Level Up Your CV: Expert Tips for Job Seekers

Are you feeling like your CV isn't opening any doors for you? It's a common frustration among job seekers that I hear all the time. As a career coach based here in Ireland, I work with clients globally to develop impactful CVs that capture attention and navigate today's hiring processes effectively.

Your CV is your entry point into being considered for a role, so rather than send out the same CV to multiple jobs in a 'pray and spray' approach, I teach my career coaching clients how to be strategic in their job search efforts. This blog will look at some CV tips to ensure your CV stands out in the Irish job market and beyond.

CV Tips that Work for Humans and AI

In this modern world of work, your CV needs to make it past two gatekeepers to be considered for the job you are applying to: the human reader, i.e., the recruiter or hiring manager, AND successfully pass through AI screening tools, like an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Have you written your current CV with both in mind?

Connecting with Human Readers:

1. Craft a Compelling Professional Summary: This is your opening statement at the top of your CV. Use it to concisely present your key strengths, highlight relevant achievements, and clearly articulate your interest in the specific company and role.

2. Adopt a Targeted Approach: If you are sending out the same CV to every job, this is why your CV is not getting you interviews. It's essential to customise your CV for each application. Research the company, thoroughly review the job description, and make explicit connections between your skills, experience, and the employer's needs.

3. Demonstrate Your Impact with Evidence: Avoid vague claims. Instead of simply stating skills, provide concrete examples that showcase your abilities and their positive outcomes. Think quantifiable results, specific project contributions, and even positive feedback.

4. Use Bullet Points for Clarity: Recruiters often scan CVs quickly. Make it easy for them to identify key information by using bullet points to present responsibilities and accomplishments, and so avoid dense paragraphs of text, which are harder to read.

5. Don’t Skip Proofreading: Beyond spellcheck, review formatting, contact details, and tense consistency. Read your CV aloud or have someone else proofread it. Precision shows professionalism.

If you want your CV to ever make it to a human, you must write your CV with AI screening tools in mind.

How to navigate AI CV screening:

1. Maintain Simple and Clean Formatting: For optimal readability by ATS, avoid images, use a single-column layout, select a standard sans-serif font (size 10-12), and employ consistent, straightforward headings that AI will recognise (e.g., "Work Experience").

2. Incorporate Relevant Keywords: An AI screening tool is going to compare your CV to the job description. By sensibly mirroring the words used in the job description on your CV, you are going to help the algorithm make the match. (This is why if you're sending a generic CV to everything, you're not getting noticed.)

3. Use AI yourself: If you can't beat them, join them! By using AI yourself, you will start to understand how automated hiring processes might rate and rank your CV. For example, you can use AI to identify the top skills being asked for in a job description, and use this information to your advantage when tailoring your CV.

4. Focus on Skills: Using action-oriented language, weaving your skills into your past work history, worded similarly to how the employer lists them in the job advertisement. If you only describe what you did and not what skills you used, you’re missing what the AI system is trained to detect.

5. Save Your CV as a .doc File: This widely compatible format helps ensure that all sections of your CV are accurately processed by the ATS.

   
   

My clients see tangible results fast when they get my expert CV writing advice. One recent jobseeker landed a coveted interview for a hard-to-get-into department within a week of revamping their CV with my help, and using these strategies.

Your CV is more than just a document — it’s your personal marketing tool, and in today’s job market, it needs to do more than list your experience. It must tell a clear, compelling story about your value and fit, both to humans and the AI systems they rely on. When you take the time to match your CV with what employers are looking for, you dramatically improve your chances of standing out, not just being seen, but being remembered.

Ready to Enhance Your CV?

Investing time and effort in crafting a well-structured and targeted CV is crucial for your job search success. By understanding the needs of both human reviewers and AI systems, you can create a powerful document that increases your visibility and interview opportunities.

If you would like professional CV support in Ireland, I can help. You can reach me, Heather Thompson, The Success Coach, at successcoachheather@gmail.com, to start transforming your CV into a tool that opens doors.

What sets my coaching apart is my blend of market insight and no-fluff feedback. I don’t just tweak formatting — I help you position your skills and career story to meet the expectations of today’s Irish and global job markets.

Whether you're changing industries, re-entering the workforce, or aiming higher, I can help you write you a CV that gets results.