How UK agency systems and CV databases read your CV
Source review recorded . Advert measurements are dated snapshots of the stage copy. Fitread check descriptions in chapter 9 were reviewed on .
Choose Print in your browser, then save as PDF if you want a copy.
Fitread guide, by ContractorUK
How UK agency systems and CV databases read your CV
What happens to your CV after you press Apply: which systems UK agencies and employers use, how they turn a file into a searchable record, how recruiters search, which questions filter you out, and what that means for contract, temp and permanent work in every kind of job.
What makes this guide different. Most "applicant tracking system" advice is American, written for direct employer applications, and leans on numbers nobody can trace. This guide is written for the UK, where contract and temp work is largely placed through agencies and their databases (our view). Every claim links to a source you can read, or is labelled as our own measurement (with its sample and date) or our own view. Where nobody publishes the answer, we say so.
How to read the labels
A small link such as B3 points to the source list. Vendor documentation is the vendor describing its own product; marketing and search-snippet sources are marked as weaker.
Our measurement is a figure ContractorUK computed from adverts on its own jobs board, always with how many adverts and when, and a link to how it was measured, such as CUK1.
Our view is advice or a reasonable inference that no source states outright.
Not documented means we looked and the vendor does not say publicly. It does not mean "no".
Unsourced claim marks a popular claim with no traceable evidence. We name it only to tell you not to rely on it.
Five things to know first
Recruiters find CVs by searching records. Your CV becomes a record in the agency's system, and recruiters find people by title, skill words, location, pay and how recently the record was updated CV1CV2B3.
Every automatic rejection documented by the vendors we read is driven by answers to screening questions, not by words in your CVFP2FP7FP11FP17; one employer survey adds that some systems screen out CVs with a gap of more than six months FP27. The famous "75% of CVs are rejected by software" figure has no published study behind it FP30.
Layout can lose information. Vendor guidance for a common UK parser asks for no tables, headers, text boxes, graphics or image files M1.
AI screeners mark a requirement "unknown" when your CV does not state it plainlyWK2AS1TT1. Say what you have, in the advert's words, if it is true.
Adverts outside IT ask for cards, licences and registrations more than named skills.Our measurement DBS appears in 4,259 of 22,518 adverts on our board, CSCS in 2,978, QTS in 1,790, HGV or C+E in 786 (September 2026) CUK4.
Chapters
1. How your CV reaches an agencyJob boards, multiposters, CV databases, the agency's own system, employer systems and public-sector forms.
SourcesEvery source, what kind it is, and when we read it.
Written by ContractorUK for Fitread, 26 September 2026. Figures marked as our measurement come from the ContractorUK jobs board (stage copy, adverts posted to 13 September 2026). This guide is not legal or tax advice.
Chapter 1
How your CV reaches an agency
In the UK, much contract and temp work, and a lot of permanent work, is filled by recruitment agencies Our view. Your CV usually reaches them by one of four routes, and on each one it ends up as a record in a database before a person reads it.
Route 1: you apply to an advert on a job board
You apply on a job board. The board passes your application to the agency that posted the advert. Many agencies post through a multiposter, a service that sends one advert to many boards and routes the replies back:
Broadbean's Aplitrak tracks applications from boards into more than 120 agency and employer systems BB1.
idibu has used a Daxtra integration since 2009 so that applicants' CVs create or update records in the agency's system against the advert I1.
Some agency systems take applications straight from boards: Firefish documents direct applications from boards including the feed partner, Reed and Monster FP22.
On ContractorUK. Adverts on the ContractorUK jobs board come from the feed partner's feed. You apply on the feed partner through our link, and the feed partner passes the application to the agency. The advert does not tell you which system the agency uses Our measurementCUK7, so Fitread never claims to know it. Fitread never applies for you.
Route 2: a recruiter finds you in a CV database
Job boards sell recruiters access to the CVs candidates upload. Recruiters search these databases directly:
Totaljobs lets recruiters search by keyword or Boolean across the whole CV and profile or the job title only, and filter by location, salary (annual, daily or hourly), right to work and job type (temporary, contract, permanent) CV1.
Reed scans all CV text including previous job titles, and filters by how recently the candidate registered, from 1 day to 24 months CV2.
Aggregators run one search across every database an agency pays for, with saved searches that run overnight: Broadbean Search BB2 and Daxtra Search inside Mercury M4.
the feed partner also runs a CV database. We have not read its recruiter documentation for this guide, so we say nothing about how it searches Not documented here.
Route 3: the agency's own system
Whichever way it arrives, your CV is parsed into a candidate record in the agency's own system, often called a CRM. Recruiters then search that record for years, not just for the advert you answered Our view. What UK agency systems publicly say about how they parse:
Read 26 September 2026. Two parser families, Daxtra (Edinburgh) PS33 and Textkernel (bought by Bullhorn in June 2024) B10, appear most often in UK agency systems.
