The standard workflow for optimizing a resume against a job description goes like this: write the resume, export it, upload it to an ATS checker tool in a separate tab, see a score, go back to the resume, make changes, re-export, re-upload, check again. It's tedious — and most people give up after one or two cycles.
Rezly's resume builder eliminates that loop with a live ATS score that updates as you type, directly in the builder.
How it works
Paste a job description into the Target Job field in the builder. As you fill in your resume — summary, skills, experience bullets — a score gauge in the preview column updates in real time. It shows your current keyword match percentage and the top missing keywords. When you add a missing keyword to your Skills section or rephrase a bullet to include it, the score updates immediately.
No API calls. No page refreshes. The matching logic runs entirely in your browser, so it's instant regardless of your connection speed.
What the score is measuring
The live score is a keyword overlap percentage — the same metric that real ATS systems use as a first-pass filter. It tokenizes both the resume text and the job description, strips common stop words, and calculates what fraction of the job description's meaningful terms appear somewhere in your resume.
A score above 75% means your resume contains most of the keywords an ATS would look for. Above 85% puts you in the high-match tier that appears at the top of recruiter queues.
Using the score as a writing guide
The most useful part isn't the number — it's the missing keywords list. As you're writing bullets, you can see in real time which terms from the job description aren't yet in your resume. This turns resume writing from guesswork into a targeted optimization:
- Paste the job description first, before writing anything
- Add skills you genuinely have that the JD mentions — even if you wouldn't have thought to include them
- When rewriting a bullet for the AI Optimize feature, check whether the new version increased the score
- Aim for 80%+ before exporting the PDF
The difference between live score and full ATS analysis
The live builder score is a fast keyword-overlap indicator — it's designed to give you immediate feedback as you write. For a deeper analysis that includes formatting issues, AI-written suggestions, and a section-by-section breakdown, run your finished resume through the ATS Checker tool before submitting.
Think of the live score as the compass while you write, and the full ATS check as the pre-flight review before you submit.