If a resume isn't parsing properly - names, contact info, or experience aren't coming through - it usually comes down to one of a few specific causes. Here's how to diagnose and fix it.
Cause 1: The file format isn't supported
What's happening: Recruiterflow parses most text-based file types, including DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF, TXT, ODT, HTM, HTML, DOCM, DOTM, DOT, and DOTX. But if the resume is an image (JPEG, PNG) or a PDF that's a scanned image without a text layer, the parser can't read it.
Fix: Ask the candidate for a Word doc or a text-based PDF. If you only have a scanned copy, run it through an OCR tool first so the text becomes readable.
Cause 2: The resume is in an unsupported language
What's happening: Recruiterflow supports parsing in many languages, but not all.
Full parsing works for: English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Indonesian, Danish, Swedish, Romanian, Korean, Hebrew, and Thai.
Basic parsing works for: Ukrainian and Bulgarian.
Fix: For any other language, the parser won't extract fields reliably. You can still upload the resume — you'll just need to fill in the candidate's name, email, and phone manually.
Cause 3: You've hit your advanced parsing limit
What's happening: Every workspace has a fair-usage limit on advanced parsing. Fewer than 0.3% of accounts hit this, but when it happens, Recruiterflow falls back to a basic parser that pulls the email and phone but shows the candidate as Unknown Candidate.
Fix: Reach out to the Customer Success team — they can raise your limit for the month at a nominal price.
Cause 4: Something else
Resume parsing relies on machine learning, and even the best models miss edge cases. If a resume meets none of the above criteria but still isn't parsing, it falls into the rare bucket (under 0.05% of files). Send the resume to our team so we can feed problem files back to our parsing partners and improve the model.
Things to know
Re-uploading the same file won't re-trigger parsing. If you've already attempted it, you'll need to upload a fresh version (for example, a re-saved DOCX).
If you're parsing resumes via the Browser Extension from LinkedIn or another site, you can manually edit the parsed fields before saving the candidate.
Password-protected files can't be parsed - remove the protection before uploading.