How to tailor your CV to a job description — no keyword stuffing, no invented experience
Published 26 September 2026
Tailoring isn't pasting the advert into your CV in white text, and it isn't claiming skills you don't have. It's making the evidence you already have easy to find for the person reading — in the words they used.
1. Pick the three to five requirements that matter
Adverts list a lot. Look for what's repeated, what's under “essential”, and what's in the first lines. Those are the ones to answer.
2. For each, ask: where have I actually done this?
Write the requirement on the left and your honest evidence on the right. If the right side is empty, that's useful to know — mention transferable experience truthfully, or leave it.
Before
Hard-working team player with excellent communication skills.
The question
The advert asks for “experience handling customer complaints”. When did you last resolve one, and how?
Truthful after
Handled walk-in customer complaints at the returns desk, resolving most on the spot and escalating refunds over £50 to the duty manager.
3. Use their words — only where they're accurate
If they say “stock control” and you did “inventory counts”, use “stock control” — same thing. If they say “SAP” and you've never used it, don't add it. Keyword stuffing and invented skills tend to unravel at interview, and a person usually reads your CV at some point.
Before
Skills: SAP, Lean, Six Sigma, forecasting, stakeholder management
The question
Which of these have you used in a real task you could describe?
Truthful after
Skills: stock control (daily counts and variance checks), Excel (weekly waste report), health and safety (fire marshal, 2024).
4. Reorder, don't rewrite history
Move the most relevant bullet to the top of each role, and cut the least relevant. Your dates, titles and employers stay exactly as they were.
Self-check
Is your tailored CV honest?
Tick what's true of your CV line. Nothing you tick is saved or sent.