CV Enhancement — From Duty Descriptions to Impact Stories

TL;DR: Audit a CV for structural and language weaknesses, rewrite every bullet using the PAR framework (Problem-Action-Result), optimize for ATS systems, target to a specific role, and deliver a polished markdown CV plus an optional JM Labs dark-branded HTML version.

Principio Rector: Hiring managers read CVs for evidence of impact, not lists of responsibilities. Every bullet must answer: "So what?" If a bullet could belong to anyone in that role at that company, it has not been rewritten yet.

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When to Activate

Activate when:

• User says "improve my CV", "rewrite resume", "enhance CV", "make my CV better"
• User says "mejorar mi hoja de vida", "reescribir CV", "CV para entrevista", "ayuda con mi CV"
• User says "CV for tech role", "CV for [specific role/industry]", "help with resume"
• User pastes or shares a CV and asks for feedback, improvement, or transformation [EXPLICIT]
• User is applying to a specific role and wants a targeted, optimized version [INFERRED]
• User mentions ATS, applicant tracking, or keyword optimization in context of their CV [EXPLICIT]

Do NOT activate when:

• User asks for cover letter help (different skill — cover letter writing)
• User needs LinkedIn profile optimization (different format, character limits, and strategy)
• User needs a personal portfolio or brand page (use landing-pages or portfolio-sites skill)
• User wants a full career coaching session without a CV to work from (no artifact to transform)
• User provides no CV and no role context — ask for at least one before proceeding

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S1: CV Audit

Before rewriting, diagnose what is weak. Apply a structured rubric to the CV as provided. Share the audit findings with the user before beginning rewrites — confirm scope. [EXPLICIT]

Structure Audit — section presence and quality:

Section	Required	Quality Check
Contact info	Yes	Email, LinkedIn, city/country; phone optional; no photo in most markets
Professional summary	Recommended	3–4 lines, role-specific, at least one quantified claim
Work experience	Yes	Reverse chronological, impact bullets, dates with months
Education	Yes	Degree, institution, graduation year; omit GPA unless >3.7 or recent grad
Skills	Yes	Categorized (technical, languages, tools), relevant to target role
Projects / portfolio	Role-dependent	Mandatory for tech, design, and product roles
Certifications	Optional	Include if relevant and issued within last 5 years
Publications / talks	Optional	Include for thought leadership, academic, or senior roles

Language Quality Audit — patterns to flag and eliminate: [EXPLICIT]

Red flags — language to rewrite:

• Responsibility language: "Responsible for...", "In charge of...", "Duties included..."
• Vague adjectives: "excellent communication skills", "strong team player", "passionate about..."
• Passive voice: "Was involved in...", "Participated in...", "Helped to..."
• Buzzword overload: "synergy", "leverage", "paradigm shift", "disruptive", "thought leader"
• First-person pronouns: "I managed...", "My team..." — drop pronouns entirely in bullet points
• Time-filling phrases: "Worked closely with...", "Was part of the team that..."

Green flags — language to preserve or generate:

• Strong action verbs opening every bullet (Led, Built, Reduced, Launched, Negotiated)
• Quantified outcomes: percentages, dollar amounts, time saved, headcount managed, ARR
• Specificity: tool names, stack names, geography, customer segments, deal sizes
• Scope indicators: team size, budget owned, geography covered, revenue line managed

ATS Readiness Audit: [EXPLICIT]

• Standard section headers used (not creative names like "My Story" or "What I've Done")
• No tables, columns, text boxes, or embedded graphics in the body
• No content in headers or footers (ATS parsers often skip these areas)
• File format guidance: clean PDF or .docx — not InDesign/Canva-designed PDFs
• Standard fonts used (Arial, Calibri, Garamond — no display or decorative fonts)
• Target job title present in summary and most recent role title
• Dates include months, not just years (avoids gap misinterpretation by ATS)

Audit Output Format (share before rewriting):

CV AUDIT SUMMARY
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Sections present:    [list with quality score H/M/L]
Sections missing:    [list with recommendation]
Language red flags:  [count] found — [2-3 example bullets]
ATS issues:          [list of format problems]
Metrics present:     [X out of Y bullets have quantified outcomes]
Overall readiness:   [score /10]
Recommended scope:   [Full rewrite / Targeted edits / Light polish]
─────────────────────────────────────────────

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S2: PAR Framework

Apply the PAR (Problem-Action-Result) framework to every work experience bullet. [EXPLICIT] This is the core transformation. Do not skip bullets — every line must pass the PAR test.

