# Reading your findings

> The report is a list of findings grouped by theme and graded by severity. How to read the grouping, and what to fix first.

Source: https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/reading-your-findings
Last verified: 2026-09-03

---

The score is a summary. The **findings** are the output - each one saying what was seen, why it
costs you, and what to do.

## Three severities

| Severity     | What it means                                                                                    |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Critical** | Something is broken enough that the rest of the report is secondary until it is fixed.           |
| **Major**    | A real, measurable cost. Most findings sit here, and this is what the suggested rewrites target. |
| **Minor**    | Worth fixing, cheap to fix, not what is holding you back.                                        |

> **Note** - Minor is a separate tier on purpose
>
> It would be easy to call everything important. A findings list where everything is important is a
> findings list nobody acts on - so the report is honest about proportion, and you can ignore the
> minor tier while you have majors open.

## Grouped by kind of problem

The fix list has a **By problem type** view that groups the same findings by the kind of problem
they are, rather than the dimension they came from. Nothing is added or removed - it is the same
fixes, sorted a second way.

**What a parser cannot read.** Machine-readability problems. Fix first if present - see the cap in [how your score is calculated](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/how-your-score-is-calculated).

**Where the resume claims more than it shows.** Evidence gaps.

> **Warning** - Why evidence gaps matter
>
> A recruiter cannot verify anything on your resume, so they read it for the parts that _would_ be
> checkable. A claim with no supporting bullet is the thing an interviewer opens with, and the thing
> that collapses when they do. How long one takes to close depends on the finding - its effort chip in
> the fix list says which.

**How your career reads from the outside.** Not formatting - the story a stranger assembles from
your dates and titles. Unexplained title regressions, overlapping roles, a thin current role, claimed
leadership with nothing under it. This group costs interviews you never hear about, because the
reader forms an impression and moves on.

**What a screener will hold against you.** None of it is about how good you are, which is exactly why
it is worth removing: it costs you something and costs nothing to fix. A weak filename, "references
available on request", skills mentioned but never evidenced.

**The quick edits.** Presentation. Real, small, and the right thing to do last.

## Work through the fix list in order

The fix list sits directly under your score. Critical findings come first; after those, every fix is
ranked by _what it is worth against what it takes_. That is the order to work in, and it is computed
from your actual findings rather than from a general rule.

> **Note** - Open a fix, make the change, tick it off
>
> Each fix opens to show why it matters, the line of your resume it is about and exactly what to
> change. Tick it when it is done - the ticks stay on this device, for this report, so you can come back
> to the list later.

Two things stay true whatever the order says:

1. **Anything critical comes first.** A blocking parseability problem caps your score at 55, so the
   rest of the report is provisional until it is fixed - see [how your score is calculated](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/how-your-score-is-calculated).
2. **Re-run after real changes, not after each edit.** Each run costs credits and a score does not
   move on one reworded bullet. [Tracking your
   progress](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/tracking-your-progress) covers what to expect between runs.

## What findings cannot tell you

- **Whether your claims are true.** The report reads what you wrote.
- **Whether you suit a particular job.** That is [JD ↔ Resume Match](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/matching-a-job-description).
- **Whether a deliberate choice is wrong.** If you have a reason for something the report flags,
  your reason may be better than the rule.

> **Warning** - Do not clear the list for its own sake
>
> Past a point you are writing for the rubric rather than the reader. A resume with no findings and
> nothing specific in it loses to one carrying two minors and a real record.

- [Writing good bullets](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/writing-good-bullets) - Where evidence gaps get closed.

- [Improving with AI](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/improving-with-ai) - Assists that act on findings.