Many employers (especially larger companies) use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs) to manage the huge amount of candidates that apply for roles online. An ATS is a system that scans resumes and matches them against criteria defined by the employer. These systems automatically filter out candidates before applications are seen by recruiters/hiring managers often removing as much as 75% of the candidates before a human has seen any of the CVs. These systems must recognise your CV as strong to get it in front of a recruiter.

Practice preparing your CV to be successful for each application rather than sending out the same CV to every company. As well as understanding the principles of ATS, there are some free tools you can use to practice and improve your CV.

Learn more here: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/ats-resume

• https://resumeworded.com/ - This gives you a score for your CV using an ATS and shows you where you can improve. You can re-upload your CV to see the impact of your changes.
• https://app.jobscan.co/ - This has a limited number of uses for free but allows you to compare a specific job description against your CV. Use this to help you understand how they compare the job description to your CV.

You should treat your CV & Cover Letters as you would code. Keep iterating until it works for you!