One of the benefits to modern A.I. is how it can handle human language, including reading, writing, processing, and even improving written text. The science behind this is incredibly complex, and thankfully we don’t need to understand it to use it. And we can make use of it in many ways, including writing resumes.
Can I use A.I. to write my resume?
A.I. tools such as ChatGPT can be a big help in writing and improving your resume. But the key is to realize the shortcomings of A.I.: these tools are not humans, and they base their understanding of language on what they’ve read. They make complex word connections, which allows them to understand the text we provide; and through such word connections they can write sentences and paragraphs that sound like they were written by a human–mostly.
But spend some time with such tools and it won’t take long before you start to see common themes to their wordings and phrasings. In other words, ChatGPT and other A.I. tools have their own voice, just as most humans do.
In terms of resume writing, that means you will want to use AI tools to assist you in creating your resume, rather than write the whole thing. Yes, you could probably feed your experience into ChatGPT as a prompt and say, “Give me a resume!” And you’ll get one. But it will likely be imperfect.
For example, I asked ChatGPT to provide me with an item for a resume. I supplied the following prompt:
"Provide me with an eye-catching item for my resume to describe the following experience. I want this to stand out ahead of all the other resumes the recruiter is reading. Here is my experience for one job: I worked from January 2018 to June 2021. I led a team of six programmers in a project using C# for the backend and Angular for the front end. We used agile practices. The app we created included a MongoDB database, and I want to really bring this part out in my resume. We completed the first version in 6 months. Users were happy with it. We worked closely with someone who did the devops stuff, including CI/CD, to put a new release in the cloud every two weeks. Over the next year, we sold enough subscriptions that the app raised 2.3 million dollars."
Sure enough, ChatGPT delivered:
"Led High-Impact Development Team to $2.3 Million Success: Spearheaded a Dynamic Team of Six Programmers in Crafting a Cutting-Edge Application Utilizing C# and Angular, Enhanced with MongoDB Integration. Applied Agile Methodologies to Achieve Rapid Deployment, Delivering Initial Version in Just 6 Months. Collaborated with DevOps Expertise for Seamless CI/CD Pipeline, Ensuring Bi-Weekly Cloud Releases. Resulted in Exceeding Subscription Sales Targets, Garnering $2.3 Million in Funding Within a Year."
Although this might seem like a great read at first, it has several problems. Most importantly, job recruiters and interviewers (which is part of my current job) grow weary and tired of resumes that use extremely boastful language. I interview people for their technical skills. And I don’t care if the app you built was “cutting edge” and frankly, I don’t actually care how much money the application generated, because usually the application was the idea of somebody in management or marketing. The developers built what they were told to build.
When I’m reading a resume, I want to know about your technical skills and how good you are at catching bugs or building database schemas and how well you work in an Agile environment. If the app generated millions or was a financial bust, that’s on management. Even if it was a financial failure, you could have done an awesome job developing it, and that’s what I want to know about.
Also, before we try again, notice there’s a slight error. My intention was to say that the application’s sales were 2.3 million dollars in gross revenue. But I mistakenly used the word “raised” and ChatGPT thought that meant it was such a good app, the company used it to raise $2.3 million in venture funding. So you have to read what ChatGPT creates very carefully.
Now let’s push aside the “eye-catching” part and try again. I’ll ask ChatGPT to rewrite it with this prompt:
“Instead of making it eye catching, please rewrite it so that it sticks to the points that a technically-minded manager will appreciate. The manager wants to know about my technical abilities, not how much money it made, for example. Please rewrite it accordingly.”
Here’s what ChatGPT gave me:
“Technical Leadership in Full Stack Development: Directed a Team of Six Programmers in a Project Utilizing C# Backend and Angular Frontend Technologies, Enhanced with MongoDB Integration. Employed Agile Methodologies to Achieve Efficient Development Cycle, Delivering Initial Version in 6 Months. Collaborated with DevOps Specialist for Seamless CI/CD Pipeline Implementation, Ensuring Bi-Weekly Cloud Releases.”
Much better! The only thing I would change is to replace “utilize” with “use” as it’s a simpler term. Otherwise this is pretty good.
An A.I. Resume Template
One great thing about ChatGPT and similar A.I. tools is you can feed it information in multiple steps. That means you can start with a template of sorts. If you were to just ask ChatGPT to build you a resume, it wouldn’t really know what you want first, second, and so on. And instead it will just take its best guess.
