When you apply for a vacancy on a job board (e.g. CV Library, Indeed, Totaljobs or something more specific), the chances are that buried away in their T&Cs is a checked box that captures your CV for their CV database.

Adverts are their front end, and CV databases are the hidden backend - both purchasable by recruiters.

You can make CV databases work for you by some simple steps, that may allow you to be found by recruiters that might not even advertise:

- update your CV across job boards, once a week, to keep you at the top of the pile. The why is below.

- understand the terms that recruiters will search for in trying to fill your ideal job, and make sure your CV and profile are threaded with these, without making your documentation look daft. Search up SEO to establish how.

- be responsive to all recruiter enquiries. 9 consecutive bad experiences does not define a 10th good one.

Why is this so effective?

Recruiters categorise potential applicants broadly into two categories: active and passive.

Active jobseekers are likely to be committed to their search and many are available immediately - big pluses for recruiters. They are often active in applying for jobs, on LinkedIn, registering with agencies, and the smart ones make sure they are visible on CV databases.

Whereas passive jobseekers may be enticed by a good opportunity, but won't be visibly looking. They are commonly approached through LinkedIn or through headhunting (not explicitly the same thing).

It's more involved than that, and I categorise further, such as jobseekers, embedded etc, but this is the simplest way to understand how you might be perceived.

Active jobseekers are "low hanging fruit" - simple work that can lead to fast results for a recruiter.

CV databases are one of the quickest ways to find them, and the more active the better.

So if a CV is seen to have been active in the past week, and ranks highly on our keyword searches, we'll likely contact them first.

And if we find five brilliant candidates that are active in the last week, a lazy recruiter may not go any further than that.

Which is why it's so important to manage CV databases well.

Of course, you'll want to be found on searches for passive candidates too, so if you are struggling to secure your next role, don't neglect LinkedIn, networking or nurturing agency relationships.

You can also be bold and go direct too.

In any respect, help us do our jobs, to help you get yours.