JobofinderUpdated 11 October 2026
What tailoring is for
A recruiter reading a pile of applications gives each one a short look before deciding whether to read on. In that look they are checking for a few things the posting asked for. If those things are in your CV but sit in the fourth bullet point of your second job, they may not be seen.
Tailoring moves what matters for this job to where it will be seen, and says it in words the reader recognises. It does not change what you have done.
How to do it by hand
- Mark up the posting. Underline the five or six things it asks for most: skills, tools, kinds of experience, qualifications.
- Find your evidence for each. Where in your CV is the proof? If there is none for one of them, leave it. Do not invent it.
- Rewrite the summary. Two or three lines at the top that name the job you are applying for and your strongest matching experience.
- Reorder the bullet points. Under each job, put the points that match the posting first.
- Use their words where they are true. If the posting says "stakeholder reporting" and you wrote "reports for managers", and they are the same thing, use the posting's phrase.
- Trim what does not help. A point that is irrelevant to this job can go, so the relevant ones stand out.
What must not change
- Employers, job titles and dates.
- Qualifications, grades and certificates.
- Numbers. If you managed a team of four, it stays four.
- Skills you do not have. A keyword that gets you an interview you cannot pass is a waste of your time and theirs.
A useful test: could you talk about every line for two minutes if the interviewer asked? If not, the line should not be there.
When software tailors it for you
Doing this for every application is slow, which is why many people stop doing it. On the Pro plan Jobofinder can do it for each job it applies to. The built-in AI is given your CV and the posting, and may shorten and reword what your CV says. It is instructed to keep every job, date and qualification, and never to add employers, qualifications, skills or figures that are not in your CV. If its version contains something that is not in your CV, that version is thrown away and your own CV is sent.
You should still check it, because it is your name on the application. For every tailored CV that was sent, Jobofinder keeps a page called "What changed":
- each line of the CV that was sent, beside your own sentence it was made from;
- every word that is not in your own CV, marked;
- anything in your CV that was left out of this version.
Read it before the interview. The interviewer has the tailored version in front of them, so you should know it as well as they do. There is also a preparation sheet that lists the points your CV put first for that job and the questions they are likely to prompt.
If you would rather send the same CV everywhere, switch tailoring off in your profile. Nothing is rewritten without that setting.
Common questions
Is tailoring a CV dishonest?
Not if every statement is still true. Choosing which of your real achievements to put first, and describing them in the words the employer uses, is what a careful applicant has always done. Adding skills, dates or employers you do not have is something else, and it tends to come out at interview.
How much should I change for each job?
Less than you think. The summary at the top, the order of the bullet points under your recent jobs, and the skills list usually do it. Your employers, job titles, dates and qualifications stay exactly as they are.
How do I check a CV that Jobofinder tailored?
Open the application and press "What changed in my CV". It lists the CV that was sent line by line, beside the sentence of your own CV each line came from, and marks every word that is not in your own CV.