How to Tailor Your CV to a Job Description (Step by Step)
Recruiters and ATS software both reward CVs that clearly match the role. Tailoring doesn't mean rewriting from scratch — it's a quick, repeatable edit. Here's the process.
Step 1: Pull the keywords
Read the job description and list the repeated skills, tools, and responsibilities. Those are the terms the ATS is most likely scoring against and what the recruiter cares about.
Step 2: Mirror them honestly
Update your summary, skills, and experience bullets to include those terms where they genuinely apply to you. Use the same words the posting uses ("customer success" vs "client support").
Step 3: Reorder for relevance
Put the most relevant experience and achievements first. A recruiter spends seconds on the top third of your CV — make it count for this specific role.
Step 4: Check the match
Paste the job description into write.cv's ATS scorer to see how well your tailored CV matches and what's still missing. Adjust, re-score, and export.