Your job application passes through three stages before you get shortlisted for interview — DHM optimises your CV for all three.
We need to say this first
Every application is processed by hiring systems — also known as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) — before a human ever sees it. They aren’t built to find the right candidate. They’re built to find the perfect CV.
The broken process
60%+
of CVs have formatting that disrupts ATS parsing — your experience becomes text the system can’t read.
Jobscan analysis73%
of ATS decisions happen within 10 seconds of receiving your application.
Edligo88%
of employers say they’re losing qualified candidates to their own ATS. Your CV wasn’t rejected on merit — it was never read.
Harvard Business School & AccentureWhat it’s doing to job seekers
61%
of applicants never hear anything back — no update, no rejection, nothing.
Ghosting Index, 202572%
of job seekers say the search is damaging their mental health.
HiringThing research, 2025High-risk
is the EU’s formal classification of AI hiring systems — CV screening included — because of the risk they pose to fairness and fundamental rights.
EU AI Act, Annex IIIThe solution
DHM gives your experience the best possible chance of being shortlisted — by every system and every human it passes through.
Your optimised CV
We work across 16 categories and over 60 specific areas — from keyword strategy and ATS parsing to achievement framing, career narrative, skills architecture, visual hierarchy, and UK standards. Your CV is rebuilt to pass hiring systems, impress the recruiter, and give the hiring manager a reason to shortlist you. All three filters. One document.
CV Optimisation Report
A full changelog of every change made, with a clear explanation of why each one matters. It also includes career coaching feedback — specific recommendations on training, experience gaps, and positioning changes that would strengthen your applications for the roles and industry you are targeting.
CV Tailoring Guide
A guide built specifically for your optimised CV — not generic advice. It gives you step-by-step manual guidance on how to tailor your CV for individual job descriptions, and a custom AI prompt you can use to do it quickly. Every application leading with the experience that matters most for that role.
The DHM Standard
Over 60 specific areas. Every one considered — from how legacy and AI-powered ATS platforms score your CV, to how recruiters and hiring managers actually read it. We’d love to share all 60… but a great chef never gives away every ingredient. Here are the 16 categories we work across.
Keyword Strategy
Keyword Placement & ATS Scoring
ATS Parsing & Compatibility
Role & Title Targeting
Seniority & Document Structure
Industry & Market Intelligence
Professional Summary & Career Narrative
Achievement & Impact Framing
Role Context & Scope
Skills Architecture
Career Complexity & Gaps
Visual Hierarchy & Human Review
Design, Font & Format
UK Standards & Conventions
Eligibility & Credentials
Applicant Positioning & Differentiation
The expert behind DHM
Built by Brendan Johns — former Chief People Officer, 25 years of hiring decisions and technology experience, and more than a hundred thousand CVs reviewed. He has sat on the other side of every filter your CV goes through. That is what goes into every DHM output.
Meet the people behind DHM →The process
AI handles the analysis. An expert does the writing. You get the result.
45–60 minutes on the intake form. Your CV, your target roles, your context. This is the coaching session — the depth is the point.
We review everything, then ask the follow-up questions a 1:1 session would — clarifying your experience and sharpening the target.
Your coaching sessionYour submission is checked against 60+ data points — ATS factors, recruiter behaviour, UK standards — following a methodology built on 45 years of combined hiring decisions and technology experience.
Powered by Claude AINothing leaves without us reading it. Every CV is personally reviewed and refined before it’s sent.
Human-reviewedThree documents in your inbox within 2 working days: your rewritten CV, Optimisation Report, and CV Tailoring Guide.
How we compare
Until now, job seekers had two options: a CV writing app or an expensive 1:1 coaching engagement. DHM brings the depth of 1:1 coaching for an accessible, one-off price.
| CV Writing Apps | CV Optimisation by Dear Hiring Manager, | 1:1 Traditional CV Writing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before we write | |||
| In-depth intake form — replicates a full coaching briefing session | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pre-flight review — every gap in your submission identified before writing starts | ✗ | ✓ | – |
| Follow-up questions sent to you before we begin | ✗ | ✓ | – |
| CV optimisation | |||
| ATS keyword analysis — top keywords for your specific role and niche, placed where ATS systems score them highest | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| ATS-safe formatting and layout | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Seniority-calibrated structure — one of four CV layouts selected based on your level and function | ✗ | ✓ | – |
| Executive summary repositioned for your target role, industry, and level | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Transferable skills identified and framed for the role you're moving into | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Achievements drawn out, quantified, and written outcome-first | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| People leadership, commercial scope & stakeholder level surfaced as seniority signals | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Industry-specific language, frameworks & sector conventions applied | ✗ | ✓ | – |
| Earlier career & high-value employer brands surfaced regardless of age | ✗ | ✓ | – |
| Employment gaps across 10 different gap types handled and framed positively | ✗ | ✓ | – |
| Human expert review of every CV before it leaves | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built by someone with 25+ years on the hiring side of the table | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| What you receive | |||
| Fully optimised, tailored CV | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Optimisation Report (incl. changelog explanation & coaching feedback) | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Personalised CV Tailoring Guide | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Delivered in 2 working days | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cost | |||
| Price | £10–£25/month subscription | £80 + VAT one-off | From £300+ per engagement |
✓ Included– Varies or partial✗ Not included
Straight answers
You could — and it would tidy up your sentences. But tidying isn’t the problem.
Ask ChatGPT to improve your CV and your instruction is a sentence or two. The instructions behind every DHM CV run to almost 8,000 words — written from the inside, on how AI-powered and legacy ATS platforms parse, screen and rank applications, and on how recruiters and hiring managers actually read CVs. We’ve reviewed over a hundred thousand of them.
And ChatGPT only knows what you tell it. It can’t ask what you left out — the missing achievements, the buried context, the experience you’ve undersold for years. Our follow-up questions exist for exactly that.
We use AI, openly. The difference is what sits behind it — and the human who reviews every CV before it leaves.
You should — tailoring is how a good CV stays effective. Your CV Tailoring Guide is built for exactly this.
It includes a ready-made prompt for your preferred AI tool, plus step-by-step directions for the manual changes that keep the optimisation intact. Adapt your CV for every application, without undoing the work underneath.
The DHM Journey
DHM is a complete career coaching journey — and every step is built specifically for your situation. One consistent expert lens, all the way to the offer.
Step 1
CV Optimisation
Updating an existing CV or starting from scratch. The outcome is the same: shortlisted.
You are hereStep 2
LinkedIn Optimisation
Profile optimised for algorithms and the recruiters who search them.
3Step 3
Job Search Strategy
Target the right roles. Access the hidden job market.
4Step 4
Interview Preparation
Tailored. Rehearsed. Ready for the room.
Goal
Role Secured
The outcome everything points toward.
Every process is tailored to consider your career, your goals, your gaps — not a template applied to everyone. That consistency across every step is what makes the DHM approach different.
Common questions
Ready to start
Everything you need to pass both filters — delivered within 2 working days.
What you receive
Three documents. Delivered within 2 working days.
Set aside 45–60 minutes — the form is the coaching session.