Checking a job ad

A check reads one job ad beside your CV. It is free, and every job ad you check is kept in your tracker.

Check a job ad opens the check. Signed in, it uses the CV Beacon has on file: under Your CV, the page says so, with Replace it in Settings. If Beacon does not have your CV yet, it asks you to add it first.

Give it the job ad in one of three ways:

• Paste the text. Paste the whole job ad, including the parts about the company: the requirements are often in the middle.
• Link to a public page. Most job boards work. A page that needs you to sign in does not, so paste the text instead.
• File: upload a PDF or a Word file of up to 5 MB, with text in it.

Choose Your level and the Type of role, then Check my CV. Beacon reads the job ad in about ten seconds and opens the job.

The job page opens with the role, the company and the match: how much of this job ad your CV shows. It is not your chance of getting the job.

What the job ad asks lists every requirement Beacon found. Each one is Shown or Not shown, and the ones the job ad states as required carry a must-have tag. The line at the top counts them, for example "6 of 9 shown · 2 must-haves missing".

Missing must-haves come first. Open any requirement to read why: one that is not shown says what your CV does and does not say. That sentence tells you whether a line is missing from your CV or the experience is.

Beacon also notes the job ad's language, and your practice for that job follows it. Chapter 6 has the details.

Open the job ad, in the ⋯ menu on the job page, shows the job ad as it was checked. Open it if a requirement looks invented: the job ad usually does say it, somewhere near the bottom.