How your CV is actually read

Reader one: the software

Larger employers, recruitment agencies and many NGOs receive hundreds of applications per posting. Many run them through an applicant tracking system (ATS) that extracts the text from your file, stores it in fields (name, contacts, employers, dates, skills) and lets the recruiter search and filter. Some score applications against the posting's keywords before a person opens them.

What this means in practice:

• The software reads text, not design. Two-column layouts, text in boxes, tables, icons carrying your phone number, and headers or footers holding your contacts can all be extracted in the wrong order or not at all. A single column with your contact details as plain text is the safest layout there is.
• File format matters. A PDF produced from a word processor keeps its text layer. A scanned image saved as PDF has no text; the software sees a blank page. Word files are read fine by most systems but can render differently on the reader's machine.
• Words are matched literally. If the posting says "procurement" and your CV says "purchasing" throughout, a keyword filter may miss you. Use the posting's terms where they are genuinely what you did.
• Standard section headings help. "Experience", "Education", "Skills" are recognised; creative headings are not.

Reader two: the person

Once a person opens your CV, the first pass is a scan of a few seconds: name, most recent title and employer, dates, the first lines of your profile, perhaps the education line. The reader is deciding whether to read properly. They are looking for a reason to put you on the "maybe" pile, and equally for a reason to put you on the "no" pile.

What this means:

• The top third does the work. Name, a headline that says what you are, contact details, and a short profile that names your strongest match with the posting. If the reader stopped there, would they know why you fit?
• Recent and relevant first. Your most recent role, with its most relevant achievements at the top of its bullets.
• White space is not waste. Dense walls of text do not get read. Short bullets, clear headings, consistent dates.
• Errors end the reading. A typo in the first line, inconsistent dates, a wrong company name: the reader has a hundred other CVs and no reason to forgive.

The two readers want the same thing

A clean single-column document, plain text, standard headings, the posting's language where it is true, achievements with results, and no mistakes. Design for the software and the person at the same time; a CV that looks striking but reads badly in either fails.

KaziMatch's PDFs are built this way deliberately: single column, real text, standard headings, contact details as text. The rest of this course is about what goes into them.