20+ Years of Recruiting Expertise

See your CV through
a recruiter's eyes.
Instantly.

Career Playbook delivers the honest feedback a senior recruiter would give you, based on 20+ years of hiring decisions across hundreds of roles. Know exactly what's holding your CV back, and fix it.

No account required · Results in minutes · Completely free to start

4.9 / 5 · 2,000+ CVs reviewed

Candidates hired at

GoogleAmazonDeloitteKPMGMicrosoft

CV Score

78/100

Composite ATS Score

Resume Summary

Tone & Style82
Content76
Structure70
Skills85

Score Breakdown

Keyword match82%
ATS formatting74%
Qualifications70%
76

ATS Compatibility

Good Start

Clean single-column layout
Add 3 more JD keywords

20+ years

of senior recruiting experience

10,000+ CVs

assessed and improved

Instant

recruiter-level feedback

Free

to start, no account needed

75%

of CVs are rejected before
a human ever reads them.

Applicant Tracking Systems score every CV automatically. Most never make it through. Find out where yours stands.

Check your CV — it's free
The reality

Your CV is filtered before
a human ever reads it

ATS — Applicant Tracking System — is the software every major employer uses to automatically rank CVs before a recruiter sees them. If your CV doesn't match the algorithm's criteria, it's gone. You never get the rejection. You just never hear back.

75%

of CVs are rejected by ATS

before a human ever reads them

98%

of Fortune 500 companies

use ATS to screen every applicant

7s

is all a recruiter spends

on a CV that makes it through

Who uses ATS

Every company with more than 50 employees. Barclays, KPMG, Amazon, NHS trusts, law firms, agencies — anywhere that receives more CVs than a recruiter can manually read. Taleo, Workday, and Greenhouse are the most common.

Why your CV gets filtered

ATS systems score CVs against the job description's keywords, required qualifications, and formatting rules. If your CV uses the wrong terms, has non-standard headings, or lacks key phrases — it's ranked low and never opened.

What this site does

We run your CV through the same scoring logic an ATS would use, then tell you exactly what's costing you applications. Fix the gaps we identify, and your CV starts reaching the recruiters who can actually hire you.

Find out how your CV scores

Free · No account · Results in seconds

The process

How a recruiter reviews your CV,
delivered in minutes

We've encoded the exact mental model experienced recruiters use when reviewing applications. Here's how it works.

1
Upload CV
2
Run Analysis
3
Implement Fixes
01

Submit your CV

Upload your existing document or build one from scratch. We accept all standard formats and extract your content the same way a recruiter scanning your application would.

02

Receive your assessment

We analyse your CV the way a recruiter would, checking structure, achievement quality, keyword alignment, and how well it positions you for the specific role. You get a clear breakdown of what's working and what isn't.

03

Strengthen your application

Apply recruiter-proven improvements: sharper achievements, better structure, targeted language for the role. Every suggestion is grounded in what actually gets candidates shortlisted.

Recruiter Insight

Why most CVs don't make
the shortlist

After reviewing thousands of applications, these are the patterns that cause strong candidates to get passed over.

Responsibilities, not results

Most CVs describe what the person was responsible for. Recruiters want to know what you actually delivered. Without numbers and outcomes, your experience looks generic.

A summary that says nothing

"Motivated professional with a passion for results" appears on hundreds of CVs. Recruiters skip it. Your summary needs to tell them your level, your specialism, and your value in two sentences.

Missing role-specific language

Hiring teams search for specific terms. If the language in your CV doesn't match what's in the job description, your application gets filtered before it reaches a human.

Structure that buries the best bits

Recruiters spend seconds on first pass. If your most relevant experience is buried under irrelevant roles or unclear formatting, it won't be found in time.

One CV sent everywhere

A generic CV optimised for no role in particular performs poorly for every role. Recruiters can tell when an application hasn't been tailored, and it signals low intent.

No clear career narrative

If your CV doesn't tell a coherent story of progression and specialism, recruiters struggle to place you. Gaps, pivots, and sideways moves need to be framed, not left to interpretation.

What recruiters look for

The difference a stronger CV makes

Real examples of how vague, responsibility-led language becomes the kind of achievement-focused writing that gets candidates shortlisted.

