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How CV parsing works

Upload a CV to a job submission list and Candidately fills in the profile for you to check before your client sees it.

Written by Jan Alexander Jedlinski

Who this is for: Everyone who adds candidates to job submission lists. Only Owners and Admins can change the skills settings.

Product: Client Portal · Where: a job submission list → Add candidate → Upload candidate CV

When you upload a CV to a job submission list, Candidately reads it and fills in the candidate's profile for you to check before your client sees it.

What gets filled in

  • Name, job title, email, phone and LinkedIn

  • Professional summary

  • Skills, with years of experience where the CV shows them

  • Total years of experience and location

  • Employment history, education, licenses and certificates, languages and other details

  • Your own custom fields, if our team has set them up to be read from CVs. Ask us in the chat.

A field stays empty when the CV doesn't contain the information. Empty fields aren't shown to your client.

File types and limits

File type

Works

PDF

Yes, best results with text-based PDFs

Word (.doc, .docx, .docm, .dot, .dotx, .dotm)

Yes, best results

RTF, ODT, TXT, MD

Yes

Images (PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF)

Yes, read with text recognition

Scanned PDF

Yes, read with text recognition

  • Up to 25 MB per file.

  • Up to 50 files at once.

  • A file needs some readable text. A file with almost no text can't be read.

The Replace candidate's CV/Resume dialog says "Only PDF and DOC files", but it takes the same file types as the table, up to 25 MB. For a candidate from Bullhorn, you can also select one of their Bullhorn files.

How it works on a list

  1. Open the list and click Add candidate → Upload candidate CV. Or drag the files onto the list.

  2. Wait while Candidately reads the files. It can take up to a minute per CV.

  3. Click Review & Update on the new candidate and check the profile against the CV.

  4. Click Set active, or Update candidate to keep them as Draft.

CVs being read

The panel shows each file while Candidately reads it.

Screenshot of the Parsing resumes panel with one file in progress highlighted

New candidates arrive as Draft or Active, depending on the list setting Candidate upload status.

Skills from the CV

An Owner or Admin decides how skills are added, for the whole company, in Settings → General settings (on the Job submission list tab):

  • Candidate skills behavior: Add main skills automatically (the default), Only suggest skills to be added or Do not add or suggest any skills.

  • Skill experience information: Include years of experience where available (the default) or Do not pre-fill years of experience.

Is there a limit on how many CVs we can parse?

Your company can parse a set number of CVs in any 30 days. The limit is higher for companies with more users. Uploads and imports from Bullhorn count.

When you reach it, you see "You've reached your CV parsing limit. You cannot add new CVs at this time". If you upload several files at once, you may see "You can only add [number] more CV(s) at this time" instead. Room frees up as older uploads pass 30 days. Need more now? Ask us in the chat.

Read a CV again

There's no separate "parse again" button. To read a CV again, replace it: click the three dots on the candidate → Replace candidate's CV/Resume, then select Overwrite all fields. See Replace, add or remove a candidate's CV.

When the result looks wrong

Layouts with columns, tables or text in images can confuse parsing. Dates, job titles and years of experience are worth a quick check.

  • Some details are wrong or missing: click Edit on the candidate, fix the fields and click Update candidate. Or replace the CV with a simpler PDF or DOC file and select Overwrite all fields.

  • The profile is blank or almost empty: the file has little readable text. Upload a PDF or Word file with real text, then replace the CV.

  • "CV/Resume parsing errors" warning: it says "The candidate is visible on your list, but does not appear in search results." The candidate is saved, but the details weren't read. Replace the CV with a readable PDF or Word file.

  • Skills are missing: your company may have skills switched off. An Owner or Admin can check Candidate skills behavior.

Common questions

Can I upload a scanned CV or a photo? Yes. Candidately reads it with text recognition.

Should I convert PDFs to Word first? No. Text-based PDF and Word files both give the best results.

Pro tip: Drag up to 50 CVs onto the list at once, then check each new candidate with Review & Update before your client sees them.

We are always here for you if you need us.

Our whole team is around almost 24/7 to support you. Click the chat icon at the bottom right to start chatting with us. Our team is happy to help.

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