Generative AI has been available for little more than a year. However, it’s already redefining recruiting, as job-seekers race to find and land new career opportunities with the help of AI. For example, AI-driven tools are already widely used for resume writing. According to a recent Canva survey, nearly 50% of candidates have already used AI to write a resume or complete a job application.
It’s not surprising that many people now rely on AI to give their CVs an extra edge. However, as these new tools become more prevalent, recruiters and hiring managers are becoming savvier at spotting AI-generated resume content. So, what should you keep in mind if you write your resume with AI?
As a talent acquisition professional, I’m excited about innovative technology. But there is a line job seekers must not cross. Here’s my advice…
Pros: Using AI to Write a Resume
AI can help you create a higher quality CV that gets better results. How?
1. Customization and Personalization
Al algorithms make it easier to tailor a resume based on industry, company, or job requirements. This can help you appear well-versed in the skills required for a position and may provide an edge over competitors.
2. Skills Matching
AI helps match an applicant’s skills with those required in a job description. This increases the likelihood of landing an interview.
3. Language Optimization
You can tell AI which job you’re applying for, and it will suggest keywords to highlight in your resume. These keywords can be recognized by applicant tracking systems that employers often use to preliminarily screen applicants so they can efficiently identify people with the strongest qualifications.
4. Visual Appeal
Some AI programs offer strong, clean resume designs. This can be invaluable if you’re struggling to find the right layout or aren’t familiar with page designs that will catch an employer’s attention.
Cons: Using AI to Write a Resume
While AI has several benefits, its pervasive use comes with a downside:
1. A Personal Touch is Lacking
Resumes are intended to highlight your accomplishments, but they’re also an introduction to you as a person. If you write a resume entirely with AI responses, it will seem robotic. It will lack the nuance of human tone, so employers can’t get a sense of your personality. As a result, it’s unlikely to attract an employer’s interest and it won’t be memorable.
2. Limited Understanding of Soft Skills
With an AI-generated resume, employers are likely to struggle to get a well-rounded sense of you, because AI doesn’t understand soft skills — also known as people skills. However, soft skills are crucial for resumes, because they underscore your ability to work well with teams, lead others, or foster strong customer relationships, among other people functions.
3. Over-Optimization
Including the right keywords in a resume can help you gain visibility as an applicant. But mapping a resume solely to ATS logic means you run the risk of missing crucial job elements that humans may find more valuable.
4. Employer Disdain
Recruiters can tell if you write a resume solely with AI. Some even use software that scans resumes to detect its use. When a candidate relies entirely on AI, employers may consider this overdependence on technology a red flag.
Using AI Effectively to Write a Resume
Your resume is usually an employer’s first impression of you, so the content should draw recipients to you as an individual. If it seems robotic or inauthentic, employers are likely to dismiss it, even before you have a chance to interview. Ultimately, keep in mind that employers want to get to know you and your skills, not an AI program.
1. Treat AI as an Editing Partner
One of the biggest shortcomings of AI-generated resumes is the robotic nature of unedited content. However, AI tools are great at providing constructive criticism. That’s why I recommend starting with a human-written resume. Once you capture your story, let AI tools offer grammar and editing suggestions, ideas, keywords, and other enhancements. This is the fastest, easiest way to sound professional yet conversational.
2. Rely on AI for Proofreading
Letting AI proofread your content is an excellent way to become comfortable with these tools. Ask your program of choice to identify grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. This leaves you with a good starting point to further edit and refine the document.
3. Identify Usage and Logic Errors
You can also use AI to identify words or phrases that are used incorrectly. For instance, imagine your content includes the word “utilize” instead of “use.” Perhaps you didn’t realize that these two words have different meanings, but an AI program is likely to catch this and bring it to your attention.
To identify problems like this, ask the tool if you’ve used any words incorrectly. It is important to repeat this step continually as you draft and revise your resume. This ensures that the final version will be error-free.
4. Polish Your Tone and Terms
An AI program can do more than check spelling and grammar issues. You can also use it to improve your writing. If your language sounds unprofessional, ask your AI tool for tips on how to improve the content’s professional tone. If you’re not sure whether you’ve achieved the right balance, AI can help you with this, as well.
Simply enter the content and ask if the tone is appropriate for business communication. Don’t copy and paste the tool’s edited version of your resume. Instead, apply the ideas you find in the program’s suggestions to create a new, human-generated version of the document.
If you seem to overuse some words, ask AI to suggest synonyms for each, rather than asking AI to rewrite an entire sentence. For instance, if all of the items from a job description begin with “coordinated” AI may suggest alternatives like “orchestrated”, “managed”, or “integrated.”
To implement keywords, ask the AI program to generate a list of keywords or phrases for the position, then search your resume content for places where you can plug them in.
5. Adjust Your Resume’s Length
Another way AI can help is by generating a condensed version of your resume. Typically, you’ll want to fit the content on one page. If the document is overcrowded or far too long, AI can help you focus on the highlights, so you can trim unnecessary elements.
For example, plug in your list of relevant skills and ask the program to identify which are most crucial to include. Alternatively, you can ask AI to prioritize them by relevance to your field. Then you can delete the bottom few. You can also use this technique if you’re struggling to order lists in the most effective way.
Some resume writers face the opposite issue. The document seems short, sparse, and lacks skills or experience. AI can identify items you may have forgotten. Ask your program what is missing or how to expand the document’s length. It may note that you’re missing an element, such as a professional summary or a skills section. Or it may remind you to add professional certifications, achievements, volunteer work, and workshops.
If you still need to fill the space, ask the program to suggest hard and soft skills that are important in your field. It may point out skills you have, but failed to highlight. Alternatively, you can ask the program to better organize the final content in a more visually appealing way (for example, by increasing the font size or adding more bullet points).
A Final Note on AI in Resume Building
The AI genie has been unleashed, and there’s no going back. But that doesn’t mean people can’t work side-by-side with AI to create better content. Resumes are an excellent example of this. It may seem like AI can generate nearly any kind of content, but if you rely too heavily on these tools, the results can lack the kind of personality, depth, and awareness that only you can bring to your story.
That’s why it doesn’t make sense to use AI exclusively when you write a resume. Instead, start by documenting what you know about yourself and the kind of job you’re pursuing. Then rely on AI as a powerful editing partner to help you get the attention you deserve.
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