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Wondering whether employers use AI to scan our CVs these days? Our career coach has the answers you seek.
Question: Do employers use AI to scan applicant CVs?
Yes, some employers use AI to scan applicant CVs, and they have done for some time, usually in a very basic way: looking for keywords that match the job description.
However, many employers don’t use AI to scan application CVs. These are smaller employers that don’t do enough hiring to justify investing in a sophisticated applicant tracking system (ATS). But in fact, the CV sifting process will be the same, just performed by a human: they’ll also look for keywords and experience on your CV that match the job description.
It’s likely they’ll either be a harassed member of the HR team, with nothing much to go on beyond the job description to help them assess candidate suitability, or a busy person within the organisation who is doing recruitment work on top of their day job. Either way, they won’t spend long scrutinising your CV: maybe 10 seconds for the first CV sift.
So whether you anticipate your CV will be scanned by a human or an AI, you need to make sure it is tailored to the job description and easy to read. Here are some tips on how to achieve that:
Apply to jobs you are qualified for
Applying for jobs you’re not qualified for is a waste of your time, you’ll be screened out immediately. This doesn’t mean that career pivots aren’t possible, but the way to achieve a pivot is through networking.
A very important caveat through: job descriptions are written for the ideal candidate. You don’t need to meet all the requirements, as a rule of thumb if you meet 80% of them, and there are no showstoppers that immediately screen you out (like a language requirement) it’s worth applying.
Tailor your CV
Use the same keywords in your CV that the employer uses in the job description. Use them to describe your impact in the workplace when you write your bullet points.
And emphasise the skills and experience the employer is looking for. This might mean rewriting some bullet points:
“Managed end-to-end product launch, overseeing timelines, budget control, and stakeholder communication, resulting in 10% under-budget delivery and a 3-week early market release.”
“Led cross-functional team of 10, providing strategic direction and fostering collaboration to successfully launch a new product 3 weeks ahead of schedule and 10% under-budget”
Same experience, but the first point emphasises project management, and the second one team leadership.
Use a simple, consistent format
Your CV should look clean, with clear delineation between sections, and clear sub headers for each of your experiences. All formatting should be consistent, and dates should be aligned on the page to make them easy to scan. Don’t use graphics or sidebars.
And save the CV as pdf. This means the format won’t get corrupted, and the reader will see the document as you intended it to look.
Use AI to help you
Paste your CV and the job description into ChatGPT and query how aligned it is. Ask what keywords or experience are missing, if the formatting is consistent, and how it might be improved.
AI is already changing a lot about the recruitment process, but I don’t think there’s any need to change our ideas around best practice for CVs. Whether it is a basic ATS, a more sophisticated AI, or a human being assessing it, the principles for a good CV remain the same.
