Guides
CV & career guides
Practical, no-nonsense advice on building a CV that gets read — and getting hired.
Writing your CV
- CV vs Résumé: What's the Difference?
CV and résumé mean different things depending on where you are. Here's what each term means in the US, UK and Europe — and which one to send.
5 min read - How to Use Your CV with an LLM: Export It to YAML First
YAML is the most token-efficient way to feed your CV to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Here's why it beats pasting a PDF, how to export it free, and the prompts that work best.
7 min read - 9 Free CV Builders Compared (Honest, No Affiliate Links)
A no-affiliate-link comparison of the most-searched free CV builders — Canva, NovoResume, Resume.com, Zety, MyPerfectResume, FlowCV, Europass, and a couple more. What's actually free, what's behind a paywall, who watermarks your PDF.
11 min read - How to Convert Your CV to PDF (Without Breaking the Formatting)
The cleanest way to turn a Word, Google Docs, or Pages CV into a PDF that survives ATS scans and looks identical on every recruiter's screen — plus the mistakes that quietly break your file.
8 min read - The Europass CV Format: What It Is, When to Use It, and How to Build One
Europass is the European Union's standardised CV format — used across all 27 EU member states plus EEA partners. Here's what it is, when it helps you, when it hurts, and exactly how to build one that actually gets read.
9 min read - How to Explain Employment Gaps on Your CV
A gap in your work history won't sink your application — hiding it badly will. Here's how to present career gaps honestly and confidently.
5 min read
Beating the ATS
- How to Get Your CV Past the ATS
Applicant Tracking Systems screen out most CVs before a human ever reads them. Here's exactly how to format yours to pass — and the mistakes that get it filtered.
6 min read - Why You're Being Rejected From Every Job You Apply To (and It's Often the Same AI Each Time)
Over 90% of US employers screen applications with AI. A small handful of vendors supply those algorithms, so applying to 50 companies often means one model scores you 50 times. Here's what a 2026 Stanford study found — and what to do about it.
9 min read - AI Bias in Resume Screening: Why LLMs Favor Resumes Written by AI (2025 Study)
A 2025 ACM study found LLMs systematically prefer resumes their own model generated — GPT-4o picks AI-written resumes 82% of the time. Here's what the research actually shows and what it means for your job search.
8 min read
Job search
- Salary Negotiation Calculator: Can You Afford to Negotiate?
Free calculator showing what accepting a salary below market really costs over your career — and how much runway you have to negotiate or hold out for more.
6 min read - Job Search Funnel Calculator: How Many Applications, How Long?
Free calculator that models your job-search funnel — how many applications and weeks to an offer — and why a few targeted applications beat hundreds of mass ones.
6 min read - How to Land a Specific Role at Your Target Company
Want one specific role at one specific company? Stop mass-applying. Here's how to reach the decision-maker, get in the room, and prove your value first.
9 min read - Is It Legal to Auto-Apply to Jobs in the EU?
Auto-applying to jobs isn't banned by EU law — but GDPR, platform terms (LinkedIn included), and scraping rules all apply. Here's what's allowed and what's risky.
8 min read - How to Get a Job Without Experience: A 6-Week Plan to Break the Catch-22
Can't get a job without experience, can't get experience without a job? For most roles outside medicine, law and certain government tracks, the catch-22 is recruiter mythology. Here's the 4-part solution and a concrete 6-week plan.
8 min read