CV structure and section headings
A CV carries more history than a resume, so section order matters more. The check looks at whether your profile, experience, education and skills are labelled clearly enough for parsing software to tell them apart.
Free ATS CV Checker
Check your CV ATS score for UK and European job applications, find missing CV keywords, and identify formatting or structure issues that may affect applicant tracking systems.
Free CV ATS scoreCV keyword checker for UK rolesEuropean CV readability checks
Applying with a US-style resume instead? Switch to the ATS Resume Checker →
1. Paste your CV
PDF or DOCX, max 3MB
0 characters
2. Add the target role (optional)
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No account needed — see your score instantly.
Your CV is used only to generate your ATS report and is never shared with employers.
What you get back
The scanner takes each requirement in the posting, finds the résumé line that supports it, and grades how well that line holds up. The report below uses sample data.
An example report, one requirement at a time
5 requirements, 3 supporting résumé lines, 4 connections.- Strong match
- Partial match
- Weak evidence
- Missing
| Requirement | Verdict | Proven by |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure as code | Strong match |
|
| Kubernetes in production | Strong match |
|
| Terraform | Partial match |
|
| On-call incident response | Weak evidence |
|
| CISSP certification | Missing | Nothing in this résumé supports it |
ATS compatibility checker
Check Your CV ATS Score
A UK or European CV is not a US resume with different spelling. It usually runs to two pages, opens with a short personal profile, and names qualifications the way employers in that country recognise them. Select or paste your CV, add the role you are applying for, and the check scores readability, structure, formatting and content against that role, then lists what to fix first.
What Does the ATS CV Test Check?
The check looks at the parts of a CV that European applicant tracking systems parse badly, and at the wording recruiters in the UK, Ireland and the EU search on.
Contact details
Confirms your contact details came through in the extracted text rather than going missing, which is what happens when they only exist inside a header, a photo block or an image.
Qualification names
GCSEs, A-levels, an Abitur, a Baccalaureat, a Laurea and an HND all mean something specific to a local recruiter and nothing to a filter configured for US degrees. The keyword comparison uses the qualification names the target advert itself uses.
Spelling and terminology
A UK advert says organised, specialise and programme. If a filter matches on those exact strings and your CV uses the American forms throughout, the terms can read as missing. The report shows you which ones it found.
CV keyword match
Your CV is compared with the target job description to show which required skills, tools and certifications are already there and which are missing. Only add the ones you can evidence in an interview.
Readability and content strength
Scores how clearly your experience reads against what the advert asks for, so you can see whether the problem is missing evidence or evidence that is buried.
UK CV, European CV, US Resume: What Actually Differs
Applying across borders with one document is where most CVs lose marks. These are conventions to decide before you send it. They are about the document you write rather than about what the check above reads, and they are the reason this page is separate from the US resume checker.
- Length
- Two pages is the norm in the UK and across most of Europe, and a third page is accepted in academia and research. The US convention is one page for most candidates. Cutting a European CV to one page usually removes the detail a European recruiter is reading for.
- Photo, age and nationality
- Expected in Germany, Austria, Spain, France and much of central Europe. Discouraged in the UK and Ireland, where recruiters may return a CV that includes them. Decide by the country you are applying to, not by the template you started from.
- Personal statement or profile
- UK CVs almost always open with a short profile of three or four lines. The US equivalent, a summary section, is optional and often skipped. Put the role title you are targeting in the first sentence so a keyword search finds it near the top of the document.
- References
- Referees available on request is still common in the UK and takes up a line that a parser reads as content. Some German and Swiss applications go the other way and expect scanned reference letters attached to the CV itself, which no ATS will parse. Keep the CV text clean and send those as separate files.
- Photo, tables and sidebars
- German, Austrian, Spanish and French CVs often carry a photo, and many European templates put contact details in a sidebar or a table beside it. UK and Irish employers ask you to leave the photo out. Whatever you decide, keep your name, email and phone number in the ordinary body text as well, because that is the copy parsing software reads most reliably.
How the ATS CV Checker Works
Three steps. Pick the CV, name the role or paste the job advert, then read the report. The scoring is the same analysis that runs inside the EliteResume editor, so a fix you make there shows up the next time you check.
- 1
Upload or select your resume
Choose a resume saved to your account, or build and upload one in the editor first.
- 2
Run the ATS analysis
Add a target job title or paste a job description, then start the ATS compatibility check.
- 3
Review your ATS score and improvements
See your ATS score, matched and missing keywords, and recommended fixes for each issue.
Improve Your CV ATS Compatibility
Work down the report by impact. Parsing problems first, because a section an ATS cannot read scores nothing regardless of what is in it. Then the missing keywords you can genuinely evidence. Then wording and length. Re-run the check to confirm each change landed.
CV Builder
Build and edit an ATS-friendly CV with guided AI writing support.
Open toolCV Keyword Checker
Compare your CV with a job description to find missing ATS keywords.
Open toolATS-Friendly CV Templates
Browse recruiter-grade, ATS-friendly CV and resume templates.
Open toolJob Tracker
Save target roles and keep your ATS and keyword scans attached to each job.
Open toolATS CV Checker FAQs
It reads your CV the way parsing software does, then reports what it could and could not extract. You get a CV ATS score plus the specific structure, formatting and keyword problems behind it, checked against the role you are applying for.
The document is different, so the advice is. A CV is longer, keeps a personal profile at the top, and names local qualifications such as A-levels or an Abitur. It may also carry a photo and a data protection line, neither of which belongs on a US resume. The check itself reads any of them and scores structure, readability and keyword match against the role you name.
It depends on the country. Germany, Austria, Spain and France still expect one. UK and Irish employers ask you to leave it out, and some recruitment agencies remove it before sending your CV on. Wherever you include one, repeat your name, email and phone number in the body text, because text sitting beside an image is the part most likely to be lost when a CV is parsed.
It can. A keyword filter set up from a UK job advert may be matching the exact strings organised, specialise or programme. If your CV uses the American forms throughout, those terms can read as missing. The report shows you which terms from the advert it found in your CV and which it did not.
Two pages for most candidates, and longer for academic or research posts where publications and grants belong on the document. One page is a US convention and usually costs a European CV the detail recruiters are looking for.
Yes. Checking a CV and reading the report is free. Some advanced features and exports need a paid plan.
Text-based PDFs are usually fine. Scans, images of text, and text placed inside a graphic are where extraction fails, and a two-column European CV template is a common cause. The check flags formatting and readability problems in the text it extracts, so a section that comes back thin or empty is a sign the layout is getting in the way.
Check Your CV Before You Apply
Run the free ATS CV test, read the score, and fix the parsing and keyword problems before you send your next application to a UK or European employer.