CVPebble
This guide goes with our short video "Mirror the job advert - honestly" on YouTube. The idea is simple: show an employer the true match between your experience and their advert. Matching is not copying, and it never means claiming a skill you do not have. The examples are fictional.
1. Read the advert twice
Read it once for the job: what the work is, where, and when. Read it a second time for the words. Mark the skills, tools and tasks it asks for. If the advert separates essentials from nice-to-haves, mark them differently, because that tells you what to show first.
2. Mark what is true for you
Go down your marked list and put each item in one of three groups: you have done it and can point to where, you have done something close, or you have not done it. Only the first group belongs in your CV as a plain claim. The second can appear as honest, accurate wording, for example "helped with" rather than "led". The third stays out. Leaving a gap in the match is fine. Employers expect that.
3. Use the same words where they are true
If the advert says "customer enquiries" and you answered customer enquiries in a shop, say so in those words. Software and people both read for familiar terms, and using the employer's wording makes your evidence easier to recognise. Keep the proof next to the word: where, how often, and with what result if you know it.
Good with people and organised.
Answered customer enquiries by phone and email at a garden shop, and kept the weekly delivery schedule up to date.
This fictional example works only if the shop job and the schedule are real. The words come from the advert, but the evidence comes from you.
4. Match, do not copy
Do not paste the advert into your CV. A list of its requirements, written as if they were your achievements, says nothing about you and is easy to spot. A skill you do not have can also be tested at interview or on the job, and then it counts against you. Keep each line a true statement about something you did.
5. Check before you send
Put the advert beside your CV. Does each marked skill you really have appear, in words a reader will recognise? Can you explain every line out loud? Our free job advert keyword matcher can help you spot advert words your CV does not yet mention. It compares words only, so it cannot tell you whether a claim is true. That judgement is yours. For a wider method see how to tailor your CV.
Sources and scope
This guide, “Mirror the job advert, honestly”, is original general guidance informed by careers resources. Reviewed 18 October 2026. Employer instructions and local expectations take priority. No interview, hiring or ATS result is guaranteed.
