How to tell if a job application is templated
By Postal Studios · Updated · 5 min read
Short answer
Look for an application that could have been sent to any company: phrases that fit every job, achievements with no number, product or name attached, the same sentence shape in every bullet, and a skills list copied from your ad. None of these proves anything on its own. Treat them as a reason to ask, and check in the screening call by asking the candidate to walk you through one specific claim.
Why it is worth checking
One-click apply and writing tools make it cheap to send the same polished CV to hundreds of roles. The cost lands on you: interview slots spent on people the CV does not describe.
A two-minute check on the applications that look generic, and one sharp question in the call, keep your interviews for people who can back up what they wrote. The aim is not to catch anyone out. It is to find out what the person actually did.
Six checks, in order
- 1
Read for phrases that fit any job
“Results-driven professional”, “proven ability to”, “committed to excellence”, “adept at”. One or two are normal. A CV built from them says little about the person who sent it.
- 2
Look for the specifics behind each claim
Real experience leaves traces: a number, a product, a type of client, a team size, a tool, a date. “Improved efficiency across the department” has none. “Cut month-end close from eight days to five” has three. Count how many bullets carry at least one.
- 3
Check the rhythm
When every bullet has the same shape, length and opening pattern, and every section is laid out identically, the text was probably produced in one go from a template or a writing tool rather than built up over a career.
- 4
Compare it with your ad
A skills section that repeats your job ad word for word, in the same order, was written for a keyword filter. That is not dishonest in itself, but you then need evidence for each skill from the work history, not from the skills box.
- 5
Look for things that do not fit
A cover letter that names a different company. Responsibilities far above the job title. A tool claimed for longer than it has existed. Dates that overlap without explanation. These matter more than style.
- 6
Verify, do not reject
Pick the most generic claim and ask about it in a short screening call: “Walk me through that project. What was the number before and after? Who else was involved, and what was your part?” People who did the work answer easily and in detail. For a core skill, a short work sample tied to the role does the same job.
What not to rely on
- Perfect grammar. Careful writers, and anyone who had a friend check their CV, will look polished.
- A template by itself. Many strong candidates start from one; the question is what they put in it.
- Automated text detectors on their own. Their scores are unreliable, and a Stanford study published in Patterns in 2023 found they wrongly flag writing by non-native English speakers far more often than writing by native speakers. Treat any score, ours included, as a prompt to look closer.
Common questions
No. Plenty of strong candidates do. The problem is a CV with nothing specific in it, whoever wrote it. Judge the evidence, not the tool.
No. Treat it as a reason to ask for specifics. A candidate who can walk you through their claims in detail is a good candidate with a generic CV.
A ten-minute call with one question per vague claim: what exactly did you do, what changed, and how do you know. For a core skill, a short work sample tied to the role.
It mentions something only your company or this role has: the product, the market, a line from the ad that the candidate responds to. A letter that would read the same with another company’s name in it was not written for you.
Software can spot the patterns: generic phrases, missing figures, uniform structure. It cannot know whether the person did the work. JobQuisitor marks the CVs that show those patterns so you know where to look; the interview settles it.
Related: Screening hundreds of CVs · Templated applications · CV screening