Bullhorn ATS
Documented · last checked 26 September 2026
Its own parsing, with "Textkernel technology" being added for all customers through 2026 B1
Its help centre names no parser vendor and sells Daxtra Styler as a paid add-on V4
Access Recruitment CRM
Not documented · last checked 26 September 2026
Not documented in public material we could open
Zoho Recruit
Not documented · last checked 26 September 2026
Not documented in public material we could open
Eploy
Not documented · last checked 26 September 2026
Not documented in public material we could open
Voyager
Not documented · last checked 26 September 2026
Not documented in public material we could open
Two things that catch people out
Duplicate records. In Bullhorn for Salesforce only one CV per candidate is searchable (normally the most recent), and duplicates are checked on first name and email, or email alone, so a CV sent from a different email address can create a second record B7. Use the same email address with every agency and board.
Old parses stay. Bullhorn says documents parsed before its 2026 parser upgrade keep their old result unless they are parsed again B1. When your CV changes, send the new file rather than assuming the agency's record updates itself Our view.
Route 4: straight to the employer
Some adverts, more often permanent ones, send you to the employer's own application system: Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Workable, Teamtailor, Ashby, iCIMS, Taleo, SmartRecruiters and others. These usually ask screening questions alongside your CV (chapter 4). Few say publicly which parser they use Not documented.
The public sector is different again:
NHS Jobs does not accept an uploaded CV. Where the employer chooses a CV application, you paste your CV into set sections, remove identifying details because the process is anonymous, and cannot save that text for reuse FP24.
Civil Service Jobs scores behaviour examples of up to 250 words, asks for job history covering at least the last three years and up to eight roles with gaps explained, and says to upload a document only when the form asks FP25.
What this means for you. Write one clean CV that survives parsing (chapter 2) and can be found by search (chapter 3), keep one email address, and answer screening questions carefully (chapter 4). Tailor the top of the CV to each advert; keep the facts identical everywhere Our view.
Chapter 2
How a CV becomes a record, and what breaks
A parser reads your file and fills in a database record: contact details, jobs, dates, education and skills. Whatever the parser misses is missing from every search a recruiter runs later.
What the record holds
Textkernel documents one of the most detailed outputs. For each job it records the employer and title as written and in a standard form, start and end dates, and whether the year, month or day was actually found. For each skill it records an id, months of experience, when it was last used and where in the CV it was found. It also returns "resume quality" findings about problems in the document PS13. Daxtra's parser likewise records skills with months of experience and when they were last used, and detects a UK locale for addresses, phone numbers and currency PS34.
That is why dates matter so much: months of experience per skill are worked out from the dates of the job the skill appears in. A job with no readable dates gives its skills no months Our view, from how these fields are described.
The parser is not where your CV is kept. Textkernel says its parsing service stores no CVs and parses in memory PS6; the record that results is kept in the agency's own system, which is why an old parse can follow you for years (chapter 1).
What vendors say breaks parsing
The clearest UK guidance we found is Mercury's page for its Daxtra parser. It asks for: a name plus a phone number or email; no headers or tables; no graphics, photos or WordArt; no image files; no text boxes, shapes or slanted text; simple fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman or Courier New; files up to 8 MB M1.
Layout feature
What the evidence says
What to do
Columns
Bullhorn's 2026 parser update claims better handling of column layouts B1, which suggests columns were a weak point before, and CVs parsed before the update keep their old parse B1Our reading.
One column. Put dates and locations on the same line as the job, not in a side column.
Remove them; retype the text as normal paragraphs.
Images, photos, scans
No image files, graphics or photos M1. Textkernel through Mercury accepts image files M2; Bullhorn reads image-based and scanned CVs only on its updated parser, and older setups may need manual entry FP4. Workday advises avoiding images W1.
Send a file with real text in it, never a scan or a picture of a CV. Skill ratings drawn as bars or stars carry no text a parser can read Our view.
Section headings
Not documented: no vendor we read publishes the headings it recognises.
Use plain headings a person would expect: Profile, Experience (or Employment history), Skills, Education, Qualifications, Certifications Our view.
Dates
Textkernel reads ambiguous dates such as 5/1/09 using the country it detects from your address PS14, needs the file's last-modified date to interpret dates PS7, and records whether a month was found PS13.
Give a month and year for every job, in one format throughout ("Mar 2024 - Present" or "03/2024 - 09/2026"). Avoid day-first numbers that could be read either way.
Bullhorn parses PDF, .doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt and HTML FP4.
Mercury's Daxtra parser accepts PDF, doc and docx, HTML, RTF, txt, ODT and Pages M1.
Greenhouse accepts .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf and .txt FP1; Workable accepts .pdf, .doc, .docx, .rtf, .html and .odt up to 5 MB FP6; Ashby needs a file of 16 MB or less for full-text search and autofill FP13.
A Word file (.docx) or a PDF made from a word processor (so the text can be selected) is accepted everywhere we checked Our view, from the lists above. Keep it well under 5 MB.
How accurate are parsers?
