Question 1

What does ATS mean?

Accepted Answer

ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System. It is software employers use to collect, parse, organise, and rank job applications before a hiring manager reviews them. Common platforms include Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Taleo, and BambooHR.

Question 2

What is an ATS and why does it matter?

Accepted Answer

An ATS parses your resume text, indexes your skills, and matches them against the job requirements. Most large employers use one, so a resume that parses badly can be filtered out before a person ever reads it.

Question 3

What is an ATS resume?

Accepted Answer

An ATS resume is structured and worded so an Applicant Tracking System can extract the text reliably — standard headings, a single column, no critical information locked inside images, tables, headers, or footers. Multi-column layouts and text inside headers or footers are the most common causes of parsing errors.

Question 4

What makes a resume ATS friendly?

Accepted Answer

Standard section headings (Work Experience, Education, Skills), clean reverse-chronological order, a single-column layout, and wording that matches the language used in the job description.

Question 5

What is a resume summary?

Accepted Answer

A two to three sentence opening that states your professional identity, relevant experience, core skills, and a headline achievement. It gives both the parser and the recruiter immediate context.

Question 6

How does Career Vault work?

Accepted Answer

Career Vault stores your verified accomplishments, projects, metrics, and skills so tailoring can draw on evidence you actually recorded rather than inventing claims. When you are signed out, records stay in your browser. When you are signed in, they are stored in your account and scoped to you. Material is only sent for AI review when you explicitly ask for it. Local records are never silently uploaded after you sign in.

Question 7

How do I write a resume?

Accepted Answer

Lead with contact details, add a short summary, then reverse-chronological experience written as quantified achievements rather than duties. Follow with skills, education, and certifications. Match your bullet wording to the exact phrasing used in the target job description.

Question 8

How long should a resume be?

Accepted Answer

One page for most candidates under roughly ten years of experience. Senior or academic profiles may justify two, but only if the second page carries real weight. Cut task descriptions before you cut measurable results.

Question 9

How do I make a resume stand out?

Accepted Answer

Replace passive duties such as "responsible for the API" with quantified outcomes such as "rebuilt the orders API, cutting p95 latency from 800ms to 210ms". Numbers survive skim-reading; adjectives do not.

Question 10

What is job application tracking?

Accepted Answer

Recording every application alongside its stage, the job description, and the exact resume version you submitted — so that when a recruiter calls back weeks later, you know precisely what they read. Coral Resume keeps the specific version you sent attached to each application record.

Question 11

What determines the ATS score?

Accepted Answer

Eight weighted dimensions: Impact & Metrics (20%), ATS Compatibility (15.6%), Content Completeness (13.3%), Structure & Layout (12.2%), Technical Skill Match (11.1%), Project Quality (11.1%), Active Verbs (11.1%), and Contact Formatting (5.6%). This is our own deterministic scoring model. No tool can report a real employer ATS score.

Question 12

Is Coral Resume free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every tool is available at no cost today and no card is collected. Usage limits apply to AI-backed actions so running costs stay bounded; deterministic analysis remains available regardless.