Introducing AI resume scoring

AI resume scoring helps you evaluate resumes quickly and fairly by automatically comparing each candidate’s resume to the specific requirements of your job description.

While skills tests measure specific abilities, AI resume scoring gives you a structured, evidence-based view of each candidate’s experience, skills, and achievements. Every resume is scored against clear, job-related criteria, ensuring consistency and transparency throughout the hiring process. You can always review, override, and comment on AI scores to stay in control.

AI Resume Scoring is available on all TestGorilla plans, including the Free forever plan, at no additional credit cost. It runs on every applicant.

Approx. reading time 6 minutes

In this article 

1. What is AI resume scoring?
2. Adding AI resume scoring
3. Candidate experience
4. Evaluating candidate responses
5. Common questions

What is AI resume scoring?

AI resume scoring evaluates each candidate’s resume based on your job description, assigning structured 0–5 scores across key criteria such as skills, knowledge, and leadership experience.

Instead of relying on keyword filters or manual scanning, it provides a transparent, explainable evaluation that highlights qualified candidates — not just the ones with the right buzzwords.

Each score includes reasoning and job description evidence, giving you insight into why a candidate was rated a certain way. All criteria currently have equal weight. Scores are combined into both a raw total and a percentile score, allowing you to compare candidates more easily across assessments.

Adding AI resume scoring

To add AI resume scoring, you first need to create a new assessment or edit an existing one.

	In Step 1: Job details, you have the option to include a job description for this position. This is an optional step, but by adding your job description or job requirements, we'll help provide you with relevant suggestions as you build your assessment.
	AI resume scoring can be added when you reach Step 2: Assessment in the assessment creation process. On the Assessment page, select AI resume scoring alongside any other evaluation tools you wish to include.
	In Step 3: Configuration, you can choose the scoring criteria the AI will use to score candidate resumes. If you have added a job description in Step 1, you will automatically be provided with suggestions that best fit your description. Below is an overview of what you can do when configuring AI resume scoring: Edit criteria: Click into a textbox to begin editing a criterion. Click Save to keep your changes. To edit saved criteria, click on the pencil icon to edit or the trash icon to remove it. Create new: If none of the suggestions fit, or if you'd like to use your own, use the Create new button to create a new criterion. You can include up to 5 criteria. To remove AI resume scoring from your assessment, click on the options in the top right corner and select Remove tool.

Candidate experience

Candidates are informed that they will provide a resume for review. They are then prompted to upload a single resume (.pdf or .docx, up to 2 MB).

All personal details — such as names, emails, pronouns, photos, and locations — are automatically removed to reduce bias before scoring.

Candidates won’t see their resume scores for fairness and data privacy reasons, but their resume data may be used to prefill their profile if they later sign up for a TestGorilla Profile.

Evaluating candidate responses

AI resume scoring helps you move beyond rigid filters and inconsistent manual reviews. Each resume is evaluated against clear, role-specific criteria drawn directly from your job description, with a 0–5 score and a short explanation showing how the AI reached that result.

Candidate personal details are automatically removed before scoring to reduce bias, and fairness checks are run to ensure consistent results across candidates.

You remain in full control throughout the process. You can preview scoring with a sample resume, edit or reorder criteria before publishing your assessment, and override scores at any time if additional context is needed.

Each resume receives both a raw score and a percentile score:

• Raw scores show how well a candidate’s resume aligns with your chosen criteria.

• Percentile scores show how each candidate’s resume compares to others in the broader TestGorilla dataset — for example, a 70th percentile means the candidate’s resume scored higher than 70% of all others.

Resume results are integrated with other assessment components—such as skills tests, custom questions, and AI interviews—to give you one transparent, comparable candidate score. The result is a defensible shortlist that highlights true skills and potential, not just polished formatting or linear career paths.

AI scoring focuses only on the content of candidate responses. For more details on how TestGorilla uses AI responsibly, see our AI FAQ.

How to use:

	From the assessment overview, click on the candidate you would like to view responses for. Next, switch your evaluation tool to AI resume scoring to view a detailed breakdown of the scoring.
	To download a candidate's resume for offline access, click the Download button.
	Candidate responses are scored out of 5 for each criterion.   If you don’t agree with the AI’s scoring, you can edit individual scores directly. The candidate’s overall percentile and raw scores will update to reflect any changes you make.

Common questions