Tailor a CV to a job advert

Rewrite my CV for this specific role. Do not invent anything.

The advert:
[PASTE THE FULL ADVERT, INCLUDING THE "REQUIREMENTS" SECTION]

My CV:
[PASTE IT]

Anything true about me that is not on the CV: [SIDE PROJECTS, THINGS YOU DID THAT WERE SOMEONE ELSE'S JOB TITLE, RESULTS YOU NEVER WROTE DOWN]
How many roles I am applying to this week: [SO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH EFFORT THIS IS WORTH]

Produce four sections.

1. WHAT THIS ADVERT IS ACTUALLY ASKING FOR — the three or four things that decide this hire, separated from the boilerplate every advert in this field carries. Quote the advert.

2. THE REWRITE — my CV, reordered and reworded so the things in section one are visible in the first third of the page. Keep every claim true. Use my own words where they already work; do not upgrade "helped with" into "led" unless I said I led it.

3. WHAT THIS ADVERT ASKS FOR THAT MY CV DOES NOT EVIDENCE — the gaps, stated plainly. For each: whether it is missing from the CV or missing from my experience, because those need completely different responses. If something in my "not on the CV" note above closes a gap, say so and put it in.

4. WHAT I WOULD BE ASKED ABOUT — the two or three points in the rewritten CV a sceptical reader would probe, and what I should have ready.

Do not add skills I have not claimed. Do not write a summary paragraph full of adjectives. If my CV is a poor match for this advert, say so in one sentence at the top rather than disguising it.

Every CV rewrite tool does the same thing: it makes the existing bullet points sound more impressive. That is the least useful improvement available, because the person reading has a list of things the role needs and is scanning for whether you have them. Better adjectives on the wrong experience does not move you into the yes pile.

The section that matters here is the third one, and it is uncomfortable by design. It compares the advert's requirements against what your CV actually evidences and names what is missing — but crucially it splits the gaps in two. A thing you have done and never wrote down is fixed in ninety seconds. A thing you have genuinely never done is not fixable today, and knowing which of the two you are looking at is the difference between an afternoon well spent and an afternoon spent rewording.

The instruction against inflating verbs is doing real work too. "Helped with" quietly becoming "led" is the single most common way a rewritten CV turns into a difficult interview.

1. Paste the whole advert, including the parts that look like filler

   The requirements list is where the decision lives, and the boilerplate is what section one has to separate it from. Trimming the advert first removes the raw material for that.

2. Write down what is true but not on the CV

   This is where most of the wins come from. The thing you did because nobody else would, the number you never recorded, the tool you learned on a project that had a different name. Half the gaps in section three usually close from this box alone.

3. Check every rewritten line against what actually happened

   You are the only one who can. A line you cannot defend in an interview is worse than the plainer line it replaced, and the model has no way to know which is which.

4. Treat a bad match as useful information

   If it tells you the CV is a poor fit, that is an hour saved and a signal about which roles to aim at — not a reason to run it again with a softer prompt.

• When the advert is a wish list rather than a roleSome adverts list every technology the team has ever touched. Section three will be long and mostly meaningless — read it for the three things in section one and ignore the rest.
• Applicant tracking systemsIt cannot see how a particular system parses your file. Keep the layout simple, keep the words from the advert in your own true sentences, and do not paste invisible keyword blocks — that is caught and it ends the application.
• Academic CVs, medicine, law, and the public sectorThese have prescribed formats and sometimes scored competency frameworks. A well-written commercial CV can score badly against a rubric it was not written for.

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