When you add a candidate to Greenhouse Recruiting, you can upload a resume to try and quickly fill in the information for their candidate profile. When you parse a resume, Greenhouse Recruiting scans an imported resume and auto-fills appropriate fields with information it detects when adding a new candidate or prospect to your account.
In some cases, Greenhouse Recruiting won't be able to automatically import the resume's information into the fields. This issue is called an unsuccessful resume parse.
What to do when a resume parse fails
When a resume is uploaded to Greenhouse Recruiting and able to be parsed, a success message will display at the top of the page.
However, if a resume cannot be parsed, you'll see a message that the resume has only been attached to the candidate.
If a resume fails to parse, you'll need to manually input the candidate's details into the fields.
What can cause an unsuccessful resume parse?
There are few reasons why a resume may fail to parse:
The resume file is too large
Greenhouse Recruiting can't parse resumes larger than 2.5MB. If a candidate has an especially large file (for example, if their resume contains a lot of high-quality images), it may be over this file limit.
Fake resumes
A fake resume is one that contains fake or poorly disguised data. In some cases, the resume parse might be partially successful (automatically filling some information, but skipping others).
Example: Assume a resume contains the following information:
First Last
23 First Street
Anywhere, US 12345
555-555-5555
The phone number and the first line of the address will parse correctly, since that information can't be definitively proven as real or fake.
However, the name First Last or the Town name won't be recognized as real data and will be automatically skipped by the parser.
Other incorrect data might include fake company names (such as Company 1, Client 1, Any Company), job titles (such as employee 1), school names, or other poorly designed data.
If the candidate has a need to anonymize or disguise their personal data on a resume, using more creative test data (such as Mycomp, Inc.) may bypass the parser.
Resume formatting issues
Sometimes, the formatting of a candidate's resume won't be correctly interpreted by the parser.
- A resume with spaces between the letters. While it may appear cohesive to the naked eye, the parser won't recognize the separate letters as a single word and can't make sense of the data.
- Resumes that include graphics, photos, or word art
- Resumes that are uploaded as an image, rather than a document (such as a .docx or .pdf)
- Complex resumes with tables, headers, and footers
- Resumes with the name and contact information in the header, footer, or text box
- Resumes that have a columned layout
- Resumes without clear sections and differing formats throughout each section
- Company names that don't include identifying words such as Inc., Co., LTD, or LLC.
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Resumes with incomplete job titles. For example, Sr. Account Exec instead of Senior Account Executive
Like the issues above, these formatting issues may result in a partial resume parse that will need to be manually corrected and verified.