Start with the three priorities
They identify the highest-impact issues across relevance, evidence, role clarity, structure and completeness. Address only those supported by your real experience.
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WorkCV worked example · Reviewed 6 September 2026
Worked check: a retail CV against an office vacancy
This reproducible teaching example uses a fictional CV and vacancy. WorkCV supplied the illustrative evidence classifications below, then ran them through the same scoring function used by the checker. It is not a recorded live AI assessment. A live assessment may select or classify evidence differently.
Read the complete example CV and vacancy
Alex Morgan: supplied CV
Fictional candidate and organisations · Illustrative example
Alex Morgan
Leeds | alex.morgan@example.com | 07700 900123
Target role: Office administrator
PROFILE
Retail supervisor moving into office administration, with experience coordinating rotas, maintaining Excel stock records and responding to customer enquiries. Brings careful record keeping and practical experience handing over unresolved queries to colleagues.
KEY SKILLS
Weekly rota coordination; Excel data entry and filtering; customer email replies; delivery records; written handovers.
EXPERIENCE
Retail supervisor | North Lane Homewares, Leeds | September 2022 - Present
• Coordinated the weekly rota for a 12-person team, recording approved holiday and arranging cover with the manager.
• Updated the Excel delivery tracker and checked discrepancies against delivery notes before escalating them.
• Replied to customer order enquiries by email, recording the agreed next step in the order log.
• Wrote end-of-shift handovers identifying outstanding orders and the colleague responsible for follow-up.
Retail assistant | North Lane Homewares, Leeds | July 2019 - August 2022
• Checked click-and-collect orders against collection details and referred discrepancies to the supervisor.
• Processed payments and refunds using the store procedure.
EDUCATION
Level 3 Business qualification | North Lane College | September 2017 - June 2019
GCSEs including English and mathematics | North Lane School | June 2017
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Excel: data entry, sorting and filtering.
Office administrator at Birch Office Services (fictional vacancy). Maintain accurate spreadsheet records using Microsoft Excel, reply to customer emails and coordinate weekly schedules. We need clear written handovers and careful checking of order information. Experience using Sage accounting software is essential for this illustrative vacancy.
Illustrative calculated result: 73/100 (Promising). This is WorkCV's assessment scale, not an employer pass mark or prediction of an interview.
| Dimension | Points |
|---|---|
| Vacancy relevance | 22 / 35 |
| Evidence and achievements | 11 / 25 |
| Role clarity | 20 / 20 |
| ATS-readable content structure | 10 / 10 |
| Completeness | 10 / 10 |
Evidence behind the classifications
- Vacancy requirement
- Maintain accurate spreadsheet records using Microsoft Excel
- Finding
- supported
- Evidence or limitation
- Updated the Excel delivery tracker and checked discrepancies against delivery notes before escalating them.
- Vacancy requirement
- Reply to customer emails
- Finding
- supported
- Evidence or limitation
- Replied to customer order enquiries by email, recording the agreed next step in the order log.
- Vacancy requirement
- Coordinate weekly schedules
- Finding
- supported
- Evidence or limitation
- Coordinated the weekly rota for a 12-person team, recording approved holiday and arranging cover with the manager.
- Vacancy requirement
- Experience using Sage accounting software
- Finding
- not evidenced
- Evidence or limitation
- The CV supplies no evidence of using Sage. Excel experience is not evidence of Sage competence.
| Vacancy requirement | Finding | Evidence or limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Maintain accurate spreadsheet records using Microsoft Excel | supported | Updated the Excel delivery tracker and checked discrepancies against delivery notes before escalating them. |
| Reply to customer emails | supported | Replied to customer order enquiries by email, recording the agreed next step in the order log. |
| Coordinate weekly schedules | supported | Coordinated the weekly rota for a 12-person team, recording approved holiday and arranging cover with the manager. |
| Experience using Sage accounting software | not evidenced | The CV supplies no evidence of using Sage. Excel experience is not evidence of Sage competence. |
- Check the essential software requirement. This CV does not evidence Sage. Clarify the employer's requirement; do not insert the software name as a claimed skill.
- Explain the effect of accurate records. If you can verify it, add what your checking helped the team do. Keep the current process evidence if no reliable outcome is available.
- Keep the career-change direction explicit. Retain Office administrator as the target role and Retail supervisor as the actual job title. Make the transfer clear without changing your history.
A missing qualification or essential software skill cannot be fixed by repeating a keyword. Add a claim only when you can support it. The checker compares supplied text; it cannot inspect columns, images, file parsing or page breaks. Review the final file format separately and use the shortening guide if the evidence is buried in repetition.
The career-change walkthrough explains how Alex's bullets were written. Use the checker above for your own vacancy, then review its suggested next steps before carrying a draft into the saved editor.
How to use the result
Treat the score as a clarity diagnostic, not a pass mark.
Employers configure recruitment systems differently, and people still assess the truth and strength of your evidence. This tool combines transparent checks with one structured AI review instead of claiming to predict an interview.
Add evidence, not a keyword list
Where a missing term is true, connect it to a role, project, qualification or measurable result. Context helps the recruiter judge your actual capability.
Check the final file separately
Pasted text cannot test parsing or layout. Follow the advert's file instructions and make sure the submitted PDF or DOCX contains selectable text.
Evidence checked
Why the assessment focuses on relevance and evidence.
UK careers guidance recommends tailoring a CV to the job advert, giving evidence of achievements and naming relevant qualifications. Recruiter and ATS guidance also identifies job titles, skills, certifications and exact terminology as searchable information. WorkCV's weights and score bands are guidance, not an industry standard.
Research reviewed 2 July 2026.
FAQ
ATS CV checker questions.
Is this a real employer ATS score?+
No. It is a fixed-weight WorkCV assessment of how clearly your supplied CV communicates fit for one vacancy. Employer systems, configurations and human decisions differ, so it does not predict an interview or reproduce a particular ATS.
How is the match percentage calculated?+
The application awards up to 35 points for vacancy relevance, 25 for evidence and achievements, 20 for role clarity, 10 for ATS-readable content structure and 10 for completeness. AI supplies bounded classifications and exact evidence snippets; application code calculates the score.
Should I add every missing keyword?+
No. Add a missing term only if it accurately describes your experience, qualification or skill. Where it is true, use it naturally in a bullet that shows what you did and the result. Never claim a qualification or capability you do not have.
Does WorkCV save the text I paste?+
WorkCV sends the text securely to OpenAI to generate the assessment but does not save the text or include its contents in analytics. OpenAI API data is not used for model training by default. If you choose to carry the result into the editor, the resulting CV draft and vacancy context are saved to your WorkCV account.
Does this inspect my CV file layout?+
No. Pasted text cannot reveal columns, images, tables or file-format problems. Follow the vacancy instructions and use a clean text-based file. If the employer requires DOCX, do not submit a PDF instead.
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