Tailoring your CV to the vacancy in ten minutes

Reading time: 4 minutes

Why one CV for everything doesn't work

It's tempting: create one good CV and send it everywhere. It saves time and feels efficient.

The problem is that on the other end are two readers, each looking for something specific. The ATS compares the words in your CV with the words in the job advert. The recruiter scans within a few seconds for what's being asked for in that particular role. A CV written for no one in particular scores mediocrely with both.

The good news: tailoring doesn't mean rewriting. There are three spots that make the difference, and together they'll cost you ten minutes.

Spot 1: the headline at the top

The line under your name is the first thing that gets read. If it says "Marketer" and the advert is looking for an "Online Marketer", there's no reason not to align the two — provided it's accurate, of course.

The same goes for your personal profile, if you have one. Two sentences that match what's being asked work better than four generic sentences that fit anywhere.

Spot 2: the bullets under your most recent role

Under your latest role there are probably five or six points. They don't all need to change, but the order does.

Read the advert and see what's asked for first. Put the matching bullet at the top. The eye lingers longest on the first two lines under your most recent role — that's where you want what this employer is looking for.

Is there something in your CV that's not relevant to this role at all? Take it out. You don't have to tell everything you've ever done.

Spot 3: your skills

This is where the biggest win for the filter lies. The advert names specific systems, methods or skills. If you're proficient in them but call them something different — or don't mention them at all because they feel obvious — then there's no match.

Use the exact words as they appear in the advert. If it says "Excel (advanced)", don't write "spreadsheets". If it says "scrum", don't just write "agile working".

One boundary: only include what you can genuinely do. Borrowing a word you can't back up will lead to an interview where that becomes clear within five minutes.

What you don't need to adjust

Your education, your older roles, your contact details and the layout stay as they are. That's the part you get right once and then leave alone.

That's why it's smart to have one strong base version and make a copy of it for each application. You adjust three spots, save it under a name that references the job advert, and send it off.

How to check you've got it right

A simple check: put the job advert and your CV side by side and underline the five most important requirements in the advert. Does each of those five appear somewhere in your CV, in similar words? If not, you know exactly what still needs doing.

If that takes too long, you can also have it done for you: paste in the job advert text and have your CV matched to it.

In short

• One CV for every job advert scores a bit everywhere and enough nowhere.
• Adjust three things: your headline, the order of your bullets, and your skills.
• Use the exact words as they appear in the advert — that's what the filter searches for.
• Only include what you can genuinely do; a borrowed word has to hold up in the interview.
• Keep one strong base version and make a copy for each application.

Don't want to do this by hand every time? At CV-Refresher, you paste in the job advert text and your CV gets matched to that role.

Tailor your CV to the job advert →