A robot will probably read your CV before the hiring manager does. Now that CV scanning software is becoming commonplace, you’ll need to make it through the screening stage before you can impress a potential employer.
Your best chance of success is a well-written CV with enough strategy to please the bots and enough personality to engage an employer.
Get an example of how to write a CV, plus a job application CV template to help get you started.
How to write a good CV: the core components of a winning resumé
Formatting and length
Good CVs are easy to read and don’t put added friction between the hiring manager and your key career highlights. We recommend avoiding long paragraphs or large walls of text. Instead, use bullet points and avoid overloading each section with too much detail.
It’s also a good idea to keep your CV fairly short. For junior and intermediate roles, two sides of A4 is more than sufficient. Senior roles may need a little more detail, and employers expect anything up to three sides of A4. The ideal file format is a PDF, so don’t forget to export your CV when you’ve finished writing and checking it.
How to make it past AI screening software
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software designed to help recruiters filter, sort, and track job applications. It scans incoming CVs for specific keywords to help isolate the candidates best suited to a role.
For example, the software will scan incoming CVs for the skills and qualifications an employer has outlined in the job description. CVs with all or most keyword terms will go to the top of the pile, and those without may go to the bottom.
You’ll need to use keyword strategy in your CV to ensure your application goes to the top of the pile. You can tailor your CV by going back through the job description and searching for the ‘must have’ skills and qualifications. You’ll need to bring these into your CV when discussing your skills, achievements, and responsibilities.
Although keywords can get your CV through the door, an employer still needs to read and understand it! So don’t be tempted to keyword stuff — your ability to make a human connection with the employer is still a crucial part of getting called for an interview.
James Johnson (executive vice president and chief technology officer at Robert Half) recently explained to IT World Canada how Robert Half invested in AI-powered matching technology built for ‘Fit, Engagement, and Progress’.
James shared how the tech is specifically optimised to “take someone’s resumé apart, remove the context, focusing instead on words or groups of words, and by doing that also remove bias”.
As a candidate in this circumstance, you benefit from job AI matching tech that doesn’t capture demographic data, writing styles, or your education. Instead, it has developed a proprietary natural processing language (NLP), so it keeps improving itself. As a result, your matches get better and better, and with it, your chances of success.
CV template example
Our recruitment experts have drawn up a job application CV template to help you on the road to job interview success. To use it, just input your details into the template, check your spelling, grammar, and punctuation, then save as a PDF.
