SS
Key Takeaways
- 70% is the most common score and tells you almost nothing on its own. The composition decides.
- Three questions settle it: are the gaps required, are they real, and is the posting fresh?
- If the missing items are things you have but did not write down, fix them first — it is usually twenty minutes.
- If a genuinely required item is missing and you do not have it, applying is usually a poor use of an application.
- Never inflate the score by claiming what you cannot defend in an interview.
Seventy percent sits in the awkward middle. High enough to feel plausible, low enough to worry. Most people either apply anyway and hope, or spend an afternoon rewriting blindly. Neither is a decision — here is one.
Ask These Three Questions
1. Are the missing items required or preferred?
Open the posting and find each missing item in the original text. Look at the language around it.
Required language: "must have", "required", "minimum", "essential", numbered years of experience, a named licence or certification, a degree.
Preferred language: "nice to have", "a plus", "preferred", "bonus", "familiarity with", "exposure to".
Missing three preferred items at 70% is a completely different situation from missing one required item at 70%. The first is normal and worth applying to; the second is usually a hard filter. Our guide to required vs preferred qualifications covers the distinction in more depth.
2. Are the gaps real, or just unwritten?
This is the question that changes most outcomes. Take each missing item and sort it:
Pile A — I have this, I just did not say it clearly. You have done stakeholder reporting; your resume calls it "monthly business reviews." You know SQL; it is buried in a project description rather than the skills section. This pile is a wording problem.
Pile B — I genuinely do not have this. Never used the tool, do not hold the licence, lack the years.
In our experience Pile A is usually most of the list. That is good news: it is fixable in twenty minutes and it is honest, because you are stating things that are true. Matching keywords to a job description covers doing it properly.
3. How old is the posting?
A 70% match on a posting published today is worth more than a 90% match on one that has been open six weeks. Many roles are effectively decided before they close, and application timing matters more than most candidates assume.
If the posting is fresh and the gaps are Pile A, fix and apply the same day.
The Decision Table
| Missing items are… | Posting is… | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Preferred, Pile A | Fresh | Fix wording, apply today |
| Preferred, Pile B | Fresh | Apply as-is — preferred gaps are normal |
| Required, Pile A | Any | Fix first, this is the whole ballgame |
| Required, Pile B | Any | Usually skip; the filter is real |
| Mixed | Old (4+ weeks) | Lower priority; spend the time on fresher roles |
Why 70% Is So Common
Most resumes land here against most postings, for a structural reason: postings list more than they need.
A typical requisition contains the genuine must-haves plus a wish list assembled from several stakeholders. Nobody expects one candidate to have everything — internal hiring guidance often treats 60-70% coverage as a strong applicant. The score reflects the full list, not the realistic bar.
So 70% is not a failing grade. It is roughly what a well-matched candidate looks like against an aspirational posting.
What Not to Do at 70%
Do not inflate to hit a number. Adding skills you cannot discuss produces a higher score and a worse outcome — the interview exposes it, and that is a more costly failure than a rejection. Our tailoring enforces this constraint deliberately: it rewrites only where your experience supports the claim.
Do not rewrite the whole resume. At 70%, the fix is almost always three sections — summary, skills order, and the top bullets of your most recent role. See how to tailor a resume in 5 minutes.
Do not apply to fifty roles at 70% without reading any of the gap lists. That is the pattern behind 100 applications and no interviews — volume without diagnosis.
Do not skip a role solely because of the number. A 70% with only preferred gaps is a good application.
Moving 70% to 85%
If the gaps are Pile A, this is the sequence:
- Rewrite the summary to name the target role and the posting's two or three central requirements. Highest-leverage single edit.
- Reorder the skills section so the posting's required tools appear first, and add anything true that is currently missing.
- Rewrite the top three bullets of your most recent role toward the work this posting describes.
- Re-scan and confirm the specific items cleared — not just that the number moved.
Step 4 matters. An edit that raises the number without clearing the named requirement usually means you added generic language rather than addressing the gap. See what to expect when you re-scan.
When to Walk Away
Some 70% scores are telling you something real:
- The posting requires a licence or certification you do not hold and cannot quickly obtain.
- It requires substantially more experience than you have — not two years short, but five.
- The core technical stack is one you have never worked in.
- It is a different specialisation wearing a familiar job title.
Applying anyway is not harmful, but if this describes most of your applications, the issue is role selection rather than resume quality — and no amount of tailoring fixes that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 70% good or bad? Neither by itself. It is the most common score. What matters is whether the gaps are required and whether they are real.
Should I apply if I am missing a required item? Usually not, if you genuinely lack it. Occasionally worth it if you are otherwise unusually strong, but expect a low hit rate.
How high should I get before applying? There is no threshold. Clear the required items, fix anything you have but did not state, then send it. See what is a good ATS match score.
Does raising the score guarantee anything? No. It improves your ranking in the first pass. Competition decides the rest — see high score but still rejected.
How long should the fix take? Twenty minutes for a Pile A gap list. If it is taking hours, you are rewriting more than the posting requires.
Run the Three Questions
The decision at 70% comes down to reading your gap list properly rather than reacting to the percentage.
Scan your resume against the posting, then check each missing item against the original posting text: is it required or preferred, and do you actually have it? That sorting takes five minutes and turns an ambiguous number into a clear next action.
Free, about a minute to run. See also which missing skills actually matter and our ATS score guide.
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