Choose from a wide range of NEWCV resume templates and customize your NEWCV design with a single click.
Use ATS-optimised Resume and resume templates that pass applicant tracking systems. Our Resume builder helps recruiters read, scan, and shortlist your Resume faster.
Use professional field-tested resume templates that follow the exact Resume rules employers look for.
Create Resume
Use professional field-tested resume templates that follow the exact Resume rules employers look for.
Create ResumeAn ATS CV checker can help you spot formatting issues, missing keywords, weak role alignment, and basic readability problems before you apply for jobs. But it does not tell you whether your CV is genuinely strong. That is the part candidates often misunderstand. In the UK job market, your CV is not usually rejected by a mysterious robot alone. It is more often filtered, searched, skimmed, compared, questioned, and then judged by a recruiter or hiring manager who is trying to decide one thing: does this person look relevant enough to speak to?
So yes, an ATS CV checker is useful. But only if you treat it as a diagnostic tool, not as a magic hiring score. A high ATS score will not rescue a vague CV. A lower score does not automatically mean your CV is useless. The real goal is not to impress software. It is to make your CV easy for both the system and the human reader to understand.
An ATS CV checker reviews your CV against factors that applicant tracking systems are likely to read, parse, rank, or flag. In simple terms, it checks whether your CV is machine readable and relevant enough for the role you are targeting.
Most ATS CV checkers look at things like:
Whether your CV uses clear headings such as Work Experience, Education, Skills, and Certifications
Whether the system can identify your job titles, employers, dates, skills, and qualifications
Whether your CV contains keywords from the job description
Whether the layout is simple enough for recruitment software to parse correctly
Whether your CV is too long, too short, too vague, or missing important sections
Whether contact details are easy to find
In the UK, applicant tracking systems are used by employers, recruitment agencies, public sector organisations, charities, corporate businesses, universities, retail groups, healthcare providers, and high volume hiring teams. The system helps manage applications, store candidate records, search CVs, track communication, and support compliance.
But the idea that every CV goes into a black hole and gets rejected by AI is too simplistic.
Here is what often happens in practice.
A recruiter opens a vacancy inside the ATS. Applications come in. Some may be automatically sorted based on screening questions, right to work answers, location, salary expectations, or required qualifications. Some systems allow keyword searching, ranking, or knockout criteria. Then a recruiter reviews the applicants, often quickly, because recruitment workload is not exactly known for its gentle pacing.
For competitive UK roles, especially in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh, Bristol, and other busy markets, the issue is usually not that nobody sees your CV. The issue is that your CV has seconds to prove relevance.
That is a different problem.
Candidates often blame the ATS when the real issue is unclear positioning. The CV may be readable, but not persuasive. It may include keywords, but not enough evidence. It may list responsibilities, but not show impact. It may be technically compatible, but strategically weak.
A good ATS CV checker helps with compatibility. It does not replace proper CV strategy.
Whether your file type is likely to upload properly
That is useful. I like tools that show candidates where their CV might be making life harder than it needs to be. The problem starts when candidates think an ATS checker is the same as recruiter judgement.
It is not.
An ATS checker may tell you that your CV includes the phrase stakeholder management. It cannot tell whether you have shown that skill credibly. It may detect project management, but it cannot decide whether your project experience is relevant, senior enough, recent enough, or commercially useful. It may say you match 82 percent of a job advert, but that does not mean a hiring manager will believe you can do the job.
This is where candidates get caught out. They optimise the CV for scanning, but not for selection.
A good ATS CV checker can be genuinely helpful when it points out issues that stop your CV being read properly. I see these problems regularly, and they are not small details when you are applying at volume.
Fancy CV templates look attractive on screen, but many of them are not built for recruitment systems. Two columns, text boxes, icons, graphics, tables, unusual fonts, headers, footers, and design heavy layouts can confuse parsing tools.
The human version of this problem is just as bad. If I have to work too hard to understand where you worked, what you did, and when you did it, your CV is already losing ground.
A checker can warn you when your CV is too visually complicated. That matters because a CV should not feel like a treasure hunt. Recruiters do not award bonus points for decorative borders. We are trying to find evidence.
ATS checkers are useful for comparing your CV with a job description. If the role asks for financial reporting, Power BI, risk management, SaaS sales, case management, CIPD, procurement, Python, customer success, or NHS experience, your CV needs to reflect the relevant terms honestly.
This does not mean copying the advert like a desperate parrot. It means making sure the language on your CV matches the language employers actually search for.
I often see candidates describe strong experience using vague internal language from their previous employer. That is a problem. If your old company called something client delivery excellence, but the market calls it account management, use the language the market understands.
ATS software prefers predictable CV structure. Recruiters do too. Clear sections make your CV easier to scan and easier to compare.
