Writing a CV when you're dyslexic
Writing a CV is harder when reading is the friction. The blank page asks you to pull experience out of memory, structure it chronologically, find the right professional vocabulary, then proofread it against a job advert you've barely managed to read through once. For roughly one in ten UK adults with dyslexia (British Dyslexia Association estimate), every one of those steps takes longer and costs more mental energy than the next person.
Standard CV builders don't help. Most use small grey typography on white backgrounds, jam dense blocks of text into preview panels, and assume you can hold a long job advert in working memory while you decide what to write. The job advert itself is often worse: corporate boilerplate, hidden essential criteria, two pages of "must-haves" before the real role description.
There's no shortcut around the writing. But there is a way to remove the friction the writing happens through.
TAILOR's CV builder is built with the OpenDyslexic font, browser-native voice dictation, and read-aloud on every question. You can switch the whole site to a dyslexia-friendly font from the accessibility control in the top right. All three tools are free and work without signup.
Try the CV builder
Free first build. No credit card needed. OpenDyslexic font, voice dictation and read-aloud all work without signup.
Three real challenges
1. The double cognitive load
Most CV tools force you to read dense interface text, then read the long job advert, then structure your answer in your head before typing. TAILOR breaks that into 13 plain-English questions, one at a time. The interface itself can switch to OpenDyslexic with one click, and the read-aloud button on every question lets you listen to what's being asked while you think.
2. Speaking is faster than spelling
Voice dictation is built into every text box. Click the mic, talk through what you did in your last role, get the words on the page in the order you said them. No spell-check anxiety, no second-guessing punctuation. You can edit afterwards, or just submit the spoken version. TAILOR cleans up the structure; you keep the content.
3. Hearing the job ad before you write the CV
The read-aloud feature isn't only for proofreading your draft. Paste the job advert into the analyser and listen to it at your own pace. Comprehension lands harder when you hear it as well as see it. By the time you start answering the 13 questions, the role is in your head, not still stuck on the page.
The TAILOR fit
Free first build, no signup gate. Built with the OpenDyslexic font (toggleable site-wide), browser-native voice dictation, and read-aloud on every question. The CV that comes out is in standard professional formatting that recruiters and ATS systems expect. The accessibility tools are for the writing experience; they don't show up in the document you send.
Try the CV builder
Free first build. No credit card needed. OpenDyslexic font, voice dictation and read-aloud all work without signup.
Free first analysis. No credit card needed.
Start now →Dyslexia CV FAQ
Will the recruiter see my CV in OpenDyslexic font?
No. OpenDyslexic only changes how you see the TAILOR site while you build the CV. The document you download and send is in standard professional fonts the way a recruiter and an ATS expect. The accessibility is for the writing experience, not the output.
How accurate is the voice dictation for dyslexic users?
It uses your browser's built-in speech recognition (Chrome and Edge work best; Safari and Firefox have limited support). The recognition is calibrated for English speech including UK accents, the same way Google Docs voice typing or iOS dictation works. There's also a Continue button so you can pause to think, then carry on adding to the same answer without losing what you've already said.
What if I have dyspraxia, ADHD, or other reading differences?
The same three tools (OpenDyslexic font, voice dictation, read-aloud) are useful well beyond dyslexia. ADHD users often find read-aloud helps them keep focus on the question. Dyspraxic users sometimes prefer the wider letter-spacing OpenDyslexic provides. Anyone with screen fatigue or English as a second language can use read-aloud to slow comprehension down. None of these tools are exclusive to one diagnosis. They're free, optional, and you choose what helps.
More UK CV situations
- After redundancyReframe a long single-tenure CV without sounding bitter, dated, or apologetic.
- Career changeTranslate your existing experience into the language of the new sector, application by application.
- Returning to workLead with current capability so the gap becomes a footnote, not a headline.
- NHS jobsMap your CV to the NHS person specification so the shortlisting panel can score every line.
- Civil ServiceWrite STAR-structured Behaviour evidence at the right Success Profiles level.
- After 50Modernise the framing and remove the ATS-aging tells that quietly screen older candidates out.