How to Tailor Your CV to the Job Description

Standing out from other applicants for the job position you want starts with tailoring your CV to show that you've done your homework and you truly fit the role.

Tailoring your CV, a step-by-step guide

If you want to learn how to tailor your CV to the job description, follow this step-by-step guide:

1. Read the job description carefully

To truly understand what the employer is looking for, the first task is to read the job description thoroughly. Read it through once, and on a second reading, identify and highlight keywords and phrases that are repeated, or of particular importance to defining the job role. These could be hard skills, personal qualities, experience or career milestones and achievements that the employer prioritises in candidates.

2. Match your skills and experience

Once you’ve conducted your research, compile a list of essential skills and personal traits that your prospective employer is looking for, that match your own skills and qualities. The task, then, is to use the same language and phrasing as the job posting and incorporate these skills and individual strengths throughout your CV (especially in the ‘Work Experience’ and ‘Skills’ sections).

By doing this, you will align your work experience with the employer's needs. This will show employers you understand the scope of the job. It will help them more easily assess your suitability for the role, particularly if you add keywords to your most recent, or current role, in a prominent position in your CV. Matching your skills and experience to the job description will also help your CV pass the ATS screening stage of the recruitment process.

3. Tailor your personal statement

As your personal statement or personal profile is one of the first things that recruiters will read, you’ll want to tailor it carefully to the job description alongside other sections in your CV.

An engaging personal statement contains a mix of keywords and phrases from the job description, and personal traits that match the company culture and demonstrate why you’re a good fit for the position. It's also a great idea to either name the company in your personal statement and refer to what attracted you to the role or company, or how it fits with your career journey.

While it’s important to tailor your personal statement to each job application, avoid embellishing it or including any information that isn’t true. Exaggerating or outright lying in a CV is never a good idea, as you’ll almost certainly be found out.

4. Adjust the order of your CV

To make the best possible impact, it's a good idea to adjust the order of your CV so the key skills and achievements that reflect the job description are prominently placed and easy for a recruiter to pick out. Research from Jobseeker suggests recruiters only spend around 30 seconds scanning a CV to assess whether it's worth reviewing in detail, so it's critical to make the most important elements of your CV stand out.

If you don't have much relevant work experience, you might want to use a functional layout. This places your skills and education above the work experience section.

5. Use keywords strategically

Tailoring your CV for maximum impact isn't simply a case of mirroring the job description as closely as possible. That will lead to a dull and unengaging CV that fails to impress the reader. You'll need to use keywords strategically if you really want to stand out.

Follow these tips for strategic keyword use that enhances your CV, while ensuring it stays engaging and unique:

For even more effective use of job-specific keywords, Jobseeker's CV builder can lend a hand. After you draft your CV, you can use AI suggestions to tighten the language and make it more relevant to the target job title.

6. Speak the hiring company's language

It’s vital to speak the company’s language when tailoring your CV, especially when listing job titles. Sometimes, comparable positions can have different titles at different companies. To avoid confusion, it’s best to match the titles of your previous roles as closely as possible to the listed job title. Researching the company’s websites, blogs, social media pages and reviews, such as on Glassdoor or Indeed, can also help you get a feel for the language used by the company.

7. Proofread and save your CV in the right format

Finalise your tailored, targeted CV and cover letter by following this checklist:

Tips for tailoring different CV types to a job description

All CVs require some form of tailoring to ensure your application stands out. However, the CV format you choose will have an impact on the way you approach your CV tailoring. Here are some tips for tailoring different types of CV examples effectively:

Basic CV

A basic CV is a concise CV, presenting the key, standard CV sections in a traditional order (personal profile, work experience, education and skills). This type of CV is typically one page long and doesn't contain any optional additional sections. To tailor this type of CV you should consider doing the following:

Targeted CV

A targeted CV is a highly tailored CV, which is fully focused on responding to the requirements of the role and reflecting the company culture. Some tips for tailoring your targeted CV include:

Chronological CV

A chronological CV is the most common and traditional type of CV layout. It focuses primarily on work experience, listing your previous roles in reverse-chronological order, starting with your current or most recent position. Tailor your chronological CV with these tips:

Below you can see an example of a chronological CV layout that incorporates our tips and is tailored for digital marketing job applications:

Stand out by tailoring your CV

When you’re unemployed or desperately need to find a job, it can be tempting to use the same CV to easily apply to as many jobs as possible. However, this approach rarely works and can be counterproductive. By taking the time to understand what the employer is looking for and tweaking your CV accordingly, you’ll stand a better chance of landing an interview.

Another way of helping your application stand out from the crowd is to use an eye-catching CV template from Jobseeker. With our tools and resources, you can easily craft a CV that stands out from the crowd in minutes, and easily tailor your CV to match the requirements of each individual job vacancy. Sign up today to get started.

Alongside a tailored CV, a tailored cover letter can really show you understand the requirements and have the tools to succeed. Use Jobseeker's cover letter examples to see how to construct an impactful cover letter.