Why do my job applications get rejected before a human sees them?
How long a CV should be
One page early in a career, two once you have enough relevant work that cutting would remove substance. But length is not the real question — relevance is. Three pages listing everything you have ever done reads as an inability to prioritise.
The test for each line: would removing it make the reader less likely to interview you? If not, it is taking space from something that would.
What makes a bullet point work
Outcome, not duty. "Responsible for social media" describes a job description. "Grew newsletter from 400 to 5,000 subscribers in eight months" describes a person who did something.
Numbers carry the weight even when they are modest. If you cannot measure the outcome, describe the scale — how many people, how often, how large.
PDF or Word?
PDF unless told otherwise. It preserves your layout on every device, where a Word file can reflow badly depending on the reader's fonts and version. The one thing to verify is that the PDF contains real text rather than an exported image.
Step by step
- Use a single-column layout
Two columns is the most common cause of scrambled parsing. - Put contact details in the body, not the header
Many parsers never read headers and footers. - Use conventional section names
'Experience', not 'Where I have made an impact'. - Export as PDF with real text
Check by selecting a word. If you cannot, the parser sees a blank page. - Name the file properly
Firstname-Lastname-CV.pdf, not cv-final-v3.pdf.
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