Features in Søknadsbasen
Søknadsbasen brings job searching for the Norwegian labour market together in one place: a CV builder, AI-assisted cover letters, an application pipeline and insights. Searching for jobs, building your CV with a score and findings, and sending applications are free. Pro adds templates, watermark-free PDFs, AI and matching.
6 out of 10 templates are ATS-friendly
Our own ATS check rates 6 out of 10 templates as ATS-friendly, while 2 have moderate and 2 have weak ATS support. Two-column templates have weak support because recruitment systems often read two columns in the wrong order, and the builder warns you when you use a template that is not ATS-friendly. The templates have not been tested in Webcruiter, ReachMee or other recruitment systems. PDF exports use a real text layer, not images. Check for yourself by opening the PDF and copying all the text (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C). If the text can be pasted legibly into a text document, the text layer is working.
CV builder with scoring, findings and ATS checks
Søknadsbasen’s CV builder is designed for the Norwegian labour market. It gives your CV a score from 0 to 100, with specific findings marked directly in the document: clichés are flagged with suggestions for results-focused wording, the page count updates live (one page is ideal, two at most), photos are discouraged in line with Norwegian practice, and “ATS view” shows your CV as plain text in the order a recruitment system would typically read it. Each finding has a fix: one click, a jump to the field, or an AI suggestion with Pro.
Everyone uses the same CV builder. The free tier includes scoring, findings and PDFs with a small watermark. With Pro, open Design in the builder to choose from 10 professional templates (including healthcare and IT templates), 8 colour palettes and 5 typography combinations. Pro also includes watermark-free PDFs and multiple CVs you can tailor to each job. Our own ATS check rates 6 out of 10 templates as ATS-friendly, while 2 have moderate and 2 have weak ATS support. Two-column templates have weak support because recruitment systems often read two columns in the wrong order, and the builder warns you when you use a template that is not ATS-friendly. The templates have not been tested in Webcruiter, ReachMee or other recruitment systems.
Unlike creative CV builders that emphasise graphics, Søknadsbasen prioritises clear structure and readability: results rather than tasks, reverse chronological order and a top section that ATS software recognises. This means fewer CVs are filtered out before a person reads them.
AI-assisted cover letters that fit the job
The cover letter module lets you write in the context of the job, rather than as a standalone text. Paste the job advert and the AI assistant suggests an opening, a main paragraph and a closing that reflect the language and requirements of the advert. Edit freely; each version is saved automatically so you can compare wording for different jobs.
Version management is built in. After sending five applications for different jobs, you can still see exactly which letter version belongs to which employer. This is where job searching often gets messy, and Søknadsbasen resolves it before it becomes a problem.
Application pipeline with kanban and follow-up
The pipeline is at the heart of Søknadsbasen. Each job you are considering or have applied for becomes a card that moves through stages, from “interesting” through “applied” and “interview” to “response”. The kanban view gives you a visual overview, while the list view works better when you have many applications in progress.
Attach tasks, deadlines and notes to each card. Never forget to follow up three days after an interview or miss an application deadline. Søknadsbasen replaces spreadsheets, sticky notes and three different apps with one clear place to see where you stand.
Insights: understand what works
Insights shows how far your applications progressed: how many were sent, led to interviews, resulted in offers and were accepted, and where they stopped along the way, for example with a rejection or no response. The figures come from the status history of applications in your pipeline. Choose the period and job search you want to review.
Below the funnel, you can see what you can influence: how many applications included a letter, how many advert requirements you met on average, how many applications you followed up and how long an application remained a draft. You can also see whether applications with letters and follow-up received responses more often than those without. Insights does not break the figures down by channel.
Job search with preference-based matching and alerts
The jobs module retrieves all active vacancies NAV shares in its open job feed, the source of most adverts on arbeidsplassen.no. Filter across 13 dimensions: county, municipality, occupation, publication date, full-time/part-time, employment type, sector, summer jobs and interpreted requirements such as education, experience, driving licence, working language and working from home. Each selection shows the number of matches live, and the list is sorted by how closely your CV matches the advert’s requirements.
Save a combination of filters as a named search and we will notify you when new jobs match. Choose the channel for each search: email (a daily summary or immediately), in-app notifications or mobile push. At most one alert per job per search, without the noise.
You can also guide matching with your own preferences. Choose your preferred location (county/municipality), role and sector, and the list is reweighted to prioritise jobs that fit your priorities, not just those with the most overlap with your CV.
Job alerts straight to your inbox
Save your preferences and Søknadsbasen will send a daily email digest of new jobs matching your chosen location, role and sector, gathered into one clear summary instead of one alert per job.
Choose the channel for each saved search: a daily email digest, immediate alerts, in-app notifications or mobile push. At most one alert per job per search, without the noise.
Privacy and control over your data
Our database, authentication and files run on our own Hetzner server in Helsinki (Finland, EU). We do not sell data, never use it for third-party marketing and do not send you marketing unless you have agreed. We share it only with the providers needed to deliver the service: Hetzner for hosting, Stripe for payments, Resend for email, Anthropic for AI features, Sentry for error tracking and PostHog for analytics if you have agreed, and with employers when you apply or accept a contact request. Your browser also fetches fonts and company logos from Google, which then receives your IP address. Anthropic stores text sent to AI features in the USA, generally for 30 days, and does not use it to train models. Resend, Stripe, PostHog and Sentry may also process data in the USA; the privacy policy explains the basis for these transfers.
You own all content you enter. CVs can be exported to PDF at any time and remain yours after your subscription ends. If you delete your account, your account, content and files are deleted immediately, the subscription is stopped in Stripe and we ask PostHog to delete the person and events. Billing data, withdrawal notices and the log of employers who viewed your profile remain, as do records of email choices, mailings and free periods, with a code instead of your email address. The privacy policy states how long they are kept.