We Analyzed 336,637 Resumes. Here Are the Words and Mistakes That Tank Your ATS Score.
We ran 336,637 real resumes through Resumly's ATS checker and aggregated the results. The takeaway: it's rarely fancy formatting that hurts you — it's vague filler words and a total absence of numbers.
Key findings
- 94% of resumes contain at least one overused buzzword — about 2.92 per resume.
- 31.5% of resumes have zero quantified achievements (no numbers, %, or $). Only ~25.3% of bullet points contain a number.
- Resumes with 3+ quantified bullets scored 7 points higher on average (71.8 vs 64.8/100).
- The words most associated with lower scores are vague self-descriptors — “hardworking”, “motivated”, “enthusiastic”, “quick learner” — not action verbs.
- Median ATS score is 69/100; 50.9% of resumes score below 70.
Methodology & data (read this)
- Sample: 336,637 resumes uploaded to Resumly's free ATS Resume Checker, each scored by a file-level analysis of the exported document. One score per check.
- What "score" means: a 0–100 ATS-readiness score from Resumly's checker (parsing, keywords, structure, content strength) — not a specific employer's ATS pass/fail.
- Buzzword association: for each overused term, we compare the average score of resumes that use it vs. those that don't. This is correlation, not causation — a word that appears with weaker resumes isn't necessarily what "causes" the lower score.
- Privacy: fully aggregate and anonymized. No names, contact details, employers, or resume text are included; any term/segment with fewer than 1,000 resumes is suppressed.
- Skew: Resumly's audience skews toward tech and early-career applicants, which is visible in the "missing skills" list.
The words that quietly lower your score
Average ATS-score difference for resumes using each term vs. resumes that don't (336,637 resumes). Vague personality adjectives fare worst.
Read as: resumes using "hardworking" scored 9.3 points lower on average than those that didn't. Association, not causation — these words tend to replace evidence, they don't directly trigger rejections.
| Term | Resumes using it | % of sample | Avg score with | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hardworking | 1,099 | 0.3% | 59.5 | -9.3 |
| motivated | 9,816 | 2.9% | 62.9 | -6.1 |
| enthusiastic | 2,544 | 0.8% | 63 | -5.8 |
| quick learner | 6,155 | 1.8% | 63.4 | -5.5 |
| eager | 6,091 | 1.8% | 63.5 | -5.4 |
| team player | 1,207 | 0.4% | 64.5 | -4.3 |
| dedicated | 5,574 | 1.7% | 65.1 | -3.8 |
| committed | 2,838 | 0.8% | 65.4 | -3.4 |
| passionate | 19,142 | 5.7% | 66.1 | -2.9 |
| detail-oriented | 15,405 | 4.6% | 66 | -2.9 |
| strong | 10,817 | 3.2% | 66.1 | -2.8 |
| strong foundation | 6,513 | 1.9% | 66.4 | -2.4 |
…and the words that go with stronger resumes
Concrete, outcome-oriented verbs trend the other way — because they usually sit next to a result.
The real killer: no numbers
31.5% of the 336,637 resumes had not a single quantified bullet. On average, just 25.3% of bullet points contained a number, percentage, or dollar figure. Resumes with 3+ quantified bullets averaged 71.8/100 vs 64.8/100 for resumes with none — a 7-point gap, the single largest content effect in the dataset.
What a "normal" ATS score looks like
Distribution of ATS scores across 336,637 resumes. Median 69; most land between 66 and 74.
| Score range | Resumes | % of sample |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 178 | 0.1% |
| 10-19 | 33 | 0.0% |
| 20-29 | 99 | 0.0% |
| 30-39 | 1,204 | 0.4% |
| 40-49 | 3,987 | 1.2% |
| 50-59 | 27,261 | 8.1% |
| 60-69 | 138,519 | 41.1% |
| 70-79 | 157,564 | 46.8% |
| 80-89 | 7,764 | 2.3% |
| 90-99 | 28 | 0.0% |
The skills people forget to list
Most common keywords the checker flagged as missing for the applicant's target role (tech-leaning sample).
| Keyword | Resumes missing it | % of sample |
|---|---|---|
| ci/cd | 80,887 | 24% |
| agile | 72,868 | 21.6% |
| kubernetes | 63,651 | 18.9% |
| docker | 62,523 | 18.6% |
| scrum | 59,625 | 17.7% |
| aws | 46,224 | 13.7% |
| unit testing | 40,618 | 12.1% |
| microservices | 40,063 | 11.9% |
| azure | 25,974 | 7.7% |
| stakeholder management | 25,276 | 7.5% |
| kpis | 24,728 | 7.3% |
| git | 21,178 | 6.3% |
| sql | 16,963 | 5% |
| etl | 16,642 | 4.9% |
| project management | 14,961 | 4.4% |
Where resumes are weakest
Average sub-score by dimension. Content strength (impact & quantification) is consistently the lowest — the same story as the numbers gap above.
How to cite this study
Resumly (2026). The ATS Resume Study: An analysis of 336,637 resumes. Retrieved from https://www.resumly.ai/research/ats-resume-studyJournalists & researchers: you're welcome to cite these figures with a link to this page. For a custom data cut (e.g. by industry), email hello@resumly.ai.
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Check my ATS score →More research: The Job-Search Inbox Study (154,128 emails) · What Stops Job Applications (95,495 attempts) · The Tailoring Gap (resume↔job match) · All studies · Free ATS resume checker