Nobody knows independently. We found no published, independent head-to-head accuracy test of the main parsers; round-ups say the published figures are the vendors' own PS30. Affinda claims 92% overall PS11 and Daxtra "~90%" PS15, both vendor marketing with no published method.
No "ATS score" is the recruiter's score. Any tool that gives you a match percentage, including Fitread, is running its own scorer, not the agency's. Fitread's match rate is our own calculation and says how it is worked out; it is not what any agency or employer sees.
A test you can do in a minute
Open your CV, select all the text, copy it and paste it into a plain text editor. If the order is jumbled, words run together, or your contact details or dates are missing, a parser is likely to struggle too Our view. Fitread's "Text we could read" check reports whether text could be extracted; it cannot prove that every parser will read the file correctly (chapter 9).
Chapter 3
How recruiters search
Once your CV is a record, a recruiter finds it by typing words and ticking filters. Being found comes down to four things: the title you use, the words in your CV, where you are, and how recently your record was active.
Keywords and Boolean
Agency systems and CV databases let recruiters combine words:
Bullhorn documents AND, OR, AND NOT, "exact phrases" in quotes, * for word stems and brackets, for example Developer AND (Java OR Spring)B3.
Zoho Recruit Z2 and Recruit CRM R2 document Boolean search too; Broadbean publishes a Boolean guide for recruiters BB4.
Reed's CV search scans all CV text including previous job titles, with AND, NOT and quotes CV2CV3. Greenhouse offers full-text search over CVs G1.
A search such as "site manager" AND SMSTS AND CSCS or "teaching assistant" AND (SEN OR SEND) only finds you if those exact words are in your CV Our view: examples, not documented searches. A search engine cannot know that "led the site team" means "site manager".
Title search
Totaljobs lets recruiters search in the job title only, or in the whole profile and CV CV1. If your title is unusual ("Delivery Lead, Special Projects") and the recruiter searches the title they advertised ("Project Manager"), a title-only search can miss you. Put the common title for what you do near the top of the CV, and keep your real titles in your job history Our view.
Filters: where, how much, what type, how recent
Totaljobs documents filters for location radius or commute, salary as annual, daily or hourly, right to work, job type (temporary, contract, permanent), notice period and how recently the candidate was active, sorted by relevance, last active, last updated, salary or distance CV1. Reed filters on salary (annual or hourly), sector, job type, registration recency from 1 day to 24 months, qualifications and languages CV2.
Location: a town and postcode area on your CV and profile lets radius searches include you Our view.
Pay and job type: set these on your database profile honestly; a contract search filtered by day rate will not see a profile that only states a salary Our view.
Recency: activity filters mean an old profile drops out of searches. Updating your CV or profile when you start looking brings it back into date ranges Our view, from the filters above.
Search built for the recruiter, and AI ranking
Systems increasingly build the search for the recruiter. Bullhorn says its Search & Match builds a query from the job description, widens it with related keywords and ranks candidates by predicted likelihood of placement B5. Greenhouse says recruiters search with AI-suggested synonyms and that keyword stuffing is not needed FP3. Zoho's matching weights rare skills more heavily and looks at proficiency, duration and recency Z3.
Newer screening tools score a CV against each requirement and show their reasoning. Three of them have a status for "not enough information": Workable's Agent marks criteria met, partially met, not met, disqualifying or unknown WK2; Ashby's review marks meets, does not meet or undecided AS1; Teamtailor's Co-pilot shows insufficient information TT1.
The practical rule. A requirement your CV does not state plainly is treated as unknown, not as met. If the advert asks for something you have, say it in the advert's own words, once, where it belongs. Never add a skill, card or qualification you do not have: it will be checked.
Write the full term and the short form
Recruiters search in the advert's words, and adverts use both long and short forms. Writing both (for example "Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card", "Special Educational Needs (SEN)", "Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Level 7", "Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD)") means either search finds you Our view.
Which words adverts actually use
Our measurement Share of adverts in each sector containing a phrase, ContractorUK jobs board, adverts posted June to 13 September 2026, measured 26 September 2026 CUK6:
Phrases already in Fitread's skills list are excluded from the phrase lists, which is why IT's technical skills do not appear here.
"IR35" 52.7%, "stakeholders" 42.8%; named technical skills are counted separately: median 5 per advert CUK1
Chapter 4
Screening questions, and what really rejects you
The hard filter in most application systems is not your CV. It is the short list of yes or no questions you answer when you apply, or that a recruiter or chatbot asks you afterwards.
What vendors document as automatic rejection
Every automatic rejection we found in vendor documentation is triggered by answers to questions:
Greenhouse: auto-reject is a rule on a yes/no, single-choice or multi-choice question; it can set a rejection reason and send an email. No CV-based trigger is described FP2.
Workable: a "No" to a disqualifying yes/no question disqualifies you, and you still receive the normal confirmation email FP7.
SmartRecruiters: yes/no or dropdown questions, with the rejection delayed by 1 hour by default, or 2 or 5 days FP11. A slow "no" can still be automatic.
