- One CV for every job. Recruiters search for keyword matches; a one-size CV matches some postings by luck. Fix: tailor per posting — reorder and reword the same master CV for each role.
- A two-column layout. Looks organised, parses as nonsense. Fix: single column, standard headings, reading order that matches what you see.
- Contact details in the header. Often skipped by the parser entirely. Fix: put email, phone and location as plain text in the body of page one.
- Duties instead of outcomes. “Responsible for the reporting pipeline” says nothing. Fix: verb, specific action, measurable result.
- Acronyms one way only. A literal search for “SEO” will not find “search engine optimisation”. Fix: write it both ways once — “search engine optimisation (SEO)”.
- Best evidence buried. A perfect match in your third role does less than a partial match in your first two bullets. Fix: move the relevant evidence up.
None of these require inventing anything. They are about making the experience you already have legible to a machine first and a recruiter second. Run a finished CV through the Quick check against the actual posting before you send it.