What is a Fit Score?
Recruiters think in fit. A Fit Score makes the same judgment explicit and repeatable, so you can decide where to spend your limited application budget instead of guessing.
The five factors
| Factor | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Skill match | 40% | How many required skills you have and how strong they are |
| Experience | 25% | Years of experience versus the level the job asks for |
| Location | 15% | Distance between where you are and where the role is |
| Salary | 10% | Overlap between your desired range and the offer |
| Title | 10% | Whether your past roles point in this direction |
What a score means
- Seventy or above: a strong match across the board. Worth a tailored application.
- Fifty to sixty-nine: a real opportunity with one clear weakness. Fixable, or an acceptable trade-off.
- Below fifty: usually a poor fit. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
The breakdown matters more than the number. A fifty-five with a perfect location and salary but a missing required skill tells you exactly what to do: learn the skill, or explain the transferable experience in your cover letter.
How the score is calculated
Skill match is weighted highest because it predicts performance best. Each required skill you have earns points based on your proficiency level, and preferred skills count for half. Experience is compared to a target for the seniority level, with a small tolerance band. Location uses the actual distance between your coordinates and the job. Salary looks at the overlap between your range and the offer. Title compares the tokens in your past roles against the job title.
An optional AI pass refines the skill and title factors by recognizing synonyms and related technologies that exact string matching would miss. The deterministic score remains the fallback so the number is always available.
How to use the breakdown in practice
Think of the score as a diagnostic, not a verdict. When a role scores well on the factors you care about, invest in a tailored application. When it scores poorly on a factor you can change, such as a missing skill, decide whether the gap is worth closing. When it scores poorly on something fixed, such as location, move on without guilt. That discipline is what separates a search that feels chaotic from one that feels deliberate. Over a few weeks of searching, the breakdown also teaches you which factors you secretly weight most, which is useful information about the kind of work you actually want.
Common questions
- Can a Fit Score be wrong?
- Yes. It is an estimate based on what is in your profile and the listing. It cannot see your interview presence, your portfolio, or the hiring managers preferences. Use it to prioritize, not to disqualify.
- Why is skill match worth 40 percent?
- Because skill overlap is the strongest available predictor of whether you can do the job. The other factors matter, but a candidate who lacks the core skills rarely succeeds even with perfect location and salary.
- What if I have no skills listed?
- The skill factor stays neutral rather than punishing you. The score then leans on experience, location, salary, and title. Adding even a few skills makes the score far more useful.
- Does the score change over time?
- Yes. When you update your profile, add skills, or recompute for the same job, the score reflects the new information. It is a snapshot, not a verdict.
Build your profile
Get your first Fit Score →Keep reading
Last updated 2026-08-05