Recruitee: knockout questions with a scheduled rejection email FP17. Oracle Taleo: a disqualification question ends the application at once FP15.
idibu, a multiposter UK agencies use: application pages can auto-reject on answers, and the applicant is not shown the trigger FP20. Jobtrain auto-rejects below a minimum score on its screening questions JT1; Tribepad sells "killer questions" TP1.
Bullhorn Amplify Screener asks qualification questions by chat or voice B6.
The questions UK roles ask
Which questions a given agency uses is not visible from the advert Not documented per advert. These are the ones UK adverts raise most, with how often our board's adverts mention them Our measurement (22,518 adverts, posted to 13 September 2026) CUK4CUK3:
DBS and right to work counts are inflated in education by agency boilerplate repeated on every advert. Text matches can over-count.
Question
Background
Adverts mentioning
Right to work in the UK
Employers must check that an applicant is allowed to work in the UK before employing them GOV2. Totaljobs lets recruiters filter the database on it CV1.
1,707
Security clearance (BPSS, CTC, SC, DV)
UK vetting levels include Counter Terrorist Check, Security Check and Developed Vetting; CTC and above also need the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) GOV3.
240 (SC or DV)
DBS check
Most common in education, care and anything with children or vulnerable adults. The DBS Update Service keeps a certificate up to date and lets employers check it online GOV4.
4,259
Driving licence
Across every sector, not only driving jobs.
2,088
Availability and start date
"Immediate start" in 2,073 adverts, "ASAP" in 2,589 (text matches).
see left
IR35 (contracts)
Whether you accept a role inside or outside IR35 (chapter 5).
2,744 (text)
Cards, tickets, registrations
CSCS, QTS, HGV/C+E, NMC, ACCA and the rest (chapter 8).
chapter 8
Answer every screening question truthfully. An honest "no" to a knockout costs you an application you would not have got. A false "yes" is found at the compliance check, after you have spent time on interviews. Where a question is borderline (a clearance that lapsed last year, a card being renewed), say so in the free-text box or to the recruiter Our view.
Do systems reject CVs on keywords?
What the evidence says, strongest first:
Vendor documentation: no CV-keyword auto-reject documented in any system we read (above).
UK regulator: the ICO's audit of AI recruitment tools (6 November 2024) found the tools were built to support human decisions and mostly gave indicative grades or fit scores; the ICO tells recruiters not to reject on those scores alone. It also found some tools let recruiters filter out protected characteristics or guessed gender and ethnicity from names FP28.
Employer survey: Harvard Business School and Accenture's "Hidden Workers" (2021; survey of employers in May-June 2020) found 58% of UK employers used a recruitment management system, over 90% of users used it to filter or rank candidates at first, and almost half automatically screened out CVs with a gap of more than six months FP27.
Small vendor survey: of 25 US recruiters interviewed by Enhancv, a CV-tool company, 2 had systems set to reject on content or match score and all used knockout questions FP29. Small, American and from a seller: directional only.
Unsourced claim"75% of CVs are rejected by applicant tracking systems before a human sees them." This figure is traced to Preptel, a CV-software vendor, around 2012. No study, data or method was ever published, and the firm closed in 2013 FP30. Fitread does not use it, and you should not believe any tool that does.
The gap finding matters for contractors and temps
Gaps between contracts or assignments are normal. Because some employers' systems screen on gaps FP27, list back-to-back contracts under one heading with their dates, and give any real gap a one-line, true reason (for example "Sept 2025 - Jan 2026: career break, caring for a family member" or "between contracts: completed PRINCE2 Practitioner") Our view.
Chapter 5
Contract roles
Contract hiring is fast and agency-led. A recruiter with a new requirement searches the database that morning, shortlists by title, skills, rate, availability and clearance, and sends a few CVs to the client. Your CV has to be found, and then read in seconds.
What contract adverts look like
Our measurement 19,519 contract adverts on the ContractorUK jobs board, posted to 13 September 2026, measured 26 September 2026 CUK1CUK2CUK3:
Contract here means every advert not marked temporary. Many are paid hourly (supply teaching, trades, care), so "contract" does not mean "day rate". Text matches can over-count.
What the advert states
Adverts
Share
Pay per hour
7,484
38.3%
Pay per day
7,129
36.5%
Pay per year
2,198
11.3%
Pay per week or month
227
1.2%
No pay basis given
2,481
12.7%
IR35 status field: inside
1,731
8.9%
IR35 status field: outside
991
5.1%
IR35 status field: undetermined
16,797
86.1%
Text mentions "umbrella" / "PAYE"
1,653 / 1,900
8.5% / 9.7%
Text mentions "hybrid"
2,344
12.0%
So most contract adverts on our board do not state IR35 status, and fewer than two in five state a day rate.
