In short: The score is out of 100: twenty-two checks in four parts by what a recruiter reads. Evidence is worth 35 points, Work history 30, Readability 20 and Contact 15. A check with nothing to read yet earns nothing. Fixed rules work it out, not AI, so the same CV always gets the same score, and it costs nothing.
How it works
Every check your CV passes adds its points, shown in brackets below. The parts follow what a recruiter reads: what you did counts for more than how to reach you. The checks read what your CV says; they don't compare it with other people's, and they can't tell whether a result is impressive or a sentence has a typo.
A check needs something to read. Until then it shows as "not checked yet" with what to add first, and earns no points: a new profile isn't given points for having no mistakes in text it doesn't have.
Evidence (35)
- Your latest role names a number in at least one highlight, and about one highlight in five does overall, where your experience supports one. A year doesn't count, and nor does a version or a name with digits, like React 18, WCAG 2.1 or ES6: they say what you used, not what came of it. (8)
- Your latest role has at least three highlights. (7)
- Every role from the last ten years has a highlight. Older roles can stay one line. (6)
- At least five named skills. (5)
- At least half of the skills in your first skill group, the ones you lead with, also appear in a highlight or description, so a recruiter sees where you used them. (3)
- No more than one highlight in five is shorter than five words. (3)
- No more than one highlight in five opens with a duty or with "I": "responsible for", "helped", "worked on". A line that starts with the verb says what you did. (3)
Work history (30)
- A role, a project, volunteering or education. (6)
- Every role has a title and an employer. (6)
- Every role has a start date. A role without an end date reads as current. (6)
- Your education with the school and the degree or field, or a certificate. (5)
- No gap of more than six months in the last ten years, and none since your last role ended. Study, volunteering and a career break entry fill a gap; older gaps are not counted. (2)
- Roles listed newest first. (3)
- Every role of the last ten years has a month as well as a year. (2)
Readability (20)
- An estimated length of two pages or less. (6)
- No highlight longer than 300 characters and no paragraph longer than 600. (6)
- No unfinished placeholders, like [your number] or TODO. (5)
- A summary of two to four sentences. (3)
Contact (15)
- An email address. (5)
- A headline: the job title you're going for. (5)
- Your city or country. (3)
- A link to a profile or portfolio: LinkedIn, GitHub or your own site. (2)
A phone number isn't asked for.
If your score changed
On 16 October 2026 the checks were weighed against what hired CVs have in common. Numbers are asked for in about one highlight in five and in your latest role, not in a third of all lines; only the skills in your first group need a highlight; gaps count only in the last ten years and since your last role ended. Two checks are new: highlights that open with a duty or with "I", and months on the roles of the last ten years. The headline gained a point, and the profile link, the short-highlight check and the gap check each lost one or two.
On 8 October 2026 the Evidence check for numbers stopped counting versions and names with digits (React 18, ES6, WCAG 2.1) as results. A CV whose only numbers were versions loses up to 8 points; add a result where your experience has one.
On 2 October 2026 the checks were rebuilt around what recruiters read first: titles, employers, dates and education, then evidence of what you did. Before, there were four parts of 25 points, and an empty profile passed every format check. Your earlier versions are scored by the same rules, so the trend still compares like with like.
If that doesn't work
If a check looks wrong for your CV, tell us which one. A person on the team replies by email.