Beacon helps you through a job search, from the CV check to the interview. You check your CV against each job ad, keep every application in one tracker, and get a prep plan when an interview is booked.
Checking, tailoring and tracking are free. Coach adds the full prep plan for every interview.
Creating an account
A free account takes your first and last name, an email address and a password, and you accept the terms. There is no card to enter.
Send me Beacon news by email is unticked, and it stays that way unless you tick it.
Beacon then emails you a link. The account is not active until you follow it.
If you checked a job ad before you signed up, it comes with you: it is the first job in your tracker.
Adding your CV
Beacon needs your CV before it can write anything for you. Upload a PDF or a Word file of up to 5 MB, or paste the text. The file has to contain text, so a photo or a scan cannot be read.
Until Beacon has your CV, signing in opens a page that asks for it.
What Beacon read
Your CV is read once, on upload. Your CV in Settings shows what came out of it: your most recent role, your years of experience, your seniority, your role category and the skills it found.
Check these first. If something is wrong, use Replace and upload a corrected copy. Beacon reads the new one.
Below them sit Your two CVs. What Beacon read is the one to check. Your CV, written by Beacon is the one to send. Chapter 3 covers both.
Calibration
Right after your CV is read, Beacon offers five quick questions about how you work, rather than what is on your CV. They are multiple choice and take about two minutes. You can skip any of them, or stop and come back later.
Calibration runs once per account, and its answers inform the overall evaluation of your interviews. It is in Settings, under Calibration.
Time zone and language
Every interview time in Beacon is shown in your time zone. It is taken from your browser the first time, and you can change it in Settings, under Time zone and language.
The same page shows the language the app is in. Practice questions follow each job ad's language, which chapter 6 explains.
Where you land
Once Beacon has your CV, signing in opens the Tracker: every job you have checked, by stage. Before your first check it explains what the tracker does, with a Check your first job ad button.
The top of every page has three places: Tracker, Practice and Progress. Settings, this guide and Help, which is the FAQ, are in the account menu.