Five prompts that keep your CV yours
Each prompt tells the tool what it must not do. Replace the words in square brackets, and remove names, contact details and your employer’s private figures from anything you paste in.
Here is a job advert. List the skills and experience it asks for, in the advert’s own words, split into essential and desirable. Do not write anything about me. [paste the advert]
Then you decide which of them your CV shows, and where. Our advert comparison does the matching without AI, on your device.
Check this text for spelling, grammar and clarity in UK English. List each change you suggest and the reason. Do not rewrite it in a different style or add anything new. [paste your text]
Asking for a list of changes, not a rewrite, keeps your own voice. Generic, robotic wording is what recruiters notice (Prospects).
Here is a job description. Ask me five interview questions it suggests, one at a time, and wait for my answer before asking the next. After each answer, tell me one thing that would make it clearer. [paste the job description]
Mock questions are an acceptable use; answers made by AI during a live or recorded interview are not (Civil Service Careers). Our interview practice turns your CV into questions without AI.
What employers allow and what they do not
The Civil Service, one of the UK’s largest employers, publishes what it accepts (Civil Service Careers: A candidate’s guide to AI in recruitment, checked 17 October 2026). Other employers set their own rules, so read the advert.
| Usually fine | Not allowed |
|---|---|
| Refining and clarifying your own ideas | Inflating or inventing skills and experience |
| Researching public information about the employer | Copying generic answers into your application |
| Checking spelling, grammar and clarity | Completing personality or ability tests, such as situational judgement or numerical tests |
| Preparing for an interview with mock questions | Producing answers during a live or recorded interview |
| Structuring your own examples, for example with STAR | Giving the tool sensitive information about your organisation, such as figures or personal details |
- Before you submit a Civil Service application, you are asked to confirm that the information you give is true and accurate (Civil Service Careers).
- Many employers now say in the advert or the application whether you must disclose AI use, and not doing so can be seen as dishonest and may disqualify you (Prospects: Using AI in job applications, checked 17 October 2026).
- Recruiters may use software to spot AI-written text, compare your application with your interview answers, or simply notice language that does not sound like you (Prospects).
Take your personal details out first
Many AI tools process what you type on their own servers and may store your prompts, and sharing names, addresses or sensitive employer information can create privacy risks under data protection law; the tool does not need them to improve your wording (Prospects: AI, CVs and applications, checked 17 October 2026). Before you paste anything in, remove:
- your name, phone number, email address and home town
- your referees’ names and contact details
- the names of customers, patients, pupils or colleagues
- your employer’s private figures, such as budgets, sales or contract values you were told to keep confidential
Fictional wording example
BeforeRan the Rotherham depot rota for Gary Fenton’s team of 14; cut agency spend from £182,000 to £131,000 at Northline Logistics.
AfterRan the depot rota for a team of 14 and cut agency spend by more than a quarter.
Check every line before you send it
Before you send a CV that an AI tool has worked on, read it line by line.
- Every date, number, qualification and job title is yours and correct. An interviewer can ask about any of them.
- You could give an example for every skill the CV claims.
- It sounds like you. Read it aloud, and cut words you would never say, such as “dynamic” or “results-driven”: see words to avoid on a CV.
- It uses UK spelling and UK terms: CV not résumé, and “organise”, not “organize”.
- Run the CV checker. Like every tool on this site, it does not use AI and works in your browser, so nothing you paste is sent anywhere. It finds placeholders left in, vague phrases and US spellings.