A checker may flag missing or unclear sections such as:
Professional profile
Key skills
Work experience
Education
Professional qualifications
Technical skills
Certifications
Languages
Volunteering, where relevant
This is not about making every CV identical. It is about removing avoidable confusion. A creative CV still needs structure. A senior CV still needs clarity. An academic CV still needs logic. A career changer still needs relevance.
Some CVs are not rejected because the candidate lacks ability. They are rejected because the CV is exhausting.
Long paragraphs, vague summaries, overloaded bullet points, unexplained acronyms, inconsistent dates, and unclear job titles all create friction. An ATS CV checker may not fully understand nuance, but it can flag readability patterns that deserve attention.
In recruitment, friction matters. When a recruiter has 140 applications and your CV takes twice as long to understand, that is not a neutral detail. It becomes a risk.
This is the section most checker tools do not explain properly, because it is less convenient to sell.
An ATS CV checker cannot tell you whether your CV is commercially convincing, whether your seniority is right, whether your experience is framed well, whether your achievements sound credible, or whether your career story makes sense.
That is where human judgement comes in.
A checker can see that you wrote managed stakeholders. It cannot tell whether that means you worked with two internal colleagues or managed complex relationships across finance, legal, operations, suppliers, and senior leadership.
Recruiters do not only look for words. We look for weight behind the words.
Weak Example
Managed stakeholders and supported business projects.
Good Example
Managed project communication across finance, operations, and external suppliers during a system migration affecting 4 UK sites.
The good version gives context. It tells me the environment, scale, and practical value. That is what moves a CV from keyword matching to actual credibility.
A CV can pass an ATS scan and still position you badly.
For example, a project manager applying for a senior delivery role may have all the right terms, but if the CV reads like a coordinator CV, the hiring manager may not see leadership. A sales candidate may include revenue keywords, but if they do not show targets, deal size, market, sales cycle, or client type, the CV feels thin.
Positioning is about making the reader understand your level.
That includes:
Scope of responsibility
Decision making authority
Team size
Budget or revenue exposure
Complexity of work
Sector relevance
Stakeholder seniority
Measurable outcomes
ATS tools struggle with that because they read text. Recruiters interpret meaning.
This is a quiet but important point. Hiring teams do not just ask, does this person match? They also ask, do I believe this?
A CV stuffed with keywords can look suspicious. If every line sounds copied from a job advert, the reader starts doubting the candidate. Not because keywords are bad, but because the CV feels manufactured.
UK hiring managers can be allergic to exaggerated language. Words like visionary, dynamic, world class, results driven, and exceptional leader rarely help unless the evidence underneath is strong. Usually, they just make the CV sound inflated.
A checker may reward keyword density. A recruiter may punish it if the CV sounds unnatural.
Lovely little hiring contradiction, because apparently one obstacle was not enough.
An ATS CV score is a rough signal. It is not a hiring decision.
Different tools use different scoring methods, so an 87 percent score on one checker may become 64 percent on another. Some tools prioritise keyword matching. Some focus on formatting. Some check section headings. Some compare your CV to a specific job advert. Some use generic rules that may not fit your industry, level, or target role.
This means you should not obsess over the number.
A useful score tells you:
Your CV is probably readable by software
Your CV includes some relevant job description language
Your structure is broadly understandable
Your document may avoid obvious parsing problems
A score does not tell you:
Whether you are a strong candidate
Whether your achievements are persuasive
Whether your CV is targeted enough
Whether the hiring manager will shortlist you
Whether your salary level fits the role
Whether your experience is recent enough
Whether another candidate is simply stronger
I would rather see a candidate with a clear, honest, targeted CV and a decent ATS score than a candidate with a 98 percent checker score and a CV that reads like it was assembled by copying every noun from the job advert.
The score is useful. The obsession with the score is not.
The smartest way to use an ATS CV checker is as part of a proper CV review process. Do not upload your CV once, panic over the score, and start stuffing keywords everywhere. That is how good candidates accidentally make their CV worse.
Use it in this order.
Before checking your CV, read the job advert properly. Not just the title. The title is often the least reliable part.
Look at:
Core responsibilities
Required skills
Preferred skills
Qualifications
Tools and systems
Sector experience
Seniority signals
Location and working pattern
Language around pace, scale, and stakeholders
A UK job advert that says must be comfortable working in a fast paced environment may mean the team is under resourced. A role asking for strong stakeholder management may mean there are difficult internal relationships. Able to work independently may mean limited onboarding. These phrases are not always red flags, but they are clues.
Your CV should respond to the real needs behind the advert, not just repeat the wording.
Upload your CV and compare it against the job description. Look for missing terms that genuinely reflect your experience. Add relevant language where it improves clarity.
For example, if the job advert asks for month end reporting and your CV says prepared finance packs, you may need to be more specific. If the role asks for CRM experience and you used Salesforce, name it. If the advert asks for line management and you managed two direct reports, say so clearly.
