in your resume.

Is my resume uploaded or stored?

No. The comparison runs in your browser. The job description and resume text are not sent to our server and are gone when you close or clear the page.

What percentage should I aim for?

There is no official target. Above about 70% usually means your resume already speaks the ad's language. A low figure is a prompt to look at the missing terms, not a verdict: add the ones that are true for you, and leave out the ones that are not.

Should I copy the whole job description into my resume?

No. Recruiters read the resume after the software, and pasted keyword lists or hidden text are easy to spot. Use the ad's wording for skills you really have, inside bullets that show how you used them.

Why does my PDF not work with this tool?

Paste text, not a file. If you cannot select and copy the text in your PDF, job portals cannot read it either. In our builder, use the "Text PDF (ATS)" button to get a PDF with real text.