Day rate
CV databases let recruiters filter on daily and hourly rates as well as salary CV1. Set your rate on your database profiles, and give it in the screening answer or to the recruiter; a rate on the CV itself fixes one number for every role you send it to Our view.
Our measurement Advertised day rates, September 2026 CUK5:
Advertised, not paid. Fitread shows the current month's figure for the advert's own role, with its sample, and says "too few adverts" when the sample is small.
Role
Adverts with a day rate
Median
Middle half
Project manager
255
£452
£400 - £550
Business analyst
50
£487.50
£411 - £550
Data engineer
40
£475
£436 - £528
IR35
For most engagements the client decides whether the off-payroll rules (IR35) apply and must give a status determination statement with its reasons; where a worker provides services to a small client outside the public sector, the worker's own company decides GOV1. The rules for medium and large private-sector clients changed on 6 April 2021 GOV1.
IR35 status is decided by the contract and the way the work is done, not by the wording of your CV Our view, from GOV1. Describe what you delivered, for whom and when, accurately.
If you only accept outside-IR35 roles, or also inside roles through an umbrella or PAYE, say so to the recruiter and in any screening question. Do not put it in a way that rules you out of roles you would take Our view.
Our measurement 240 contract adverts ask for SC or DV clearance: 117 in IT, 53 in engineering, 43 in the public sector and defence, 16 in construction; "BPSS" appears in 373 CUK4CUK3. Vetting levels are set out by UK Security Vetting GOV3. If you hold clearance, state the level and that it is current, near the top, in the words adverts use ("SC cleared", "active DV"). Never imply a clearance you do not hold Our view.
Availability
"Immediate start" appears in 1,672 contract adverts and "ASAP" in 2,330 Our measurementCUK3. Put your availability ("Available from 6 October 2026", or your notice) at the top of the CV and keep it current Our view.
The contract CV, in short
The common title for what you do, plus clearance and availability, in the first lines.
Each contract with client, your role, month and year dates, and what you delivered, with numbers where true.
Short contracts grouped under one heading with dates, so parsers and readers see continuous work.
The advert's skill words, full term and short form, only where you have them.
Rate and IR35 preferences in your profile and answers, not fixed on the CV.
What Fitread checks for contracts. The day rate as the advert states it against the role's advertised median and middle half this month (with sample and month), IR35 as stated or "not stated", the contract length as stated, the advert's skills and title on your CV, and a seniority check that uses the role's advertised day rates. Details in chapter 9.
Chapter 6
Temp roles
Temp work is filled by agencies that need someone who is available, qualified for the site or setting, and can start this week. The CV still gets you into the database; what gets you placed is showing those three things at a glance.
What temp adverts ask for
Our measurement 2,999 temporary adverts on the ContractorUK jobs board, posted to 13 September 2026, measured 26 September 2026 CUK1CUK3CUK4:
Text matches can over-count ("shift" also matches "shifting"). The biggest temp roles on the board: HGV driver (168 adverts), teaching assistant (152), forklift driver (71), nursery assistant (71), primary teacher (69).
What the advert states
Adverts
Share
Pay per hour
1,859
62.0%
Pay per day
736
24.5%
Pay per year, week, month or none given
404
13.5%
Mentions shifts
828
27.6%
Mentions nights / weekends
351 / 288
11.7% / 9.6%
Mentions "immediate start"
401
13.4%
Names a DBS check
830
27.7%
Names a CSCS card
347
11.6%
Names a driving licence
327
10.9%
Names HGV or C+E / Driver CPC
307 / 198
10.2% / 6.6%
Names manual handling / forklift (FLT)
169 / 150
5.6% / 5.0%
Names right to work
253
8.4%
Temp adverts are short. On our board they name very few skills from the skills list used for the recorded measurement: a mean of 0.13 per advert, and 99.4% name fewer than three Our measurementCUK1. What they name instead is pay, shifts, start dates, cards and checks.
How temp candidates are found
CV databases let recruiters filter by job type (temporary) and by hourly pay CV1CV2, and by how recently a candidate was active CV1. A profile set to "temporary", with an hourly rate and a current activity date, is visible to those searches; one set only to "permanent" is not Our view, from the filters.
The temp CV, in short
Availability first: days, shifts (earlies, lates, nights, weekends), notice needed, and the date you can start.
Where you can work: your town and how far you travel, and whether you have your own transport and a full UK driving licence (only if true).
Cards, checks and tickets with their status: for example "Enhanced DBS on the Update Service", "CSCS Labourer card, valid to 2028", "Counterbalance and reach truck licences", "Driver CPC and digital tachograph card". The DBS Update Service lets an employer check a certificate online GOV4. Never put certificate or card numbers on a CV you send widely.
Assignments grouped: list short assignments under the agency or under one heading with dates and the kinds of site or setting, so the CV stays short and shows continuous work.
The advert's own words for the work (for example "picking and packing", "personal care", "SEN support", "groundworks"), only for what you have done.