PAR Structure:

P — Problem / Context:  What was the situation, challenge, or goal?
A — Action:             What did YOU specifically do? (your contribution, not the team's)
R — Result:             What measurably improved? (quantify whenever possible)

Compression rule: Most bullets collapse PAR into one sentence. Full P+A+R structure is used for the most impactful or complex achievements.

PAR Transformation Examples:

Before (Duty language)	After (PAR-Impact)
"Managed social media accounts"	"Grew LinkedIn following from 2K to 18K in 8 months by launching a weekly expert series, driving 340% increase in inbound leads"
"Worked on backend API development"	"Engineered REST API handling 50K req/day for fintech product, reducing p95 latency from 800ms to 120ms via Redis caching layer"
"Led sales team"	"Led 8-person enterprise sales team to 127% of annual quota ($4.2M ARR), closing 3 Fortune 500 accounts in Q3 2023"
"Responsible for data analysis"	"Built automated reporting pipeline (Python + BigQuery) reducing weekly analysis time from 16h to 2h, enabling weekly board reviews"
"Helped improve customer satisfaction"	"Redesigned onboarding flow for 12K users, lifting 30-day retention from 41% to 67% and reducing support tickets by 38%"

Metrics Injection Protocol — when the CV lacks numbers: [INFERRED]

If the user's CV has no metrics, do one of two things:

1. Use scope proxies that do not require fabrication (team size, geography, revenue line, customer count)
2. Ask the user directly with targeted questions before finalizing the bullet

Scope proxies (no fabrication required):

• Team size managed → scope indicator ("led a 12-person cross-functional team")
• Budget managed → business impact proxy ("oversaw $1.2M annual marketing budget")
• Project count per year → delivery capacity ("delivered 8 client engagements per year")
• Geography → scale indicator ("across 6 Latin American markets")
• Revenue impacted vs. cost center → P&L relevance

Targeted questions to prompt user for missing metrics:

• "What % did [metric] change during your tenure?"
• "How many people did you manage directly vs. indirectly?"
• "What was the budget or ARR you were responsible for?"
• "How much time or cost did the improvement save per month/quarter?"
• "What was the before-and-after state you're most proud of in this role?"

[EXPLICIT] Metrics must be truthful. Never fabricate numbers. If the user cannot confirm a metric, use a scope proxy or leave the claim qualitative but specific.

Action Verb Bank by Category:

Category	Verbs
Leadership	Led, Directed, Coached, Mentored, Built, Scaled, Reorganized, Championed, Spearheaded
Technical	Engineered, Architected, Developed, Automated, Migrated, Optimized, Deployed, Integrated
Analysis	Analyzed, Evaluated, Modeled, Forecasted, Benchmarked, Diagnosed, Quantified, Identified
Commercial	Closed, Negotiated, Grew, Expanded, Converted, Retained, Upsold, Acquired, Prospected
Operations	Streamlined, Reduced, Eliminated, Standardized, Implemented, Launched, Delivered, Managed
Communication	Presented, Facilitated, Published, Authored, Trained, Influenced, Partnered, Translated

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S3: Section Rewrites

Rewrite each CV section with role-specific and level-appropriate language. [EXPLICIT]

Professional Summary / Profile The summary is the first-read section. Must be: role-specific (not generic), 3–4 lines, and contain at least one quantified claim or scope signal.

Bad: "Experienced professional with strong communication skills and a passion for results." Good: "Senior product manager with 8 years building B2B SaaS products. Led 0-to-1 launch of [Product] reaching $2.4M ARR in 14 months. Specializes in data-driven roadmapping, cross-functional alignment, and enterprise go-to-market. Based in Bogotá, open to remote."

Work Experience Bullets Apply PAR to every bullet. Aim for 3–5 bullets per role. More recent roles get more bullets. Order bullets within a role: most impactful first, not chronological. No bullet should read like a job description. Every bullet should read like evidence of value delivered.

