CV checker
Paste your CV and see how it reads to a UK recruiter. Twenty checks, scored out of 100, with the three most expensive problems listed first.
What you paste is sent to our server and once to TypeSafe's model to be checked. Our server keeps none of it. TypeSafe does not train on it but may keep it for a time under its own terms (details). Take out your home address first; the checker does not need it.
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The checker looks at what the words say, not the layout. Bold, columns and fonts are ignored. Four of the checks run in your browser before anything is sent: length, contact details, links and spelling.
What a first read looks for
A recruiter with two hundred applications gives each one a few seconds before deciding whether to read it properly. In that window they are checking whether the document is doing its job: can they tell what you are, what you have done, and how to reach you, and is there anything that makes them wince.
That is what this checks. Each item below is one thing that either helps or hurts in those first seconds, weighted by how much it tends to matter. The weights are in the code and add up to 100.
| Check | Weight | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Numbers on achievements | 12 | "Grew orders 22%" is evidence. "Improved sales" is a claim. Recruiters trust the one with a figure. |
| Roles with employer and title | 8 | A title with no employer reads as hiding something. |
| Written as actions | 8 | Led, built, cut, delivered. A verb at the front turns a job description into a record of what you did. |
| Targets a specific role | 8 | A CV that could be for any job reads as if it went to every job. |
| Names specific skills | 8 | The software, systems and licences you actually use. "Communication" cannot be checked. |
| Opens with a profile | 7 | Three lines at the top saying who you are. It is the first thing read. |
| No unnecessary personal details | 6 | Date of birth, marital status, nationality, NI number. UK employers are not supposed to ask, and it invites the bias the law exists to prevent. |
| Free of stock phrases | 5 | "Hard-working team player" is on every CV and so says nothing. |
| Reads as clean English | 4 | One typo is remembered. Weighted lightly because it is the judgment the model is least sure of. |
| No "responsible for", most recent role first, contact details, sensible length | 4 each | Housekeeping. Each is small; missing several adds up. |
| Clear headings, education listed, not written as "I", no objective, LinkedIn link, UK spelling | 2 to 3 | Conventions. Getting them wrong marks the CV as unfamiliar with UK practice. |
Questions
What does the CV checker actually look for?
Twenty things a UK recruiter notices on a first read: a profile at the top, roles with an employer and a title, numbers on your achievements, action verbs instead of "responsible for", no first-person "I", no stock phrases, no date of birth or marital status, specific skills rather than "communication", your most recent job first, clean English, contact details, a LinkedIn link, sensible length and British spelling. Each one is scored separately and the three most costly problems are listed first.
Is my CV stored?
Not by us. The text you paste is sent to a server on this domain, forwarded once to TypeSafe's Jev model to be judged, and the answer comes back as a set of probabilities. Neither we nor the server keep the text, and nothing about it is logged. TypeSafe does not train on it but keeps it for a time under its own retention terms, so take your home address out first. The privacy page has the detail.
Why does it say unclear on some checks?
The model returns a probability, and when that lands close to 50% it genuinely could not tell. Rather than force an answer, the checker says so and charges half the points. A tool that confidently reports a fault it is unsure of is worse than one that admits the limit.
Does it check my CV against a job description?
Not yet. This version checks the CV on its own against general UK conventions. Matching it to a specific advert, which is what an applicant tracking system does, is a different question and is on the list.
Will a high score get me an interview?
No. It means the CV avoids the things that get one binned in the first ten seconds. Whether the content is right for the role is a judgment only a human reading it for that role can make. Treat it as a proofreader.
Can it read a PDF or Word file?
Paste the text. Open your CV, select all, copy, and paste it into the box. Formatting is ignored; the checks are about what the words say, not how they are laid out.
Provenance
How this is worked out
Sixteen of the twenty checks are judged by TypeSafe's Jev, a model that answers a yes/no question about a piece of text with a probability rather than writing anything. Each check is a single plain question with the yes and no boundaries spelled out. The other four (length, contact details, links, UK spelling) are counted by code in your browser, because the model cannot count and should not be asked to.
The scoring is ours. A probability above 70% is treated as a yes, below 30% as a no, and anything between as unclear. Those thresholds, the weight of every check and every line of advice are in a file you can read, tested against hand-worked cases the same way the tax calculators are.
Three limits worth knowing. The model reads literally, so a question it was never asked is something it cannot volunteer. It does not compare dates, so employment gaps are not checked. And it judges the words, not the layout, so a two-column design that confuses an applicant tracking system will pass here. Questions last reviewed 24 September 2026.