What Fitread checks for temp roles. The pay exactly as the advert states it (hourly or daily), shifts, start date and availability as stated, and the skills and title on your CV. A temp pay comparison against other adverts is not built yet, and credential checks compare recognised cards and licences named in the advert with your CV (chapter 9).
Chapter 7
Permanent roles
Permanent roles go through agencies too, but more often than contracts they send you to the employer's own application system, with a form, screening questions and sometimes an AI review of your CV against each requirement.
A note on our data. The ContractorUK jobs board carries no adverts marked permanent (26 September 2026); 2,386 adverts state an annual salary (2,198 typed contract, 188 typed temporary) Our measurementCUK1. So this chapter rests on vendor and government documentation, not on our own adverts, and Fitread does not compare permanent salaries with the market: it shows the salary exactly as the advert states it.
Employer application systems
Forms filled from your CV. Workday's Quick Apply fills application fields from your CV or a previous application FP8; Ashby can autofill from the uploaded CV FP13. Check every filled field before you submit: a date or title the parser misread goes to the employer as you submitted it Our view. In Taleo, imported fields that the application flow does not show cannot be corrected by the candidate FP16.
Skills not taken from the CV. Workday does not fill its Skills or Languages sections from the CV, and says results vary with format and word order W1. Fill those sections by hand.
Knockout questions are where applications are rejected automatically (chapter 4) FP2FP7FP15.
Criterion-by-criterion AI review marks requirements your CV does not state plainly as unknown or undecided WK2AS1TT1. The UK regulator tells recruiters not to reject on such scores alone FP28.
Salary and notice
CV databases filter on annual salary and on notice period CV1. Set both honestly on your profile. Give your salary expectation in the form or to the recruiter rather than on the CV, and state your notice period on the CV only if it is short enough to help you Our view.
Public sector applications
NHS Jobs: no CV upload; on a CV application you paste your CV into set sections, remove identifying details because the process is anonymous, and cannot save the text for reuse FP24. Keep a plain-text copy of your CV ready to paste.
Civil Service Jobs: behaviour examples of up to 250 words scored on the Civil Service rating scale; job history covering at least three years and up to eight roles, with gaps explained; a sift panel scores behaviours, CV and personal statement FP25. Write each example to the behaviour named in the advert.
Other public bodies use their own application systems. Jobtrain, for one, documents automatic rejection below a minimum score on its screening questions JT1.
The permanent CV, in short
A two-to-three-line profile naming the role you want in the advert's title.
Each job with employer, title, month and year dates, and results with numbers where true.
Qualifications and memberships spelled out in full and short form (for example "ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), qualified 2021").
A plain-text copy for forms that do not take a file.
Every auto-filled field checked before you submit.
What Fitread checks for permanent roles. The salary band exactly as the advert states it, with the plain sentence that we do not hold enough permanent adverts to compare it; notice period and start date as stated; and the same skills, title, searchability and recruiter checks as every reading.
Chapter 8
Every kind of work
Most CV advice is written for office and IT jobs. Most adverts are not. On our board, adverts for teaching, construction, trades, care and driving ask first for cards, registrations, licences and checks, and recruiters search for exactly those words.
How to read the figures.Our measurement ContractorUK jobs board, 22,518 adverts posted June to 13 September 2026, measured 26 September 2026 CUK1CUK4CUK6. "Names" counts adverts that mention a credential. The skills list used for this recorded measurement was IT-heavy: outside IT, 96.1% of adverts name fewer than three skills from it, against 26.6% in IT. Those historical figures describe that version of the list, not the current vocabulary or the quality of the adverts. The current Credentials check is described in chapter 9.
Everywhere below, the rule is the same: write the credential the way the advert writes it, with its level or category and whether it is current, and only if you hold it. Never put certificate, card, registration or licence numbers on a CV you send widely; give them at the compliance check Our view.
Education and childcare
Adverts: 5,467. Teaching assistant (1,535 contract adverts) and supply teacher (1,328) are the two biggest roles on the whole board. "Safeguarding" appears in 59.4% of education adverts, "SEN" in 32.0%, "QTS" in 30.9%. Names: DBS 3,158, QTS 1,786, Level 3 childcare 118 (DBS inflated by agency boilerplate).
On your CV: QTS, QTLS or EYTS status; the type of DBS check and whether it is on the Update Service GOV4; the key stages or age groups you have taught; SEN experience in plain words (for example "1:1 support for a pupil with autism"); safeguarding training and when Our view.
On your CV: your registration (NMC, HCPC, Social Work England or the equivalent) and that it is current; the settings you have worked in (residential, domiciliary, hospital ward, community); medication and moving-and-handling training; the Care Certificate if you hold it Our view.
Construction and engineering
Adverts: construction 5,521, engineering 3,291. "CSCS" appears in 45.4% of construction adverts and "CSCS card" in 28.6%. Names in construction: CSCS 2,585, SMSTS or SSSTS 947, CPCS 580, NPORS 471, IPAF 194, first aid 563. In construction and engineering together: NEBOSH 113, IOSH 123. Site manager (513 adverts) and site engineer (399) lead the roles.
