CV evidence · All applicants
Compare your CV with a job description using evidence
Put the job description beside your CV and work through the requirements one at a time. This guide shows how to find relevant examples, clarify your contribution and decide what to add or change before preparing the application.
What to take with you
- Separate skills, experience and employer conditions.
- Connect each claim to an actual passage.
- Review gaps before rewriting.
Break the vacancy into decisions
Read the full vacancy once before editing. Then list its requirements: the work to be done, tools used, experience, qualifications, location, schedule and deadline. A sentence such as 'lead weekly reporting and support budget preparation' describes two responsibilities. Separating them makes it easier to choose a specific example for each.
Mark whether the employer describes a requirement as essential, preferred or unclear. Preserve that wording rather than choosing for them. Visa status, work location and deadlines are decisions to verify; they do not need achievement bullets. Keep the source URL and the date you checked it alongside your notes.
Find the passage before changing the phrase
For every work requirement, copy the closest truthful passage from your CV into a second column. Add a short note explaining the connection. If the vacancy names stakeholder reporting, a passage about preparing monthly reports for department heads may be relevant. A skills list containing 'communication' is weaker evidence because it does not show an action, audience or output.
Use four working labels: clearly supported, related but incomplete, no example found, and needs a human decision. These are editorial notes, not the employer's assessment. Harvard's resume guidance recommends tailoring the emphasis to the position. Our evidence table makes that tailoring traceable without changing what happened.
Source for the published guidance: Harvard MCS: Create a strong resume.
Resolve ownership and result status
Ask two questions of every strong-looking match: what did I personally do, and what result actually occurred? Preparing a recommendation is different from approving it. A projected saving is different from a measured saving. A university project is different from paid employment. Those boundaries should remain visible even when you shorten the language.
If the source passage is vague, return to your own records or memory and add a verified detail. Do not let a rewrite fill uncertainty with a confident verb. If you cannot establish the outcome, describe the deliverable and its purpose. You can still show useful work without claiming a result you cannot defend.
Vacancy: 'Own monthly forecasting.' Original CV: 'Supported the finance manager by preparing forecast inputs.' Review: related forecasting experience, but ownership is unproven. Truthful revision: 'Prepared forecast inputs and reconciled departmental assumptions for the finance manager's monthly review.' The manager's responsibility has not become the applicant's.
Use gaps to make an application choice
A gap can mean different things. You may have relevant experience that is missing from the CV. You may have related experience that needs a clear explanation. You may genuinely lack an essential qualification. Deal with those cases separately. Adding an example fixes the first case; it cannot fix the third.
When a condition is ambiguous, consider a concise question through the employer's stated channel. When the employer clearly requires a credential you do not hold, record that fact and make a deliberate decision. Do not obscure it with repeated keywords. Save your notes so the same uncertainty does not consume time again next week.
Review one role at a time
Open the original vacancy beside the final CV. Check names, dates, tools, contribution verbs and qualifications. Read the document as a recruiter would: can a person understand the connection without the comparison table? Then review the actual application form, which may ask separate eligibility questions.
You can use Jobvance's free CV check to place vacancy wording beside your CV passages, then review the findings yourself. Matching wording does not verify qualifications or predict an interview. Begin with one vacancy, finish the review, and keep the approved version with that role before moving to another application.
Source for the published guidance: Jobvance: How the application workflow works.
Sources and further reading
The links support the specific guidance cited above. Our checklists and worked examples show how to put the guidance into practice. Read current official requirements before acting.