What to have ready before you run a check
The checker works best with two things open side by side: the resume file you are about to send and the full text of the posting you are applying to.
For the resume, use the exact file you plan to submit, as a PDF or a Word .docx up to 10 MB. Older .doc files and password-protected PDFs cannot be read, so open those in Word or Google Docs and save a fresh copy. If you designed your resume in Canva or another design tool, export it as a PDF with real text rather than an image. A quick test: if you cannot highlight and copy a sentence from your PDF, an applicant tracking system probably cannot read it either, and the checker will tell you it found almost no text.
For the posting, copy everything from the job title down to the qualifications: responsibilities, required skills, assets or nice-to-haves, and any line about languages, availability or work term length. On a school co-op portal or a company careers site, the easiest way is usually to select the description text and paste it straight in. You do not need to tidy the formatting.
No resume handy yet? The sample resume on the page lets you see what a report looks like without using one of your daily checks.
Why the posting changes everything
You can run the checker on a resume alone, and it will still look at layout, contact details and section structure. But the part of the report that matters most for a real application, the requirements match, only exists when you paste a posting in.
With a posting, the checker reads the requirements and sorts them into what the employer says is required and what is listed as nice to have. It then looks through your resume for evidence of each one. That is much closer to how a recruiter actually uses an applicant tracking system: they search and filter the pool against the things this particular job needs, not against a generic idea of a good resume.
This is also why the same resume can score very differently against two postings. A resume that covers a retail supervisor role well may miss half of what a data analyst co-op asks for. The score belongs to the pairing of your resume and that posting, not to your resume on its own. Only the posting text is sent to StudentCV so the requirements can be read; your resume stays in your browser.
What each part of the report checks
The report breaks your result into sub-scores, sorted so that the area pulling your score down the most appears first.
Format and parsing. Can the text be extracted in a sensible order? Two-column layouts, tables, text boxes and content placed in headers or footers are the usual causes of trouble here. A low result in this area is worth fixing before anything else, because every other check depends on the text being read correctly.
Contact information. Does the resume have a name, email and phone number that software can recognize as such? For a Canadian application, city and province is the right level of address. A missing or oddly formatted email address is a small fix with a large effect.
Sections. Are there clear, conventional headings such as Education, Experience and Skills that let a system split the resume into the right fields? Headings like "About Me" or "What I Bring" may be read as ordinary text.
Skills. Is there a section where your skills are listed plainly, rather than only mentioned in passing inside paragraphs? A visible skills list gives keyword searches something solid to match.
Summary. Is there a short profile at the top, and does it say something specific about the role and your background? A summary that could belong to anyone adds little.
Keyword and requirement match. Which of the posting's requirements does your resume show evidence for, and which are missing? Each requirement is marked as required or nice to have, so you can see at a glance where the gaps are.
Reading your score and deciding what to fix first
The score runs from 0 to 100 and comes with a short verdict: weak, average or strong. Read it as a direction, not a grade. A middling score with one large, fixable problem is a better position than it looks.
Work through the report in this order:
- Anything that stops the text being read. If format or parsing is weak, rebuild the layout first. Matching keywords is pointless if the system cannot read the page.
- Required items you actually meet but did not mention. These are the most valuable fixes. You already have the skill; the resume simply does not say so. The report lets you tick "I have this" for requirements you meet, which helps you keep track of what to add.
- Missing contact details or unclear headings. Quick to correct, and they affect how the whole file is sorted.
- Nice-to-haves you can honestly claim. Add them where they fit naturally, ideally inside a bullet point that shows you using the skill.
- Summary and wording. Once the structure and content are right, sharpen the summary so it names the role and the two or three things you bring to it.
Requirements you do not meet should stay off the resume. If a gap matters, the cover letter is the place to say you are keen to learn it. The fixes list in the report is already in priority order, so if you only have twenty minutes before a deadline, start at the top.
A worked example: lifting a low result
Jordan is a second-year computer science student in Vancouver applying for a four-month IT support co-op. He uploads his resume and pastes the posting. The score comes back weak.
The sub-scores show the problem is not one thing. His resume uses a two-column template, so the format check flags a mixed-up reading order. His contact line sits in the page header, and the checker could not find a phone number. The requirements list shows that the posting asks for help desk ticketing, Windows and macOS troubleshooting, Active Directory and strong customer service, and that only Windows appears in his resume.
Jordan works through the fixes in order. He moves everything into one column and puts his name, "Vancouver, BC", phone, email and LinkedIn at the top of the body. He renames "Stuff I've Built" to "Projects". Then he looks at the requirements honestly. He did troubleshoot Mac and Windows laptops at his part-time job at a campus computer store, and he handled customer questions there every shift, so he rewrites those bullets to say so in the posting's terms. He has never used Active Directory, so he leaves it out and mentions in his cover letter that he has started learning it. He adds a line under his name: "Available for a 4-month co-op term, January – April 2027".
He runs the check again. The format and contact sub-scores are now strong, most required items show evidence, and the overall score has moved from weak to strong. Active Directory is still missing, which is the honest result. The report does not decide whether he gets an interview, but his application now says clearly what he can do.
Privacy: what happens to your file
Your resume is read inside your browser. The file is not uploaded to StudentCV and is not stored on our servers when you run a check. The text of the job posting is sent to us so the requirements can be identified, which is why you should paste only the posting and not personal information into that box.
If you later choose to build a tailored resume from your report, the page tells you before you continue that your resume text and the posting will then be sent to StudentCV to create the new version. Nothing moves until you take that step.
What the checker can and cannot tell you
The checker is built on how applicant tracking systems generally parse and search resumes. It cannot reproduce the exact settings of a particular employer's system, because every organization configures its own, and many add screening questions that sit outside the resume. Treat the score as indicative.
It also cannot judge things a person weighs up: whether your experience is relevant enough, how well you write, or whether you suit the team. A strong score means your resume is readable and well matched to the posting. It is not a guarantee of an interview.
You get three free checks a day. Leave your email address and you can run three more the same day and download your reports as PDFs, which is handy when you are comparing versions for several co-op postings.
After the check: tailoring with StudentCV
Fixing a resume by hand is worth doing once, so you understand what the report is asking for. Doing it for every posting during co-op recruiting season is a lot of work. That is where StudentCV's resume builder comes in: it takes your current resume and the posting, rewrites your summary, bullet points and skills around the requirements, and keeps to experience you actually have. You can see and edit the full result before paying anything, then download it as PDF or Word.