On your CV: the CSCS card type and expiry; site safety tickets (SMSTS, SSSTS, first aid); plant categories exactly as the card shows them (CPCS or NPORS); the types and values of projects; the software you use for setting out or design, if any Our view.
Trades
Adverts: electrician (519), fitter (278), carpenter (251), groundworker (196), welder (126). Names, across the whole board: 18th Edition 199, JIB 267, Gas Safe 60, City & Guilds 229, NVQ 826. "ECS" appears in 406 adverts, though some of those are an agency's name.
On your CV: the qualification and level (for example "NVQ Level 3 Electrotechnical, 18th Edition, ECS Gold Card"); registrations such as Gas Safe; the kinds of installation or job; own tools and van if true Our view.
Logistics, driving and warehouse
Adverts: 1,073. "HGV class" appears in 31.5% of logistics adverts, "digital tachograph card" 27.2%, "C+E" 21.2%. Names: HGV or C+E 552, Driver CPC 384, forklift 152, ADR 26.
On your CV: licence categories exactly (C, C+E, C1); Driver CPC and digital tachograph card; forklift types (counterbalance, reach, VNA) and the accrediting body if you know it; ADR if held; multi-drop, trunking or night work experience Our view.
On your CV: the lines, machines or processes you have run; shift patterns you have worked; quality and safety training; forklift and food hygiene certificates where relevant Our view.
On your CV: qualification status in plain words ("ACCA qualified, 2021" or "CIMA part-qualified, studying for the Strategic level"); the systems you use (for example SAP, Oracle, Sage, Xero, Excel) only if you use them; month-end, reconciliations, payroll or audit work in the advert's words Our view.
Legal
Adverts: 79, too few for firm figures. "Solicitor" 45.6%, "caseload" 32.9%.
On your CV: your qualification and year (for example solicitor, chartered legal executive, paralegal); your area of law; the size and type of caseload you have run Our view.
HR, admin and office
Adverts: business support 2,231; administrator is the biggest role (333). "Customer" 36.8%, "attention to detail" 27.7%, "records" 23.8%. Names: CIPD 108 (business support).
On your CV: CIPD level if held; the systems you have used (HR, finance, CRM, Microsoft 365); the volume you handled (for example "processed 150 invoices a week") where true Our view.
Sales and marketing
Adverts: marketing 128, too few for firm figures. "Content" 48.4%, "campaigns" 46.1%, "digital" 53.1%.
On your CV: channels and tools you have run; results with numbers (leads, conversion, revenue) where true; sector knowledge Our view.
Hospitality, retail and security
Adverts: our board has no separate hospitality or retail sector, so we cannot measure these yet Too few adverts. Across all sectors, food hygiene is named in 151 adverts and an SIA licence in 78.
On your CV: food hygiene level, SIA licence type (door supervisor, security guard, CCTV) if held, till and stock systems, and your availability for evenings and weekends Our view.
Public sector and defence
Adverts: 878. "Stakeholders" 38.7%, "IR35" 29.4%; 43 ask for SC or DV clearance. Housing officer is a large role (68 adverts).
On your CV: clearance level if held GOV3; the bodies you have worked for and their size; frameworks and methods named in the advert. Civil Service and NHS applications have their own formats (chapter 7) FP25FP24.
Energy and utilities
Adverts: no separate sector on our board; these roles sit under engineering and construction Too few to separate. EUSR is named in 84 adverts and Gas Safe in 60.
On your CV: utility registrations and street-works cards (for example EUSR, NRSWA) with expiry; the networks or assets you have worked on; safety-critical authorisations if held Our view.
IT
Adverts: 1,471, only 6.5% of the board. IT adverts name a median of 5 skills from our list (mean 6.1); 26.6% name fewer than three. "IR35" appears in 52.7% of IT adverts, and 117 ask for SC or DV clearance.
On your CV: the named technologies in the advert's own spelling, with full and short forms (for example "Amazon Web Services (AWS)"), each tied to a role and dates so months of experience can be worked out PS13; clearance and availability at the top Our view.
What Fitread does with this today. Every reading compares the advert's skills and title with your CV and runs the same layout and recruiter checks for every kind of work. The Credentials check compares recognised cards, registrations and licences requested in the advert with your CV and links the issuer source. It does not verify that a credential is valid. A reading of an advert that names no recognised skill says so and never invents skills for the advert.
Chapter 9
The checklist, and how Fitread checks each point
Everything in this guide as one list to run before you apply, with the evidence behind each point and what Fitread checks for you CUK8. Where Fitread does not check something, we say so.
Before you send the file
Check
Why
Fitread today
The file has real, selectable text, not a scan or picture
Fitread checks thisFile type: passes PDF and Word; flags plain text.
A readable length
Our view
Fitread checks thisLength: up to three pages when a file provides a page count. Word count: 350 to 1,300 words; a text-only input has no measured page count.
