Using AI for Resume Writing: What You Should Know

Contents

1. What to Know About AI Resume Tools
2. Using AI Resume Tools to Perfect Your Resume
3. The Risks of Using AI for Resume Writing 
   • Your Resume May Look Exactly Like Other Applicants’ Resumes
   • You’re Plagiarizing Someone Else’s Work
   • Using AI for Resume Writing Displays a Lack of Creativity
   • An AI-Generated Resume Isn’t Tailored to Fit the Job’s Requirements
   • AI Tools Aren’t Fact Checkers
4. AI Can Help You in the Resume Process, but There Are Risks

You’ve likely seen the hype about content-generation artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. They create well-written text instantaneously based on the prompts you provide. Some people use AI for resume writing—saving themselves time and effort by letting ChatGPT modify or develop their resumes and cover letters.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to use AI for resume writing and why that’s not always a great idea.

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What to Know About AI Resume Tools

Generally, ChatGPT is the tool people turn to when they want help with their resume. AI powers ChatGPT, offering intelligent responses to queries that users provide.

ChatGPT “learns” from information on websites, e-books, news reports, and anything else available online. It can instantly recall the details from the data it has reviewed, and it provides users with a summary response or a more in-depth answer that can extend several paragraphs or longer.

ChatGPT isn’t just an information warehouse. It also has a creative side. For instance, you can ask ChatGPT to write a funny haiku or even draft the contents of a children’s book.

In the context of a resume, AI tools like ChatGPT can help you flesh out your prior work positions, create a summary of your experience, or identify common skills in your profession. That makes it useful to job seekers who want to land a new role but need help finessing their resume to make it more appealing to hiring managers.

To get started with ChatGPT, you must create an OpenAI account. Your account includes a few free prompts, but you can upgrade to a paid version if you need more extensive assistance.

Using AI Resume Tools to Perfect Your Resume

If using ChatGPT to write your resume sounds tempting, that’s completely understandable. After all, everyone has limited time, and ensuring you make the most of yours probably ranks high on your priority list.

ChatGPT can undoubtedly help you in certain areas of your resume. For instance, if you need help figuring out where to start with your resume summary, ChatGPT can get your creative juices flowing with a few ideas.

However, ChatGPT has no idea who you are, what your experience is, or where your talents lie. That means you’ll need to give the tool precise prompts to see the results you’re looking for.

Let’s consider an example. Assume you’re a 30-year-old nurse with seven years of work experience. Given those facts, you ask ChatGPT to provide you with a summary for your resume.

ChatGPT will probably respond with a generic nursing summary that’s a few sentences long. However, ChatGPT won’t know that you specialize in pediatrics or earned your RN from one of the top nursing schools in the country.

You’ll need to provide ChatGPT with more information about your career to get more relevant results. Simply telling the AI tool that you’re a nurse isn’t going to get you the advantage you’re looking for.

Another area where ChatGPT can help is identifying skills relevant to your career journey. Most professionals gain skills during their careers that can be similar to the skills gained by others in the same field. For instance, a sales manager might have extensive experience using customer relationship management (CRM) tools and be an active listener.

If you’re unsure what the top skills are for your desired roles, ChatGPT can give you some ideas. If you have those skills, including them in your resume is a smart idea.

The Risks of Using AI for Resume Writing

While ChatGPT may seem like it holds the key to a speedy, well-written resume that you’ll feel good about using to apply for jobs, there are a few risks of AI to be aware of. Here’s what you need to know:

Your AI Resume May Look Exactly Like Other Applicants’ Resumes

Creating an AI-generated resume makes you less likely to stand out. In fact, some of your wording may appear exactly like that of other applicants if they use similar prompts as you.

There are only so many ways you can ask ChatGPT or another AI tool to create a summary for an experienced accountant, software engineer, or marketing manager. The output you receive will likely be the same as everyone else’s. That means the three sentences ChatGPT generates will use the same structure and action verbs that everyone else gets.

