METHOD AND PRIVACY
Every result should be explainable.
Version 1.0 · reviewed August 9, 2026
What these tools are
The ATS Health Check and CV–Job Keyword Match are deterministic, browser-local text tools. They do not use AI, imitate an employer's private applicant-tracking system or predict an interview. Their purpose is to make a small set of pre-application checks visible and auditable.
On the health check, it is simply the share of five published checks that passed. On the keyword matcher, it is the weighted share of extracted job terms found as exact normalised matches in the CV.
ATS Health Check: exact rules
The checker requires at least 80 pasted characters before it runs. Each of the five checks contributes equally to the displayed percentage. These are CVExpert heuristics, not industry standards.
Scroll sideways to review all four columns.
| Check | Rule | Pass condition | Important limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact details | Looks for at least one email address in the pasted CV text. | One email pattern is present. | It does not validate or contact the address. |
| Recognisable sections | Looks for a line containing one heading from each published group: Experience (experience, work experience, employment, career history); Skills (skills, capabilities, competencies, expertise); Education (education, qualifications, certifications). | A heading from at least 2 groups is present. | Equivalent headings outside the published groups may be missed. |
| Evidence and outcomes | Counts numbers and quantities, including percentages, multiples and common magnitude suffixes. | At least 2 numerical references are present. | A number is not proof that a claim is relevant or credible. |
| Focused length | Counts words after basic text normalisation. | The pasted text contains 250 to 1,200 words. | This is a broad working range, not an employer or ATS standard. |
| Readable text | Confirms that selectable text remains after Unicode, spacing and punctuation normalisation. | Readable text is present. | It cannot inspect columns, tables, graphics or PDF reading order. |
CV–Job Keyword Match: exact approach
- Both inputs are lowercased, Unicode-normalised and reduced to words, numbers and a small set of skill punctuation such as
C++andC#. - The job description is checked against the fixed list of common multi-word skill phrases published below. Informative single words are then considered after generic stop words are removed; repetition increases their weight.
- The strongest 18 terms are retained. Phrases, repeated terms and recognised short skill names receive more weight.
- A term counts as matched only when the same normalised term is present in the CV. The percentage is matched weight divided by total extracted weight.
The matcher does not understand synonyms, context, proficiency or whether a statement is true. A missing term is a prompt for human review, never an instruction to add unsupported experience. The maximum input length is 30,000 characters per field.
Review the exact phrase and word lists
Recognised multi-word phrases (47)
account based marketing · account management · artificial intelligence · b2b saas · business analysis · business development · change management · client relationships · cloud computing · content marketing · continuous improvement · cross functional · customer experience · customer research · customer success · data analysis · data analytics · demand generation · digital marketing · financial analysis · financial modelling · financial modeling · go to market · google analytics · lifecycle marketing · machine learning · marketing automation · market research · people management · performance marketing · performance dashboards · process improvement · product management · product marketing · program management · project management · relationship management · risk management · search engine optimization · social media · software development · stakeholder management · strategic planning · supply chain · team leadership · user experience · user research
Recognised short skill terms (23)
ai · api · aws · c# · c++ · crm · css · erp · gcp · go · hr · hris · html · kpi · okr · P&L (normalised as pnl) · r · saas · sem · seo · sql · ui · ux
Excluded generic stop words (66)
about · above · ability · account · across · after · also · among · around · based · because · being · build · business · candidate · coach · company · could · customer · every · excellent · experience · figure · functionally · hiring · including · into · knowledge · looking · must · opportunity · other · our · position · preferred · required · requirements · responsibilities · responsible · role · should · skills · strong · successful · support · team · their · these · they · those · through · under · using · what · when · where · which · while · will · with · within · work · working · would · years · your
Privacy and analytics
- Pasted CV and job-description text remains in the current browser component while the page is open. The tools do not upload it.
- The tools do not write pasted text to local storage, session storage, IndexedDB or the CVExpert database.
- Standard public-site analytics can record the page, referrer, clicks and engagement described in the Privacy Policy.
- A completed health check sends only CV word count and number of checks passed. A completed keyword comparison sends only CV word count, job word count and a 20-point score band. Pasted text, extracted terms and exact scores are not sent as analytics fields.
Known limitations
- No access to an employer's ATS, configuration or ranking rules.
- No PDF, DOCX, column, table, image or reading-order inspection.
- No assessment of truthfulness, seniority, writing quality or fit.
- No guarantee of parsing, ranking, shortlisting or employment.
- English-oriented headings, stop words and skill phrases may work less well for other languages or specialised fields.
For career centres, libraries and educators
You may review, link to or describe either tool without creating an account. A concise description is: “CVExpert offers free, no-sign-up browser-local checks for basic CV readability and CV-to-job language alignment. The tools publish their rules and do not claim to reproduce an employer ATS.”
No payment, sponsorship, reciprocal link or other exchange is requested. To report an error, challenge a rule or request a method clarification, email [email protected].