FAQ
Quick answers. Each one links to the full guide if you want the whole picture.
Why am I getting fewer responses even though I have more experience?
Increasingly, your CV is scored by AI before a human ever sees it — and unlike a human, it doesn't infer unstated details from your job title. If it's not written down, it doesn't count.
Read: The agentic problem →Does an ATS automatically reject my CV?
Usually not. An ATS parses your CV into structured fields for a recruiter to search later — it doesn't make a reject/accept decision itself. A lot of 'rejections' are actually parsing failures: multi-column layouts, text-in-images, or non-standard section headers scrambling the data before a human ever searches for it.
Read: How an ATS actually reads your CV →Is there a universal CV file format every system reads correctly?
No. JSON Resume, Europass, HR Open Standards, and the W3C verifiable-credentials stack are all real open standards — but no major ATS vendor natively reads any of them. A well-formatted PDF or DOCX, tuned to known parsing failure modes, is still what actually works today.
Read: Why there's no universal CV format →Should I include a photo on my CV?
It depends entirely on where you're applying. The US, UK, Canada, and Australia expect no photo — it can create legal exposure for the employer. Germany and France still commonly include one. The Gulf states and much of Asia expect a fuller personal profile as standard.
Read: CV practices by country →How much should a good AI CV tool actually cost?
Watch for the gap between the intro price and the renewal price — several well-known tools funnel a cheap trial into a $25-30/month auto-renewal. Look for a clearly stated renewal price, an honest free tier, and — if it exists — a real one-time or lifetime option that means what it says.
Read: How CV tool pricing actually works →What happens to my CV data if I delete my account?
It depends on the tool, and most don't do great here — an independent 2024 audit found 9 of 12 popular resume builders kept user data for 30-180 days post-deletion, and 4 reserved rights to use it for AI training. Check the actual retention period and AI-training clause before uploading your full career history anywhere.
Read: What actually happens to your CV data →Is my LinkedIn profile enough as my CV?
Not as a structured, portable record. LinkedIn has no open export format — just a GDPR data-dump ZIP of proprietary files, not a reusable CV document. It's still genuinely good for visibility and networking; it's just not a substitute for a real, complete, structured career record.
Read: LinkedIn isn't a CV →Is AI CV screening biased, and does anonymizing my CV fix it?
Yes, and no. Documented bias in LLM-based screening has actually reversed direction across model generations rather than disappearing. Anonymizing a CV (removing name, photo) isn't enough either — models can still infer demographic signals from word choice and writing style. It's also now regulated: the EU AI Act and NYC Local Law 144 both put real obligations on employers using these tools.
Read: AI hiring bias, and what the law now says →