So instead of letting ChatGPT decide for you, tell it what you want in terms of format. But what’s interesting here is that while you could describe in detail the order of items on the resume, ChatGPT is actually familiar with different types. I asked it: “What are some popular resume formats today?” and it listed several, including a few obscure ones I’m not familiar with. The first one it mentioned was “Chronological resume.” I asked it for an example, and here’s what it provided:
[Your Name]
[Your Contact Information]
Summary:
Motivated and results-driven professional with [number of years] years of experience in [industry/field]. Proven track record of success in [highlight relevant achievements or skills]. Strong [specific skills or attributes].
Experience:
[Job Title]
[Company Name], [Location]
[Month Year] - Present
Description of responsibilities and achievements in this role.
[Job Title]
[Company Name], [Location]
[Month Year] - [Month Year]
Description of responsibilities and achievements in this role.
Education:
[Degree], [Major], [University Name], [Graduation Year]
[Any relevant certifications or additional training]
Skills:
[List relevant skills, such as technical skills, software proficiency, languages, etc.]
References:
Available upon request.
This is probably the most common format today (and has been for a long time). Yes, you’ll see resumes that have a beautiful graphical layout and definitely catch the eye, but ultimately the best ones still list the experience and provide the hiring manager with exactly what they’re looking for.
The only thing you might want to change with this format is to move the Skills section up above the experience, especially for technical positions. (You can do that manually after ChatGPT builds the first draft. Copy it into your word processor and rearrange the parts.) As a hiring manager myself, I want a quick summary before all the experience. I want to see if you know MongoDB or if you’re an expert in Python without having to read through all the experience. But remember! ChatGPT is your assistant. It will build a first draft resume that you can then take and rearrange and clean up.
Tips and Tricks for Using A.I. to Write a Resume
So how do you use A.I. to write a resume? The key is to type in the experience items, with the appropriate dates, title, and company name. Then roughly describe what you did on that job. Use as many technology keywords as you can. (Some larger companies use A.I. and other tools themselves to filter out resumes missing required technologies based on words in the resume.) Then ask ChatGPT to write you a resume with all of this. Ask it to write the summary section based on what you’ve provided in the experience.
And don’t be afraid to ask ChatGPT to redo the whole thing from scratch, or to rewrite a certain part of it. (For example, you might type, “Can you rewrite the job from 2018 to 2020 but put more emphasis on agile?”) Remember, even though it really does feel like you’re talking to another human, you aren’t, and you won’t hurt its feelings!
Also, understand that ChatGPT sees a chat session as a single entity that it continues to learn on. It remembers everything you wrote for that session. So you can ask it to rewrite a certain section and it will know what you’re talking about. But if you were previously asking ChatGPT about the meaning of some song lyrics, and then in the same session ask it to build you a resume, you might find lyrics from that song working their way into the resume. Probably not a good thing. So the first tip is to start a new session when you’re ready to ask it for help with your resume.
The next tip: ChatGPT is far from perfect! Read and reread whatever it gives you. Don’t automatically accept it as perfect. If you find something wrong, fix it manually.
Also: Save everything into a word processing document: Everything you typed in as a prompt, everything it provided. Just in case you need to redo everything.
Finally: Practice! Writing good prompts is a skill in itself.
Prompts You Can Use
While coming up with great prompts is a skill, here are few ideas to get you going. I’ve put the prompts in italics, and then some comments after each.
What are some popular resume formats today?
You might want to see other options besides chronological. And ChatGPT knows about several.
Can you give me a short example of a chronological resume using a sample, made-up person with a few years of experience?
But you can substitute the word “chronological” with one of the other types it provides you with.
How far back should I go with experience on my resume for a software developer position? What items should I leave off if I’m applying for a React front-end position?
Don’t be afraid to ask it questions like these! Although it’s not a person, it has amassed a serious amount of information from many, many sources, and it might provide a good suggestions. But remember: You don’t have to listen to it.
ChatGPT and similar such tools can really help with your resume building. But be wary of it; it’s far from perfect. Treat it as your assistant, not your boss. Go through what it gave you, and see if you like it. If not, ask it for a revision. (Such as how I asked it to rewrite the item to be less flowery in language.) And remember to practice!
