Career guides
Step-by-step guides for one job each, every one backed by a tool on this site that does the thing the guide describes.
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Guide · ATS
How to format a résumé an applicant tracking system can read
What survives text extraction, what scrambles it, and how to check your own file.
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Guide · Résumé
Objective or summary at the top of a résumé
What each one says, the three cases where an objective still earns its place, and how the check reads both.
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Guide · Résumé
The skills section, and how a parser reads it
How many skills, how to separate them, and why a heading with nothing under it costs twice.
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Guide · Résumé
Hard skills and soft skills on a résumé
One kind belongs on the list. The other belongs in a sentence about something that happened.
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Guide · Résumé
How to list education on a résumé
Qualification, institution, years. Where it goes, what to leave out, and what the check looks for.
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Guide · Résumé
Relevant coursework, and when it is worth the space
Which modules earn a line, how to write them, and the point at which they should come off the page.
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Guide · Résumé
Certifications on a résumé, and where to put them
Name, issuer, year. Which ones earn a line, where the section goes, and what expiry dates do.
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Guide · Résumé
Languages on a résumé, and how to state a level
Language and level, in words a reader can weigh. Where the section goes and what to leave out.
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Guide · Résumé
How long a résumé should be, and what decides it
Length is a consequence of what you have done. Here is how to cut it without losing evidence.
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Guide · Résumé
One page or two, and how to decide
Who a single page serves, what a second page costs, and how to make one page work without deleting evidence.
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Guide · Résumé
Résumé formats: chronological, functional and hybrid
What each format does, what the functional one costs, and the hybrid that keeps both.
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Guide · Résumé
How far back a résumé should go
Ten to fifteen years of detail, then a line each. What to keep from before that, and why.
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Guide · Résumé
Writing a résumé with no work experience
What counts as evidence when no employer has paid you yet, and the order that shows it first.
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Guide · Résumé
A résumé for a change of field
Keep the history, change what is visible first, and name the transferable work inside each role.
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Guide · Résumé
How to handle a gap in your employment history
Name it, date it, keep it short, and put the current evidence next to it.
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Guide · Résumé
A résumé for your first job
One page, education first, projects written like work, and a design built for exactly this shape.
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Guide · Résumé
The résumé header, and the contact details that survive
Name, email, phone, city. Why the page header is the wrong place, and what a parser looks for.
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Guide · Résumé
References on a résumé, and the line to delete
Why the availability sentence wastes six words, when to name referees, and how to prepare them.
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Guide · Résumé
Hobbies and interests, and when they earn a line
Three words that describe everybody, or one line that describes you. Also: what an unrecognised heading does.
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Guide · Résumé
What to leave off a résumé
Twelve things that cost space, credibility or a parse, and what to put in their place.
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Guide · Résumé
Résumé or CV, and which one a posting means
The same document under two names in most of the world, and a genuinely different one in academia.
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Guide · Résumé
How to tailor a résumé to a job description
Twenty minutes of reordering and rewording, done from the posting, without rebuilding the page.
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Guide · Résumé
Showing several roles at the same employer
Two layouts: stacked under one employer, or separate entries. When each one reads better.
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Guide · Résumé
How to put freelance and contract work on a résumé
One heading for the practice, clients underneath, and the evidence written the way employment is written.
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Guide · ATS
Résumé keywords, and what a checker can honestly tell you
Where keywords matter, where they do not, and why the check here refuses to score them.
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Guide · ATS
What an applicant tracking system actually reads
The text layer, in the order the file gives it up. What that means for your layout.
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Guide · ATS
What an ATS résumé checker measures, and what it cannot
Three weighted dimensions, fifteen checks, four ceilings, and the arithmetic printed on the report.
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Guide · ATS
Single column or two: what changes in the parse
Why the risk is reading order rather than columns, and how to check your own file for it.
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Guide · ATS
Which file to send, and what to call it
PDF or DOCX, how to choose, and a file name that helps the person filing it.
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Guide · ATS
Résumé fonts, and the thing that actually breaks
The risk is the character map, not the typeface. How to spot a damaged text layer and fix it.
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Guide · ATS
Tables, text boxes and what they do to a parse
Why a grid has no reading order, what to build instead, and the limit of what a checker can see.
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Guide · ATS
Scanned résumés, photographs and PDFs with no text
Why an image of a page arrives empty, how recognition works here, and how to get back to a real document.
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Guide · ATS
Dates on a résumé, and the two rules that matter
Four-digit years, one format down the page. What each slip costs, and why it is visible.
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Guide · ATS
Section headings, and which ones are recognised
The list this checker knows, what happens to an unrecognised one, and why an empty heading costs twice.
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Guide · ATS
Why an ATS score comes back low, and what to do first
Read the report from the bottom: what was read, then the ceilings, then the three rows.
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Guide · Résumé
How to write a résumé, section by section
The order that saves the most rewriting: material in, experience lines fixed, design last.
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Guide · Résumé
The résumé summary, and four worked examples
Three or four lines that say what you do, for how long, and what you are known for.
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Guide · Résumé
How to write the experience lines on a résumé
Verb, work, outcome. One line per thing that changed because you were there.
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Guide · Résumé
Action verbs on a résumé, and the ones a checker recognises
Plain verbs, chosen for accuracy. The list the check here reads, and how to use it honestly.
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Guide · Résumé
How to put numbers on a résumé without inventing them
Where the figures come from, what counts as measurable, and what to write when nothing was measured.
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Guide · Cover letter
How to write a cover letter that only claims what you can show
The four parts of a letter, and how to build each one from evidence you already have.