Skills Section Structure as named categories, not a flat undifferentiated list:

Technical:   Python, SQL, dbt, Snowflake, Tableau, Looker
Frameworks:  Scrum, SAFe, OKRs, Lean Six Sigma
Languages:   Spanish (native), English (C1), Portuguese (B2)
Tools:       JIRA, Confluence, Salesforce, Figma

Remove entry-level-expected skills for the target role (e.g., "Microsoft Word" for a senior PM). Keep only differentiating or explicitly required skills.

Education

• Degree + Institution + Graduation Year (month optional)
• Omit GPA unless it is >3.7 and the user graduated within the last 5 years
• Include relevant honors or thesis topic only if directly relevant to the target role
• For senior professionals (10y+): education moves to the bottom — experience leads

Certifications

• Include with issuing body and expiry or renewal date if applicable
• Prioritize certifications that appear in the target job posting
• Remove outdated or irrelevant certifications (>7 years old, unrelated field)

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S4: ATS Optimization

Ensure the CV passes automated screening before it reaches a human reviewer. [EXPLICIT]

Keyword Strategy (4-step process):

1. Take the target job description (user provides or names the role + company)
2. Extract 15–20 keywords: job titles, skills, tools, certifications, methodologies [EXPLICIT]
3. Map each keyword to the CV section where it is (or should be) mentioned [INFERRED]
4. Insert missing high-priority keywords naturally — no keyword stuffing [EXPLICIT]

Keyword Categories by ATS Weight:

Category	ATS Weight	Examples
Job title match	Very High	"Product Manager", "Senior Data Engineer"
Hard technical skills	High	"Python", "Salesforce", "AWS", "dbt"
Certifications	High	"PMP", "AWS Solutions Architect", "CISSP"
Industry terms	Medium	"SaaS", "fintech", "HIPAA", "GDPR", "ISO 27001"
Methodologies	Medium	"Scrum", "Agile", "Kanban", "Six Sigma"
Soft skills	Low	"leadership", "communication" — use sparingly

Formatting Rules for ATS Compliance:

Rule	Rationale
Use .docx or clean PDF	Designer PDFs (Canva, InDesign) often fail ATS parsing
No columns or tables for experience	Column parsers split dates from content
Spell out acronyms first use	"Machine Learning (ML)" before using "ML" alone
Include months AND years	"Jan 2022 – Mar 2024" not "2022 – 2024"
Standard date format	Prevents duration calculation errors in ATS
No images, icons, or logos in body	ATS ignores or errors on visual elements
Standard section headers	"Work Experience" not "Where I've Worked"
Left-aligned text	Centered or right-aligned body text can confuse parsers

Keyword Density Check (after rewriting):

• Target job title appears in summary AND most recent role section
• Top 5 technical skills appear at least 2× across the document
• No single keyword used >5× — excessive repetition triggers ATS spam filters [INFERRED]
• Industry-specific compliance terms included if the role requires them

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S5: Role Targeting

Customize the CV for a specific job posting or industry vertical. [EXPLICIT]

Single-Role Targeting (when user provides a specific posting):

1. Extract must-have vs. nice-to-have requirements from the job description [EXPLICIT]
2. Reorder bullets within each role to front-load most relevant experience [INFERRED]
3. Adjust professional summary to mirror the role's specific language [EXPLICIT]
4. Rename or reframe job titles if truthful and more ATS-friendly [EXPLICIT]
5. Surface or expand relevant projects that match the posting's requirements [INFERRED]
6. Add a "Relevant Experience" section if the overall match is partial [INFERRED]

Industry-Specific Calibrations:

Industry	Key Adjustments
Tech / SaaS	Stack-first ordering, quantified engineering impact, GitHub or portfolio link
Finance	Regulatory knowledge (SOX, Basel, MiFID), deal size, P&L ownership, CFA/CPA
Consulting	Client count, engagement scope, industry verticals served, frameworks used
Healthcare	Certifications (HIPAA, HITECH), patient outcomes, EHR systems, compliance
Startups	Bias-to-action verbs, generalist range, 0-to-1 initiatives, scrappy resourcefulness
Enterprise	Scale, governance, stakeholder management, budget size, cross-org impact
Sales	Quota attainment %, deal size, sales cycle length, named accounts, CRM proficiency
Product	OKRs owned, revenue impact, user growth metrics, cross-functional leadership

Career Level Calibrations:

