What the Resume Job Description Matcher does
This matcher compares your resume with a job description and shows, term by term, what the advert asks for and where - or whether - your resume shows it. It pulls skills, tools, methods and qualifications out of the advert, sorts them into required, preferred and merely mentioned using the advert's own headings and wording, then finds each one in your resume: an exact match, a related word form, or missing. For every match it shows the section and the line that proves it.
It also compares the years of experience the advert asks for with the years your dated roles cover, and flags degree and seniority signals. Everything runs in your browser; neither text is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Paste the full job description, including its headings - 'Requirements', 'Nice to have' and similar lines decide which terms count as required or preferred.
- Paste your resume text, or drop a .docx or .txt file.
- Press Compare. Read the missing required terms first, then the related-form list.
- Check the evidence column: a term that only appears in your skills list is weaker than one shown in a recent role with a result.
- If a place name, company name or benefit is picked up as a term, add it to 'Ignore terms' and compare again.
Reading the results
The headline is a weighted share: each required term counts twice, preferred and other terms once, and a related word form ('managed' for 'management') half. It is a coverage measure, not a probability of being shortlisted.
Required versus preferred is read from the advert's structure. A line under 'Requirements' or containing 'must' or 'essential' is required; a line under 'Nice to have' or containing 'preferred' or 'a plus' is preferred; anything else is mentioned.
Years of experience are counted from the date ranges in your experience section, with overlapping roles merged. Roles without dates are not counted.
Worked example: a data analyst resume against a pricing analyst advert
The advert lists SQL, Python, Tableau or Power BI, stakeholder management, written communication, data modelling and statistics under 'Requirements', and Snowflake, A/B testing and Google Analytics under 'Nice to have'. That gives 8 required and 3 preferred terms.
The resume shows 6 of the 8 required terms - Power BI and written communication are missing - and 1 of the 3 preferred ones, A/B testing. Weighted, that is (6 x 2 + 1) / (8 x 2 + 3) = 13/19 = 68%.
Its two roles run from June 2020 to the present with no gap, about 6.3 years, against the advert's 3+ years. The useful output is the gap list: add Power BI only if you have used it, and show written communication with an example rather than the phrase.
How terms are found
Three sources, all shown in the results. A curated list of about 220 common skills, tools, methods and credentials, with spelling variants treated as the same term (JavaScript and JS, data visualisation and visualization). Capitalised product and brand names and acronyms that are not at the start of a sentence, such as Salesforce, PCI DSS or PSD2. And two-word phrases the advert uses more than once. Words after 'in', 'across' or 'at' are treated as places and skipped.
This is an A2Z heuristic, not the method of any applicant tracking system. It is deliberately visible so you can see why a term was picked and ignore it if it is noise.
Limitations: what the result does not prove
- Unusual or lower-case terms that the advert uses only once can be missed. Read the advert yourself as well.
- A match means the words appear, not that your experience is at the level the employer wants.
- Synonyms beyond the built-in spelling variants are not matched: 'client' and 'customer' count as different words.
- It never suggests adding a term you do not have. Keyword-stuffed resumes tend to fail with the human reader who comes next.
Privacy: where your data goes
Everything you paste, type or drop is processed in this browser tab. It is not uploaded, logged, stored or sent to analytics. Session recording and tag-manager scripts are switched off on this page.
Standards and sources
Frequently asked questions
How do I match my resume to a job description?
Find the skills and requirements the advert lists, check which ones your resume shows with evidence, and close the gaps that are true for you - usually by adding a bullet to a recent role. This tool does the finding and checking, and shows the line in your resume behind every match.
What is a good resume match percentage?
There is no universal threshold, and no employer publishes one. Use the percentage to compare versions of your own resume against the same advert. The missing required terms matter more than the number: they are what a recruiter will notice.
How does the tool tell required skills from nice-to-have ones?
From the advert itself. Lines under headings such as 'Requirements' or 'What you'll need', or with words like 'must' and 'essential', are required. Lines under 'Nice to have' or 'Preferred', or with 'a plus', are preferred. The advert line is shown next to every term.
Should I copy the job description's wording into my resume?
Use the advert's exact term where it truthfully describes your experience - 'stakeholder management' rather than 'working with stakeholders' - because simple searches look for exact words. Do not add terms you cannot back up in an interview.
Why does it say a related form was found?
Your resume uses the same word stems in one line but not the exact phrase, for example 'managed stakeholders' against 'stakeholder management'. It gets half credit. Using the advert's wording once, where accurate, turns it into a full match.
How are years of experience calculated?
From the date ranges under your experience heading, such as 'Mar 2023 - Present'. Overlapping roles are merged so parallel jobs are not counted twice, and 'Present' means the current month. Roles without dates cannot be counted, which is one reason to date every role.
Last reviewed by the A2Z.Tools team against the sources listed above.
