
A job ad is a rubric that someone will use to sort a pile of CVs quickly. Read it that way.
Split the ad into discrete requirements
Take every sentence in "Requirements" and "Nice to have" and break it into single, testable claims. "Experience with SQL and dashboarding in a fast-moving product team" is three requirements, not one.
Sort them into must, signal, and noise
- Must: repeated in the summary and the requirements, or attached to the job title.
- Signal: mentioned once, specific, easy to evidence.
- Noise: the paragraph about being a self-starter who loves ping pong.
Answer the musts on page one
If a must-have requirement is not visible in the top third of your resume, assume it was not read. Move it up. That is often the entire fix.