What screening software looks for, what recruiters look for in the six seconds after that, and how to satisfy both without lying.
The first reader is software that extracts text into fields; the second is a human giving you six to eight seconds. Both prefer the same thing: a single column, standard headings (Summary, Skills, Experience, Education, Certifications), reverse-chronological order, and no tables, text boxes, headers, footers or graphics. Save as PDF unless the portal explicitly asks for Word, and name the file with your name and the role.
Three or four lines at the top, rewritten for each application: your professional identity, the years and domain of experience, and the two achievements most relevant to this specific advert. Delete every instance of “hard-working team player with a passion for excellence” — it appears on millions of CVs and communicates nothing.
“Responsible for the onboarding process” describes a job description. “Redesigned onboarding, cutting time-to-first-value from 21 to 6 days for 400 new accounts” describes you. Use the pattern: action verb + what you did + the measurable outcome + the scale. If you have no metric, use scope: team size, budget, number of markets, volume handled.
Screening systems match literal terms. If the advert asks for “SQL”, “stakeholder management” or “ISO 27001”, those exact strings should appear in your CV — but only where they are true, and inside a real achievement rather than a keyword list dumped at the bottom. Fabricated keywords survive the filter and then collapse in the interview.
Recent and relevant roles get four to six bullets. Older or unrelated roles get one line, or a grouped “Earlier career” block. Two pages is the norm for most professionals; one page for early careers; three only for long academic or executive records. Every line that does not help you win this specific job is costing you attention.
Unexplained silence invites suspicion, so name the period in one neutral line — study, caring responsibilities, redundancy, a project of your own — and move on. When switching field, add a short “Relevant to this role” block near the top that translates your existing experience into the target industry's language.
Group skills by type and list only what you would be comfortable being tested on. Put education below experience unless you graduated within the last two years. Include certifications with the issuing body and year. Add a clean contact line with city, email, phone and a LinkedIn URL — and no photo, birth date or marital status for markets like the UK, US and Sweden.
Read the document aloud, then read it backwards line by line for typos, then have someone else check the numbers. Keep tense consistent — past for previous roles, present for the current one — and keep formatting mechanically identical between entries. A single misaligned date is enough to make a careful hiring manager wonder about your work.