See what's missing before you submit.
Pick a real posting and Carir checks your resume against the terms it names, the way an applicant tracking system reads them: exact terms count fully, other spellings count partly, and the posting's knockouts are quoted back to you.
Free on every plan. No AI involved.
Carir's ATS check scores your resume from 0 to 100 by how much of a posting's terms it covers: an exact term counts fully, a different spelling partly, a missing one not at all. It quotes the posting's knockouts, such as years, a certification or work authorization, and runs without AI on every plan.
What the ATS resume checker does for you
What does it do?
It compares your resume with one posting's text and tells you which of the posting's terms your resume shows, which it shows under another spelling, and which it misses. It quotes the posting's knockouts, the requirements that can end an application early.
Who is it for?
Anyone about to apply: a student sending a first resume, a career changer moving into a new title, or an experienced applicant whose resume was written for a different role.
What problem does it solve?
Applicant tracking systems and recruiters search resumes for the posting's own words. A strong resume can still miss them because it says Postgres where the posting says PostgreSQL, or never names a requirement it meets.
How is it different from checking by hand?
By hand you read the posting, list its terms and search your resume for each. The ATS check does that for every term, weighs exact and near spellings, and pulls out knockouts you might skim past.
How does it connect to the rest of Carir?
The check sits on every posting in Search and every card in Matches, beside the buttons that start the AI tailor and Auto Apply. In the resume builder, the Fix gaps tab asks you about each gap rather than adding it for you.
How it works
- Choose the posting.From Search, from a Matches card, or on carir.ai with no account: search a real role, then pick it.
- Carir reads both texts.It lists the posting's terms and looks for each in your resume, counting an exact term fully and another spelling partly.
- You see the score and the gaps.A score from 0 to 100, the terms already on your resume, the terms missing, and the knockouts quoted from the posting.
- Close the gaps you can, truthfully.Add a term only if it is true. Tailor for ATS aligns the spelling of skills you already list, on a copy, and the AI tailor rewrites your own lines for the posting.
Why it helps
No AI, no guesswork
The check is a deterministic keyword pass, so the same resume and posting always give the same answer.
Knockouts quoted
Years of experience, certifications, work authorization, education and clearance come back in the posting's own words.
Spelling fixed without inventing
Tailor for ATS only changes how skills already on your resume are spelled, on a copy, so the original stays as it was.
A full audit in the builder
The resume builder adds an overall score with keywords, title, requirements, impact and format, and suggestions to add a keyword only if it is true.
This isn't an isolated tool.
The ATS check is one step in a chain. It reads the posting Search or Matches found, the AI tailor and the builder's Fix gaps tab are where its gaps get closed, and Auto Apply runs an ATS pass as one of its steps before it prepares an application.
- Matches
- ATS check
- Tailor
- Auto Apply
- Tracker
Before you decide
Once a role is worth it
Read next
What is an ATS resume? How applicant tracking systems really read applications
What an applicant tracking system does with your resume, whether ATS software rejects applications on its own, how to format an ATS-friendly resume, and how to check one against a posting.
How to write a resume with no experience: a guide for students and new grads
How to write a first resume with no work experience: what counts as experience, which sections to use, how to write bullets from classes and projects, and how to check it against a posting.
Can recruiters tell if you used ChatGPT on your resume?
Whether recruiters can detect a ChatGPT resume or cover letter, why AI detectors are unreliable, what actually gives AI writing away, and how to use AI on a resume safely.
Should I tailor my resume for every job?
What tailoring actually means, the parts that matter most, and when a generic resume is good enough.
Why am I not getting interviews?
The four places an application usually fails, how to tell which one is yours, and what to change first.
Questions about the ATS resume checker
What is an ATS resume checker?
An ATS resume checker compares your resume with a job posting the way an applicant tracking system searches it: by the posting's own terms. Carir's version scores your coverage of those terms from 0 to 100, lists what your resume shows and misses, and quotes the posting's knockouts.
How does Carir compare my resume to a job description?
It lists the terms the posting names and looks for each in your resume. An exact term counts fully, a different spelling counts partly and a missing term counts nothing, so the score is weighted coverage. Knockouts such as years, certifications and work authorization are quoted separately.
Does a high ATS score mean I'll get an interview?
No. The score measures how much of the posting's language your resume carries, which helps a recruiter find you. It says nothing about the people deciding, the other applicants or the role's timing, so treat it as a check on your resume, not a forecast.
Should I change my resume for every job?
Change the wording, not the facts. Use the posting's terms where your experience already matches them, lead with the lines that answer its requirements, and leave out anything you can't stand behind. Carir's AI tailor works this way and lists what it left alone.
Is the ATS check free?
Yes, on every plan, and you can try it on carir.ai without an account: search a real posting and score your resume against it. The free check names the two most important missing terms and counts the rest; a free account shows every term.
One profile. One agent. Every step of the search.
The ATS resume checker is one part of the Carir AI Agent. The free plan keeps job search, the ATS check, the resume builder, alerts and the tracker. The five-day Pro trial adds Matches, the AI tailor, Auto Apply, contact research and career intelligence; it needs no card and ends on its own.