Level	Summary Focus	Bullet Depth	Format Bias
Junior (0–3y)	Skills, education, projects	Task + tool + learning outcome	1 page max
Mid (3–7y)	Results + growth trajectory	PAR with metrics	1–2 pages
Senior (7–15y)	Leadership + strategy	Business impact + team and org scope	2 pages
Executive (15y+)	Vision + P&L + org transformation	Revenue, company-wide change	2 pages max

Career Change Targeting (switching tracks entirely):

• Switch to skills-first format: Skills section moves above Experience
• Emphasize transferable skills with PAR bullets showing adaptability
• Reframe past experience in the language of the target industry
• Add a "Relevant Projects" section to surface new-track work (side projects, courses, volunteer)
• Summary must explicitly acknowledge the transition with a confident forward-looking narrative

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S6: Output Formats

Two output formats. Produce markdown by default; produce HTML when user requests it. [EXPLICIT]

Format A: Markdown CV — clean, portable, ATS-safe for digital job submissions:

# [Full Name]
[City, Country] · [email@domain.com] · [linkedin.com/in/handle]

## Professional Summary
[3–4 lines. Role-specific. At least one quantified claim. No first-person pronouns.]

## Experience

### [Job Title] — [Company Name], [City / Remote]
*[Mon YYYY] – [Mon YYYY]*
- [PAR bullet — strongest impact first]
- [PAR bullet — second most relevant]
- [PAR bullet — third]

### [Previous Job Title] — [Company Name], [City]
*[Mon YYYY] – [Mon YYYY]*
- [PAR bullet]
- [PAR bullet]

## Skills
**Technical:** [comma-separated list]
**Frameworks:** [comma-separated list]
**Languages:** [Language (Level), Language (Level)]
**Tools:** [comma-separated list]

## Education
**[Degree, Field]** — [Institution Name], [Year]

## Certifications
- [Certification Name] — [Issuing Body] ([Year])

Format B: Branded HTML CV — JM Labs dark design system, for portfolio sharing. Self-contained single file. Not for ATS submission. Includes @media print CSS. [EXPLICIT]

Load the full HTML template from references/html-cv-template.md when producing Format B.

JM Labs Brand Tokens (required for HTML output):

:root {
  --bg:    #0d0d0d;
  --card:  #1a1a2e;
  --navy:  #122562;
  --gold:  #FFD700;
  --blue:  #137DC5;
  --text:  #e0e0e0;
  --muted: #9e9e9e;
  --font-h: 'Poppins', sans-serif;
  --font-b: 'Inter', sans-serif;
}

HTML CV Structure (sections in order):

1. <header> — Name (gold), target role title (blue), contact bar (muted text + linked email/LinkedIn)
2. Summary block — dark card, gold left border, 3–4 lines, no pronouns
3. Experience section — one .role card per position (gold title, muted dates, PAR bullet list with gold triangles)
4. Skills grid — 2–4 category cards (Poppins label in gold, Inter body in white)
5. Education — single row cards (degree in gold, institution + year muted)
6. Certifications — optional, same card pattern as education
7. <footer> — "Generated with JM Labs CV Enhancement · [DATE]" in muted text

Bilingual support: Add [data-l="es"] / [data-l="en"] on section titles and labels for clients who need to switch language of the CV display without re-generating. [EXPLICIT]

Print CSS requirement: Include @media print block that switches to white background, #122562 for headings, #f8f8f8 for cards. Page-break-inside: avoid on .role blocks. [EXPLICIT]

[EXPLICIT] HTML output is for portfolio sharing and direct recruiter review. For ATS submission, always provide the markdown version as clean PDF or .docx. HTML-only CVs will not parse correctly in most ATS systems.