Account Manager
Before

"Managed customer accounts and was responsible for maintaining relationships with key clients."

After

"Managed 45 enterprise accounts worth £2.3M annually. Achieved a 96% retention rate over two years by introducing a structured quarterly review process."

The before version could be anyone. The after version says exactly who you are and what you delivered.

Software Engineer
Before

"Worked on improving application performance and was involved in migrating systems to the cloud."

After

"Reduced API response time by 68% through caching optimisations. Led the migration of 3 legacy services to AWS, cutting infrastructure costs by £40K annually."

Specific numbers and ownership signal seniority. Vague descriptions of involvement do not.

Marketing Manager
Before

"Responsible for managing the marketing team and overseeing campaign delivery across multiple channels."

After

"Led a team of 6 to deliver a £1.8M pipeline contribution in H1, exceeding quarterly targets by 34%. Launched a content programme that grew organic traffic by 120% in nine months."

Ownership of outcomes, team context, and hard numbers transform a generic role description into evidence of impact.

What candidates say
I'd been applying for months with no callbacks. After Career Playbook's review I landed three interviews in two weeks. The keyword gap analysis changed everything.
S

Sarah M.

Marketing Manager · Hired at Shopify

The CV I had wasn't failing on content — it was invisible to ATS. Career Playbook showed me exactly which keywords were missing. Completely different outcome after I applied the fixes.

J

James T.

Software Engineer · Hired at KPMG

I was convinced my CV was strong. The score showed me it was getting filtered before any human saw it. Three weeks after rewriting it I had an offer.

P

Priya K.

Finance Analyst · Hired at Deloitte

Built on recruiting expertise

Everything a good recruiter
would tell you

Career Playbook isn't a generic tool. Every feature is grounded in how senior recruiters actually assess candidates. The feedback you get is the feedback that leads to interviews.

Free+

CV Performance Review

A thorough assessment of your CV against the job description, checking structure, keyword alignment, and how well your experience is positioned. You get a clear score and a prioritised list of what to fix first.

Structural review + keyword gap analysis
★ Most effective
Starter+

Achievement Enhancement

Transforms vague responsibility statements into sharp, results-focused bullets that recruiters respond to. Each rewrite follows the structure that gets applications shortlisted: specific, measurable, and role-relevant.

Results-focused · Role-specific · Instantly generated
Pro

Tailored Cover Letters

Produces a 3-paragraph cover letter matched to your CV and the specific role, structured the way hiring managers actually read them. Editable and exportable as PDF or DOCX.

Expert-approved structure · Exportable
£99 one-off

1-to-1 Expert Session

A one-to-one session with a senior recruiter. Your CV and application history are reviewed before you arrive, so the conversation goes straight to what matters most for your search.

Pre-session briefing · One-to-one session · Direct access
Transparent pricing

Start free. Upgrade when you're ready.

Cancel anytime. No long-term contracts.

Free

£0

Try before you commit

  • Partial CV performance review
  • Recruiter Insider blog access
  • No account required
Get my free review

Starter

£19/mo

For active job seekers

  • Full CV review with feedback
  • Achievement enhancement (5/mo)
  • CV builder + 3 templates
  • PDF and DOCX export
  • CV import and parse
  • Consultation booking
Get started
Most popular

Pro

£39/mo

Serious about landing the role

  • Everything in Starter
  • Unlimited achievement enhancement
  • All CV templates
  • Tailored cover letters
  • LinkedIn profile optimisation
  • Networking CRM
  • Consultation booking
Start with Pro

Expert Review

£99 one-off

One-to-one with a senior recruiter

  • 60-min expert session
  • Pre-session CV briefing prepared
  • All Pro features included
  • Priority booking slot
Book Expert Review
Recruiter Insider

Straight talk on hiring

All articles
Get started today
4.9 / 5 · Trusted by 2,000+ job seekers

Find out what a recruiter
would say about your CV

Upload your CV and get honest, recruiter-level feedback in minutes. No account required. Completely free to start.

Get my free reviewCreate an account

No credit card required · Cancel anytime · Your data is secure