Against the advert
Check
Why
Fitread today
The advert's skills stated plainly, where you have them
Fitread checks thisSkills: which of the advert's skills your CV shows and which it does not. This drives the match rate: 70 of 100 points for the advert's skills, 15 for the title, 15 for the advert's sector (granted whenever the advert has one), and each reading shows the sum.
Fitread checks thisPay as stated for every job type; for contracts, the day rate against the role's advertised median and middle half this month, with sample and month, and IR35 as stated or "not stated". Never on temp or permanent adverts.
Job level and advert facts match the work you describe
Our view
Fitread checks thisJob level: reads role titles in your recent dated work and the advert's literal facts. Contract readings may add the advertised day-rate position and contract length when the sample supports them; temp and permanent readings keep their own stated facts.
The cards, registrations and licences the advert asks for
Fitread checks thisCredentials: recognised credentials the advert asks for, compared with the CV, with issuer sources and an explicit unchecked state when the check cannot run. This does not verify a licence or registration.
Outside the file
Screening answers ready and true: right to work GOV2, clearance GOV3, DBS GOV4, availability, rate and IR35. Fitread does not check these.
One email address for every agency and board B7. Not checked.
Database profiles set to the right job types, pay basis, location and a recent activity date CV1CV2. Not checked.
Gaps between contracts given a short, true reason FP27. Not checked.
Every auto-filled application field read before you submit FP8FP16, and a plain-text copy ready for forms such as NHS Jobs FP24. Not checked.
A new file sent to agencies when your CV changes B1. Not checked.
What Fitread will not do
It never applies for you. On ContractorUK you apply yourself, through the advert's Apply button.
It never claims to show an agency's or employer's own score. Its match rate is its own calculation, and each reading says how it was worked out.
It never uses the "75% of CVs are rejected" figure, which has no source, or any other number without one (chapter 4).
It never suggests adding experience, skills or credentials you do not have. Its AI writing is labelled as AI and is written only from your own CV.
Sources
Where every claim comes from
Every source was read on 26 September 2026. Nothing was fetched from the feed partner's own site. No vendor was contacted, and no account, trial or form was used.
Kinds: Vendor documentation is the vendor describing its own product (good evidence of what the product does). Vendor marketing is a claim we could not check. Third party is someone else describing it. Search snippet means the page refused to load and we saw only a search-engine excerpt, which is weaker. Our measurement is a figure ContractorUK computed, with its sample and date.
Our own measurements
CUK1. The ContractorUK board, measured
Our measurement. 22,518 published adverts on the stage copy of the ContractorUK jobs board (19,519 contract, 2,999 temporary, 0 permanent), posted June to 13 September 2026 (August 13,534; September to the 13th 7,491). Measured 26 Sep 2026 with the skills list and extractor used at that date. "Thin" means the advert names fewer than 3 skills from that list. That recorded list was IT-heavy, so a thin figure outside IT says as much about our list as about the adverts.
CUK2. IR35 status field
Our measurement. The IR35 field the feed supplies on the same 19,519 contract adverts: inside 1,731, outside 991, undetermined 16,797. Read 26 Sep 2026.
CUK3. Words in advert text
Our measurement. Adverts whose title or body contains a phrase, on the same adverts, 26 Sep 2026. Plain text matching, not read by a person, so it can over-count (for example "night" also matches "overnight").
CUK4. Credentials and licences named in adverts
Our measurement. Adverts naming each credential (DBS, CSCS, QTS, HGV and so on), same adverts, 26 Sep 2026, whole-word matching with case-sensitive acronyms. Three random adverts per credential were read to check the sense. Known inflation: DBS and right to work in education adverts (agency boilerplate repeated on every advert); ECS also matches an agency's name.
CUK5. Advertised day rates by role
Our measurement. Contract adverts that state a day rate, grouped by role, period September 2026 (stage, 26 Sep 2026). These are advertised rates, not rates paid.
CUK6. Phrases per sector
Our measurement. The most frequent and most distinctive one-to-three-word phrases in each sector's adverts, same adverts, 26 Sep 2026.
CUK7. What a feed advert tells you
Our measurement. Adverts on ContractorUK come from the feed partner's feed and carry the feed partner's own reference. On 26 Sep 2026, 9 advert bodies carried a Broadbean- or Bullhorn-style reference and none named Vincere, JobAdder, idibu or Firefish, so the agency's own system cannot be read from the advert.
CUK8. Fitread's checks
Our measurement of our own product: the original checklist recorded on stage, 26 Sep 2026 (searchability, recruiter checks, skills, role title, pay and IR35 as stated). Chapter 9 was checked against the repository code on 28 September 2026, including SearchabilityAnalyzer, RecruiterChecksAnalyzer and CredentialsAnalyzer; that code review does not refresh any advert measurement.
Compiled 26 September 2026 by ContractorUK from Fitread's research notes. Vendor documentation changes; if a page no longer says what we report, tell us and we will correct the guide.
