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Quick Start Guide

Get your CV analysed in under a minute.

1. Upload your CV​

Drag and drop your CV onto the upload area on the homepage, or click to browse.

Supported formats

  • PDF (recommended — preserves formatting and is the format most recruiters expect)
  • DOCX (Microsoft Word)

Older .doc files, Pages files, Google Docs links, and image-only PDFs aren't supported. If you have one of these, export to PDF first.

File requirements

  • Maximum size: 1 MB
  • One file at a time
  • The CV needs selectable text — scanned-image PDFs can't be read

What happens to your file

The file is sent to ReviewCV's API for analysis and is not shared with third parties. If you're signed in, the CV and its review are saved to your account; otherwise the review is kept in your browser's local storage so you can return to the results page later. See the Privacy Policy for the full detail.

If something goes wrong

  • "File too large" — re-export the PDF with image compression, or remove large embedded images.
  • "Analysis failed" — try again. If it keeps failing, re-export from your editor as a fresh PDF or DOCX.
  • Results look thin or generic — usually a scanned or image-based PDF. Rebuild the CV in a text-based editor and export to PDF.

2. Read your results​

The results page is split into a few sections.

Scores — your CV is rated across a few headline areas: Overall (how the CV reads as a whole), ATS Ready (how cleanly it's likely to parse through Applicant Tracking Systems), and Impact (how strongly your experience comes across — quantified achievements, action verbs, specificity). Scores are colour-coded: green for strong, amber for room to improve, red for areas that need meaningful work before applying.

Summary — a short written paragraph describing your CV as a whole: its strengths, the kind of candidate it presents, and the broad areas to work on.

Keywords — the industry keywords detected in your CV. Recruiters and ATS filters scan for these, so missing your target role's vocabulary means your CV won't surface in keyword searches even when you're a strong fit.

What's working / What to improve — every CV is run through the same set of checks. Things it's doing well appear under "What's working"; things it isn't appear under "What to improve", ordered by impact so the highest-leverage substance edits come first. The checks cover content and impact (quantified achievements, action verbs, a specific summary, role-relevant skills, industry keywords), structure (a professional summary, clear dates on every role, an education section, an appropriate length), formatting (standard headings and ATS-friendly layouts), and contact details (complete, with no sensitive personal information). Click any item in "What to improve" for a detailed explanation of what to change and why it matters.

Work top-down through the "What to improve" list and re-upload any time to see how the changes affect your scores.

3. Claim your CV​

If you want to keep a history of your reviews and compare versions over time, you can claim the CV to a ReviewCV account from the results page. Unclaimed analyses are stored only in your browser.