We built CV Refinery to end resume chaos—and help great talent get seen

The job search reality

The volume of applications per opening has surged in recent years, driving heavy reliance on Applicant Tracking Systems. Here's what you're up against: 98.4% of Fortune 500 companies now use ATS to filter resumes before a human ever looks. In that fast scan—which eye-tracking research shows lasts just 6-8 seconds—a generic resume rarely makes the cut. The result? 75% of resumes are rejected by automated systems before reaching a recruiter.

• Market volatility: The BLS JOLTS ratio (unemployed persons per job opening) swings with economic cycles, but competition remains fierce across most sectors.
• ATS gatekeeping: With nearly all enterprise employers using automated screening, job-specific keywords and relevant language aren't optional—they're the price of entry.
• Seconds matter: Eye-tracking studies found recruiters spend only 6-8 seconds scanning a resume. You have one brief moment to communicate fit.

Translation: high noise, thin attention, and automated filters. Tailoring isn't optional—it's the difference between signal and silence.

Why I built this

I've lived both sides. As a hiring manager, I was constantly frustrated by the candidates HR put in front of me—either unqualified, or failing basic scrutiny once I looked at the resume. The truly qualified ones? They weren't making it past our own barriers: ATS systems and recruiters who didn't understand my specific business needs well enough to spot the right talent. Meanwhile, as a candidate, I struggled to get in front of the right people, despite deep skills and a track record of outcomes.

The common thread wasn't talent—it was translation: connecting the right evidence to the right role in a way that gets past the gatekeepers. CV Refinery exists to solve exactly that problem. We analyze your resume and the target job, then give you a precise recipe for the best version of your resume for that role.

A sophisticated algorithm, plain-English guidance

Under the hood, we parse your resume and the job post, model the competencies, and map evidence to requirements. Then we recommend specific, verifiable changes—keywords with context, quantifiable bullets, missing proof points, and risk flags—so your resume reads like it was built for the job without sounding like a keyword dump.

• Resume analysis: structure, skills, achievements, proof density
• Job parsing: required/desired skills, signals, hidden constraints
• Actionable recipe: prioritized edits and rationale—your control, not auto-garble

The data backs this approach. Analysis of over 1 million job applications showed tailored CVs achieved a 300% improvement in interview rates. As hiring experts at Addison Group put it: "Tailoring your resume for every job application takes extra effort, but it's the single most effective way to increase your chances of landing interviews and job offers."

From overwhelm to a focused, tailored resume

1. Upload your resume and the target job post
2. Get an evidence map: what fits, what's missing, what to emphasize
3. Apply a prioritized set of edits—manually with control, or assisted
4. Export a clean, ATS-savvy resume that reads like it was written for the role

The results speak for themselves: tailored resumes are 40% more likely to secure interviews, and analysis of over a million applications showed a 300% improvement in interview rates for customized CVs versus generic ones. More relevance, less guesswork, better signal. That's how you move from crickets to callbacks.