Run an Honest CV Review
Build a review process that tells you what is weak in your CV instead of politely rewriting it. Includes a screening simulation that shows how it reads in the six seconds it actually gets.
Why this one
Ask a model to improve your CV and it will hand back a fluent version of the same document. Ask it to reject your CV and explain why, and you get information you can act on. The framing does most of the work.
Steps
Simulate the six-second screen
Recruiters skim. Reproduce that first, before any detailed critique, because a CV that fails the skim never reaches the detailed read.
PromptYou are screening CVs for [role] and have six seconds per document. Look at the CV below for that long and tell me: what role do you think this person wants, what is the single strongest thing you noticed, and would you read on? Answer in three short lines. Do not be encouraging. CV: [paste]
Ask for the rejection reasons
Now ask it to argue against you. The instruction that matters is "give me the reasons you would reject this, ranked" — an explicit ranking forces a judgement rather than a list of everything that could conceivably be improved.
Separate wording problems from substance problems
Go through the criticisms and sort them into two piles: things fixed by rewriting a line, and things fixed only by doing something new. A CV that lists no measurable outcomes has a substance problem, and no amount of rephrasing solves it. Being honest about which pile each item lands in is the point of the exercise.
Rewrite the weakest three bullets yourself
Take the three worst bullets and rewrite them by hand using the pattern: action, method, measurable result. Then ask the model to critique your rewrite rather than replace it. You keep your voice and get the feedback.
Re-run the six-second screen
Same prompt, revised CV, fresh conversation. A fresh conversation matters — a model that has watched you improve the document will grade it generously.
You should end up with
A revised CV plus a written list of substance gaps to work on.
Done when
- You can state the top three reasons someone would reject your CV
- Every headline bullet contains a measurable result
- The second six-second screen identifies the right target role
If you want to go further
- Run the same process against a specific job advert rather than a generic role
- Build a version tuned for a career change, where the substance gaps are different