Inside our 6-stage screening process
How we narrow hundreds of CVs down to a shortlist you'll actually want to interview.
Our recruiters read hundreds of resumes every week, and most of them are spending only a few seconds on each one before deciding to read on. These seven fixes are the ones we most often wish candidates had made.
1. Lead with impact, not duties. "Responsible for month-end closing" tells us your job title. "Cut month-end close from 8 days to 5 by automating bank reconciliations" tells us why we should call you. Add a number wherever you honestly can: revenue, time saved, team size, tickets resolved.
2. Tailor the top third to the role. The summary and first few bullet points are what gets read. Rewrite them for each application so they reflect the job description, including the exact skills it lists, as long as you genuinely have them.
3. Put your key skills where they can be found. Add a short skills line near the top with the tools and technologies you use day to day. Recruiters and matching software both search for these, and a skill buried in paragraph six is easy to miss.
4. Keep it short and clean. One page for up to five years of experience, two pages at most for senior roles. Use a simple layout with standard headings, no tables or text inside images, and save it as a PDF so it looks the same on every screen.
5. Make your basics easy to find. Your phone number, email, current city and notice period should be at the top. Notice period matters more than many candidates realise, and leaving it out often means a call that only exists to ask for it.
6. Explain gaps and short stints briefly. A one-line note such as "Career break for family care" or "Contract role, project completed" answers the question before it is asked. Unexplained gaps tend to be read in the least generous way.
7. Proofread, then ask someone else to. Check names of tools, companies and your own contact details. A single typo in your email address means we can't reach you at all, and errors in a resume suggest the same carelessness in the job.
When you apply through Hireriv, your recruiter will also give you honest feedback on your resume for the role, free of charge. Browse our open jobs to get started.