While copying and pasting the ChatGPT response into your resume may sound straightforward, you aren’t doing yourself any favors. A company that receives ten resumes containing the same summaries will automatically throw them out or lower their ATS score. After all, you aren’t offering anything particularly unique to the company.

You’re Plagiarizing Someone Else’s Work

We noted that ChatGPT pulls its information from the vast information resource that is the Internet. That means your work summary might come from a career website, a job description posted elsewhere online, or any other digital source.

ChatGPT isn’t sitting in a room by itself, trying to craft the exact personalized summary that is perfect for you. It’s not a person in any sense of the word.

Plagiarism, while easy, shouldn’t make you feel good. Think back to your time in school when there were strict rules concerning copying off someone else’s test or pulling portions of your essay from a published book without properly citing it. If you got caught plagiarizing, you’d likely end up with a bad grade—and a follow-up with your parents to discuss your behavior.

Plagiarizing content shows poor character. It’s not a good look for any professional, no matter where you are in your career. If a hiring manager thinks you’re using ChatGPT for your resume, they’re less likely to hold your skills in high regard. In the worst case, they may wonder whether you really possess those skills at all.

Using AI for Resume Writing Displays a Lack of Creativity

Not everyone can write the next great American novel or even generate a short email without a couple of grammar and spelling errors—and that’s perfectly okay. People have different talents that are useful in various contexts. That’s what makes society thrive.

However, turning to AI for resume writing is a different ball game. It shows stifled creativity and potentially a lack of expertise in your field. After all, you should be able to explain on your own what you do and why a company should hire you. Those questions will likely come up during the interview process, and you’ll need to answer them.

If writing isn’t your thing, seek assistance from professional resume writing services that can help you present your skills in a way that’s unique to you. They’ll take care of sentence structure, ensure your resume contains proper grammar, and tailor your resume to fit the role you’re applying for.

Even if you are a good writer, hiring professional resume writing services can be a smart investment. That’s because a professional resume writer can often do a better job for you; they have specialized skills, as well as a distance from your life that can be helpful.

An AI-Generated Resume Isn’t Tailored to Fit the Job’s Requirements

One of the most commonly repeated recommendations by career experts is to customize your resume to the jobs you apply for. Customization can take some time, as you’ll need to identify the relevant keywords and experience the recruiter is looking for and insert them appropriately into your resume.

When you use an AI tool to create your resume, you’ll end up with standardized content that could be appropriate for your desired position in nearly any market sector or industry. There won’t be anything that specifically applies to the company or the role you’re seeking.

AI-generated resumes offer a one-dimensional perspective. They don’t consider the hiring manager’s needs or the specific skills that the right candidate should have. Instead, you’ll receive bare-bones content that lacks any distinct personalization.

AI Tools Aren’t Fact Checkers

You can’t always trust the output from AI. Remember, it sources details from the Internet, which is full of websites that post inaccurate information daily.

You already know that humans aren’t immune to mistakes, but keep in mind that AI isn’t, either. You’ll want to closely review any content you receive from an AI tool. Don’t take it as the final authority on anything—find out for yourself if the “facts” it produces are true.

When you write your resume yourself or work with a professional resume writer, there’s more control over the resume development process. You’ll carefully think about the skills you’ve earned and the experience you’ve gained. You won’t rely on AI to tell you what you’re good at or what you’re supposed to be good at.

AI tools can make simple mistakes, like inserting an acronym irrelevant to your profession into your career summary or referring to your university with the wrong name. If you work with a resume service or handle the task yourself, you’ll be in a better position to catch errors and remove them before they end up on a hiring manager’s desk.

AI Can Help You in the Resume Process, but There Are Risks

While using AI for resume writing has a few benefits, like saving you time and identifying critical skills you should include, you would be wise to carefully consider the risks of AI before using it.

As the use of AI increases, hiring managers will get better as distinguishing between AI-generated content and unique writing. Additionally, you may sell your skills short if you rely solely on AI tools.

Do you need help crafting a unique resume showcasing your workplace strengths? YES can help! Contact us today to learn more about our professional resume writing services.