Do not add skills you cannot discuss in an interview. That is not optimisation. That is setting a trap for yourself.
If the checker says your CV may not parse properly, fix structure first.
Use:
Simple section headings
Standard fonts
Consistent date formatting
Plain text bullets
Clear job title, company, and location formatting
A simple Word or PDF layout, unless the employer asks for a specific format
Avoid:
Tables
Text boxes
Columns
Icons
Skill bars
Photos
Graphics
Headers and footers containing key information
In the UK, photos are generally unnecessary on a CV and can create bias concerns. They also add no value to ATS performance. Your face is not a keyword. Thankfully.
Once the CV is readable, improve the content.
For each role, ask:
What did I own?
What problems did I solve?
What tools, systems, or methods did I use?
Who did I work with?
What changed because of my work?
What scale was involved?
What would a hiring manager care about?
This is where the real CV improvement happens. ATS compatibility gets you through the door. Strong evidence gives the recruiter a reason to keep reading.
An ATS friendly CV should still sound human. The best CVs are clear, searchable, specific, and believable.
Keywords should sit inside meaningful context.
Weak Example
Skills: leadership, communication, Excel, reporting, stakeholder management, analysis, problem solving, teamwork.
Good Example
Produced weekly sales performance reports in Excel, identifying regional pipeline gaps and presenting recommendations to senior commercial stakeholders.
The good version includes keywords, but it also explains what happened. That matters because recruiters are not just scanning for vocabulary. We are trying to understand your work.
If your official job title is unclear, you can clarify it without inventing a new one.
For example:
Customer Experience Specialist
Customer support and account management focused role supporting UK B2B clients across onboarding, renewals, and issue resolution.
This helps both ATS systems and recruiters understand where you fit. Many internal job titles are useless outside the company. Business Ninja, Client Happiness Hero, and Operations Rockstar may have sounded fun in a startup meeting, but they do not help a hiring manager understand your level.
Use the official title, then clarify the function.
Do not hide important skills in one long paragraph at the bottom of page two.
Place key skills near the top, especially if they are role critical. Then prove them inside your work experience.
For example, if you are applying for a data analyst role, your technical skills section may include SQL, Power BI, Excel, Python, data visualisation, dashboard development, and stakeholder reporting. But your work experience should show how you used those skills in real business situations.
A skills list tells me what to look for. Your experience proves whether I should believe it.
A CV does not need to look dull, but it does need to behave properly. Simple design is not a lack of personality. It is a practical decision.
Use clean spacing, clear headings, consistent formatting, and readable font size. A recruiter should be able to find your latest role, core skills, career direction, and relevant achievements within seconds.
That is not because recruiters are lazy. It is because hiring is comparative. Your CV is being read next to other CVs. Clarity is a competitive advantage.
Most candidates do not misuse ATS checkers because they are careless. They misuse them because the tools encourage a slightly mechanical view of hiring.
A perfect ATS score is not the goal. A clear, relevant, convincing CV is the goal.
When candidates chase a perfect score, they often over edit the CV until it becomes unnatural. They repeat keywords, add irrelevant tools, remove useful context, and turn achievements into bland keyword containers.
Recruiters notice when a CV is over optimised. It feels like it was written for software and accidentally shown to a human.
Using the language of the job advert is sensible. Copying chunks of it is not.
Hiring managers know their own job adverts. If your CV mirrors the advert too closely but lacks proof, it feels weak. Worse, it can create awkward interview moments because you may be asked for examples behind every claim.
Use the advert as a guide. Then translate your real experience into relevant language.
ATS checkers can miss seniority mismatch.
A CV may contain all the right keywords for a senior role but still lack evidence of leadership, accountability, scale, or decision making. This happens often with candidates trying to step up.
If you are applying above your current level, your CV must show stretch evidence. Not wishful thinking. Evidence.
That could include acting up, leading projects, mentoring juniors, owning processes, influencing senior stakeholders, managing budgets, or taking responsibility beyond your job title.
One general CV may be fine for broad networking, but it is usually weak for competitive applications.
You do not need to rewrite your CV from scratch every time. But you should adjust the profile, key skills, and most relevant bullet points for each role type.
For example, a marketing manager applying for a brand role should not use the exact same CV as they would for a performance marketing role. Same profession, different emphasis. Recruiters screen for fit, not just category.
Sometimes the ATS is not the problem. Sometimes the role has hundreds of applicants. Sometimes internal candidates are ahead. Sometimes salary is misaligned. Sometimes the job advert is badly written. Sometimes the hiring manager changes their mind. Sometimes the role quietly disappears because budgets do what budgets do.
An ATS CV checker can improve your odds, but it cannot control the whole hiring process. Use it wisely, but do not make it the villain in every rejection story.
