ATS Keywords
Quantity Surveyor CV Keywords: Beat the ATS Screen
Applicant tracking systems scan quantity surveyor CVs for precise, technical terms — RICS credentials, contract forms, measurement standards — not generic soft skills. Miss the exact phrasing a recruiter's Boolean search or ATS filter is looking for, such as 'NEC3' against plain 'NEC', or 'BOQ' against 'bill of quantities' spelled out in full, and a genuinely qualified candidate gets filtered out before a human reads the CV. Matching the terminology used in the actual job advert is the single highest-leverage fix.
Optimize Your CVATS Optimisation
Must-Have Keywords
Include these keywords in your CV to improve your ATS score.
Strengthen Your CV
Power Phrases
Use these multi-word phrases to strengthen your CV.
Avoid These
Words to Avoid
Remove these overused or weak words from your CV.
ATS Score
Before & After ATS Optimization
Before
Missing Keywords
After
Added Keywords
Formatting
ATS-Friendly Format Tips
Match the exact contract form abbreviation used in the advert, NEC3 versus NEC4, JCT Design and Build versus JCT Standard Building Contract, since ATS keyword matching is frequently literal, not semantic.
Spell out acronyms in full at least once on first use, for example 'Bill of Quantities (BOQ)', so both the ATS keyword match and a human reader get what they need.
Use a single-column, reverse-chronological layout — avoid tables or text boxes for project values and software lists, since many parsers cannot read tabular content.
State RICS/MRICS status on the title line or profile summary near the top of the CV, not buried in a memberships section some parsers truncate or skip.
Save and submit as .docx unless the advert explicitly asks for PDF — some older ATS platforms still mis-parse PDF text layers, especially two-column ones.
List project values, contract forms and software such as CostX, CATO and Bluebeam as plain bulleted text, never inside logos, icons or graphics.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — literal keyword and Boolean matching on RICS-related terms and contract-form abbreviations means a strong CV using the wrong wording, such as 'NEC' instead of 'NEC3', can be filtered out before a person ever sees it.
List both forms once each, since recruiters and ATS filters search differently, then use the abbreviation consistently afterward.
No, but use accurate junior-band keywords such as 'AQS' or 'RICS APC candidate' and name your target pathway, rather than overstating a status the ATS or a recruiter can easily verify.
Yes — contractor adverts weight terms like site cost control and subcontractor accounts, while PQS or consultancy adverts weight client-side cost management and feasibility cost planning, so mirror whichever the advert itself uses.
Two to three times naturally across the summary and experience sections is enough; repeating it in every bullet point reads as keyword-stuffed to a human reviewer even if the ATS score rises.
Yes — named cost software is increasingly used as a filter criterion in job specs, so list exactly what you've used rather than a vague line about being proficient in relevant software.
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