Free ATS CV checker for UK applications

NHS Jobs and Trac. Most NHS vacancies run through NHS Jobs or Trac, and many trusts state that they do not accept a CV in place of the application form. The supporting-information box is what the shortlisting panel reads, so write it against the person specification, criterion by criterion. Your CV is still worth scoring — it becomes the source you copy from — but the form is the application. Medical posts can differ; the advert says.

Civil Service Jobs. Most Civil Service roles ask for a CV and a personal statement, and departments assess them blind. The CV has to be anonymised: leave out your name, contact details, and the names of schools and universities, while keeping job titles and employers. Guidance from DWP also suggests concentrating on roughly the last ten years.

Private employers. Large UK employers commonly use the same systems as their US counterparts. Each has its own documented rules: Workday never parses your skills, Taleo defaults to a 1 MB attachment, SAP SuccessFactors refuses secured PDFs, and Greenhouse stops parsing above 2.5 MB. Agencies often run Bullhorn, where your CV sits in their database for future roles.

What the first run flagged. Formatting was already strong at 90 — a single column, plain headings and consistent "Sep 2024 – Aug 2025" dates. The weak spots were a bullet that opened with "Responsible for", a trial with no outcome, and a skills line of eight items. The biggest gap the checker named was more quantified achievements.

What we changed, honestly. Each rewrite added a result the persona could defend in an interview — the number of stores, the decision that followed — and the skills line gained tools she actually uses in the bullets (DAX, data modelling, forecasting). We did not add anything she had not done. The checker still wanted more skills; we stopped at the real ones.

What the scan could not see. Her CV already had the UK details right: a right-to-work line, a personal statement, British spelling ("organised", "analysed"), a 2:1 and a Distinction, and no photo or date of birth. None of those are in the score — which is why the checklist above exists.

Lead with the degree, then the placement. With under two years of experience, put education above experience, give the classification, and include a dissertation line if it uses the skills in the advert. A placement year counts as experience — list it like a job.

Say your visa status plainly. If you are on the Graduate route, you can usually work without sponsorship for the length of the visa; write that in one line rather than leaving recruiters to guess. If you will need sponsorship later, the Skilled Worker route depends on the employer holding a sponsor licence, so it is worth checking the register before you apply.

Convert, don't translate. Indian, Nigerian or other overseas CVs often carry a photo, date of birth, father's name or a signed declaration — all of which should go. Our India-to-UK CV guide walks through the conversion line by line.