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Trade-off Matrix

Decision	Option A	Option B	Recommendation
Impact language vs. factual accuracy	Maximize impact phrasing	Stay strictly literal	Impact is fine; fabricating numbers is not. Scope proxies resolve the gap.
ATS optimization vs. human readability	Dense keywords, standard format	Natural writing, design-forward	ATS-first for applications; human-first for networking/sharing versions
Breadth vs. depth per role	Many bullets, wide coverage	3–5 bullets, highest impact only	Fewer, stronger bullets always outperform long lists of mediocre ones
Generalist vs. targeted summary	Generic summary for all roles	Role-specific summary per application	Role-specific always wins for conversion rate
One-page vs. two-page	Strict one page	Two pages for senior	Junior: one page max. Mid and above: two pages fine. Executive: two pages max.
Markdown vs. HTML output	Clean markdown (ATS-safe)	Branded HTML (visual, shareable)	Markdown for job applications; HTML for portfolio, LinkedIn share, recruiter outreach

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Assumptions & Limits

• [EXPLICIT] User must provide the CV content (file path, pasted text, or dictated experience)
• [EXPLICIT] Metrics must be truthful — the skill prompts for real numbers, never fabricates them
• [EXPLICIT] ATS optimization is calibrated to major systems: Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Taleo
• [EXPLICIT] HTML output is for sharing and portfolio use — not ATS-safe; always provide markdown too
• [EXPLICIT] Career history reframing must be factually accurate — role inflation is not permitted
• [INFERRED] Keyword strategy requires user to name a target role or provide a job description; without this, optimization is generalized to the user's most recent role level and function
• [OPEN] ATS parsing logic varies by system and version; optimization targets known patterns, not guaranteed results across every platform

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Edge Cases

Scenario	Handling
CV in Spanish, target role in English	Translate + adapt: idioms, title conventions, and metric framing differ by market. Produce English version; offer bilingual HTML if requested.
Career gap of >12 months	Address directly in the summary with positive framing: freelance, caregiving, further education, sabbatical. Do not hide or obscure the gap.
Career change (different track entirely)	Switch to skills-first format. Add "Relevant Projects" section. Reframe past experience in the target industry's language. Summary leads with the pivot narrative.
Academic CV (publications-heavy)	Switch to academic format conventions. Do not strip the publications section. Add teaching experience, grants, and committee roles if present.
New graduate / <1 year experience	Amplify projects, coursework, internships, hackathons, volunteer work. Education section leads over experience. One page strictly.
Long tenure in one role (8y+ same company)	Break the role into sub-roles or initiative clusters if scope changed significantly. Prevents appearance of stagnation.
User refuses to provide any metrics	Use scope proxies throughout. Note in output that metrics are scope-based, not outcome-based.

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Good vs. Bad Example

BAD — Duty language, no impact:

"Responsible for managing the development team and ensuring project delivery."

GOOD — PAR-transformed, specific, quantified:

"Led 6-person cross-functional engineering team delivering 3 major product releases in 2023, reducing deployment cycle from 3 weeks to 5 days through CI/CD pipeline implementation (GitHub Actions + Docker)."

Analysis of the transformation:

• "Responsible for managing" → "Led [X-person]" — action verb + concrete scope
• "ensuring project delivery" → "delivering 3 major product releases in 2023" — specific and countable
• Before/after metric added: "3 weeks to 5 days" — quantifies the impact
• Tools named: "GitHub Actions + Docker" — ATS keywords + technical credibility
• No fabrication: team size and tool names are facts the user can confirm independently

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Validation Gate

Before delivering any CV output, verify all of the following:

• CV structure audit completed — all required sections present and quality-assessed
• Red-flag language patterns identified and eliminated across all sections
• Every work experience bullet opens with a strong action verb (no "Responsible for")
• At least 70% of bullets contain a quantified metric or measurable scope indicator
• ATS formatting rules applied: no columns, standard headers, no images in body
• Top 10 keywords from target role incorporated naturally (no stuffing)
• Professional summary is role-specific, 3–4 lines, contains at least one quantified claim
• Markdown CV output is clean, portable, and free of formatting artifacts
• HTML output uses JM Labs brand tokens (navy #122562, gold #FFD700, blue #137DC5, dark bg)
• HTML output includes @media print CSS and [data-l] bilingual attributes on section labels

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Reference Files

File	Purpose
knowledge/body-of-knowledge.md	CV writing methodology and PAR framework research
references/html-cv-template.md	Full JM Labs branded HTML CV template
evals/	Before/after CV examples with scoring rubric

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Related Skills

• landing-pages — Personal brand page to complement the CV
• b2b-outreach — Craft outreach messages using CV highlights as professional credentials
• executive-pitch — Translate career story into a compelling 5-minute verbal pitch
• ux-writing — Microcopy principles applicable to tight, scannable bullet writing