Once a CV is readable and relevant, the human review begins. This is where many candidates either win or lose the shortlist.
I am usually looking for:
Clear current role and career direction
Evidence that matches the vacancy priorities
Recent experience that fits the employer’s needs
Real achievements, not just tasks
Sector, product, client, or market relevance
Tools, systems, and qualifications where required
Progression or a sensible career story
No obvious unexplained gaps or confusing jumps
Salary, location, notice period, or right to work fit where relevant
Hiring managers tend to ask slightly different questions. They are thinking:
Can this person do the job with reasonable onboarding?
Have they worked in a similar environment?
Will they understand the pace and expectations?
Are they likely to stay?
Do they solve the problem this vacancy exists to solve?
Are they stronger than the other shortlisted candidates?
That final question matters. Your CV is not judged in isolation. It is judged against the role, the market, the hiring manager’s expectations, and the applicant pool.
An ATS checker helps your CV become findable. Your content makes it selectable.
An ATS CV checker is worth using when you are applying for roles through online portals, large UK employers, public sector systems, corporate career sites, recruitment agencies, or competitive job adverts where your CV needs to be quickly screened.
It is especially useful if:
You are not getting responses despite relevant experience
You are applying online at volume
You have used a designed CV template
You are changing careers and need better keyword alignment
You are applying to corporate, public sector, tech, finance, healthcare, education, retail, or professional services roles
You are unsure whether your CV reflects the job description properly
You want to test whether your CV is readable by recruitment software
It is less useful if you treat it as the only source of truth. A checker cannot replace recruiter judgement, industry insight, or proper positioning. It can tell you where the CV may be technically weak. It cannot decide whether your story is persuasive.
Free ATS CV checkers can be useful for basic formatting, keyword, and structure checks. Paid tools may offer more detailed job description matching, scoring, rewriting suggestions, and section by section feedback. But price does not automatically mean better advice.
Before trusting any checker, ask:
Does it explain the reason behind the score?
Does it compare the CV against a specific job advert?
Does it separate formatting issues from content issues?
Does it give practical suggestions rather than vague warnings?
Does it understand UK CV conventions?
Does it encourage honest optimisation rather than keyword stuffing?
A tool that tells you to add more keywords without explaining context is not giving strategy. It is giving noise.
For UK candidates, be careful with tools built mainly around US resume conventions. Some advice transfers well, but not all of it. UK CVs often have different expectations around length, personal details, education formatting, references, and tone. For example, a two page CV is common and acceptable for many UK professionals. For senior candidates, technical specialists, academics, and certain public sector roles, more detail may be needed.
The right length is not decided by a generic tool. It is decided by relevance, seniority, sector, and clarity.
Use this framework before applying.
Do not ask, is my CV good? Ask, is my CV good for this role?
A CV is not strong in the abstract. It is strong when it fits a target. The same CV can be excellent for one vacancy and weak for another.
Make sure the ATS can read your CV properly. Fix layout, headings, dates, file format, and contact details first.
This is the foundation. No amount of clever writing helps if the system cannot parse your experience correctly.
Identify the important terms in the advert and make sure your CV uses the relevant ones honestly.
Focus on:
Job title variations
Core skills
Tools and platforms
Qualifications
Industry terms
Management or leadership language
Compliance or regulatory requirements
Customer, client, product, or market language
Every important skill should be supported by context.
Do not just say project management. Show the type of project, your role, the stakeholders, the scale, and the result.
Do not just say customer service. Show volume, channel, customer type, complaint handling, retention, escalation, or service improvement.
Do not just say leadership. Show who or what you led.
After the ATS check, read your CV as if you had 20 seconds.
Can you quickly answer:
What does this person do?
What level are they?
What roles are they targeting?
What are their strongest relevant skills?
What proof do they give?
Why should they be shortlisted?
If those answers are not obvious, the CV still needs work.
You should use an ATS CV checker, but you should not rely on it completely.
The best use of an ATS checker is to remove avoidable barriers. It helps you make sure your CV is readable, structured, searchable, and aligned with the job description. That is valuable. But the final CV still needs human judgement, strategic positioning, and evidence that feels real.
A strong UK CV does three things at once:
It passes through recruitment systems cleanly
It gives recruiters the right information quickly
It helps hiring managers believe you can solve the problem behind the vacancy
That third point is where most generic advice falls apart. Hiring is not just about matching words. It is about reducing doubt.
If your CV makes the reader think, I can see exactly why this person fits, you are in a much stronger position. If it only makes the software happy, you may still be invisible where it matters most.
Written by Simar Malhi, a recruiter and headhunter with international recruitment experience. I write about CVs, job applications, hiring decisions, and the reality behind recruitment processes. My goal is to help candidates understand more honestly how employers, recruiters, and hiring managers actually select candidates.
Upload Resume
Import from Linkedin