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Guide · Cover letter
Cover letter format: the eight blocks a letter is made of
Greeting, opening, proof, why this role, closing, signature, and the two blocks above them.
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Guide · Cover letter
How to open a cover letter without wasting the first sentence
What the first two sentences have to carry, and the three openings this site will actually write.
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Guide · Cover letter
How to address a cover letter when you have a name, and when you do not
Finding the recipient, the greetings that are safe, and what to do about a hidden employer.
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Guide · Cover letter
Writing a cover letter when you have no work experience yet
What counts as evidence before your first job, and how to write four honest paragraphs from it.
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Guide · Cover letter
How long should a cover letter be, and what decides it
One page, three to five paragraphs, and the reading length this site measures on your draft.
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Guide · Cover letter
How to end a cover letter, and what the last line should do
The closing sentence, the sign-off, the signature, and the unsigned-letter rule.
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Guide · Cover letter
Motivation letter or cover letter: what the difference actually is
Two names, two emphases, one document. What each audience expects and how to write for both.
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Guide · Cover letter
Do you need a cover letter, and when does it actually change anything
When the letter is required, when it is optional and worth it, and when it is neither.
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Guide · Cover letter
Writing a cover letter when you are changing career
Naming the change, translating the evidence, and answering the question the reader will ask.
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Guide · Cover letter
What goes in a cover letter header, and how to write the date
Your details, the date, the recipient block, and the two mistakes that make a letter unanswerable.
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Guide · Cover letter
What to include in a cover letter, and what to leave out
The six things that earn their place, the five that do not, and how to tell which is which.
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Guide · Cover letter
Writing a cover letter for an internal role
What changes when the reader already knows you, and the two risks unique to applying inside.
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Guide · Cover letter
Writing a speculative cover letter when there is no vacancy
No posting means no requirements to answer, so the letter has to supply its own.
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Guide · Cover letter
The cover letter mistakes that actually cost you something
One fatal error, four expensive habits, and the checks that catch them before you send.
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Guide · Cover letter
How to tailor a cover letter to the posting without rewriting it
What has to change per application, what can safely stay, and where the posting does the work.
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Guide · Portfolio
How to turn a résumé into a portfolio website
Three steps: choose a design, check the details sheet, look at the page. Then publish it.
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Guide · Portfolio
What to put in a portfolio, and what to switch off
Six sections, the counter beside each one, and the rule for deciding what earns a place.
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Guide · Portfolio
Building a developer portfolio that a reviewer will actually read
What an engineering reader is looking for, which designs suit it, and what to leave in the repository.
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Guide · Portfolio
Building a design portfolio without building a website
What a design reviewer reads for, how many pieces to show, and which designs give work room.
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Guide · Portfolio
Building a writing portfolio when the work lives behind links
Clips, ghostwritten work, unpublished pieces, and what to do when nothing can be shown.
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Guide · Portfolio
How to write a portfolio case study, and how many to write
Four parts, two case studies, and the version for work you are not allowed to show.
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Guide · Portfolio
Choosing the address your portfolio lives at
What makes a handle work, the rules the publish sheet applies, and how the email code works.
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Guide · Portfolio
Making a portfolio website without writing any code
What you actually have to do, what you do not, and where hosting and domains come into it.
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Guide · Portfolio
How many projects should a portfolio show
Four to six, why the weakest entry sets the impression, and what the counters are for.
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Guide · Portfolio
Your portfolio on a phone is the page most people will see
Why the narrow width is the real page, what breaks on it, and where to check before publishing.
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Guide · Portfolio
Putting a portfolio link on a résumé so it survives the file
Where the link goes, what a parser does to it, and why a short address matters here.
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Guide · Portfolio
When a portfolio does more for you than a résumé
What each document is good at, the four situations where the page wins, and why you need both.
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Guide · Country
What a German Lebenslauf is expected to contain
The tabellarischer Lebenslauf as the Bundesagentur für Arbeit describes it, with the source for every claim.
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Guide · Country
What goes in a German Bewerbung, document by document
Anschreiben, Lebenslauf and Zeugnisse, with the Bundesagentur's own description of each.
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Guide · Country
What a UK CV is expected to contain, and what to leave out
The sections UK government careers guidance asks for, the two-page limit, and the details it says to omit.
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Guide · Country
What a United States résumé is expected to contain
The private-sector document, the federal one, and the pre-employment rules that shape both.
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Guide · Country
The Europass CV, and when a different document serves you better
What Europass is, where it is expected, and the trade it makes in return for familiarity.
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Guide · Country
Should there be a photo on your résumé, and where does that depend
Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and Europass, with what each source actually says.
The other shelves
Everything on this site is backed by one of the four tools.
- Blog
Blog
How the tools actually work, photographed as they run: the score's arithmetic, the readers, the exports, the design decisions.
- Examples
Résumé and cover letter examples
Written examples for one role at a time, rendered in our own designs by the engine that renders yours. Every person here is invented, and the page says so.
- How-to
How to do it here
The awkward cases: on a phone, without Word, without an account, without paying, without an email address.
- Compare
Conxfolio beside the alternatives
Architectural facts only. What each tool is, what it costs, what it holds back, and a way for you to check both yourself.
- Make
Guided outcomes
One outcome at a time, with the real tools chained in the order that gets you there: read the résumé in, check it, write the letter from it, export both.
Conxfolio is a free set of four career tools: a résumé builder with 37 rendered layouts, an ATS résumé checker that prints its own arithmetic, a cover letter builder that traces every proof paragraph back to the line it came from, and a portfolio builder with 20 authored designs. There is no account to create, nothing is held back for a paid plan, and no language model is used anywhere in the product, so the readers, the score and the letter are deterministic code you can check.