Ask a Recruiter: ‘Is It OK to Use ChatGPT to Write My Résumé?’
Welcome to CB’s work-advice column that includes Emily Durham, a Toronto-based senior recruiter at Intuit, public speaker and content material creator recognized for her humorous and relatable TikToks about all issues work. Each month, Durham solutions reader questions on matters that have an effect on our skill to thrive in our jobs, and provides her real-world insights on learn how to deal with even essentially the most rock-and-a-hard-place conundrums. Have a work-related query? Send it to [email protected].
Q: I’m looking for a brand new job, and am interested in utilizing ChatGPT to assist me write my résumé because it’s one thing I actually battle with. Is it OK to make use of ChatGPT for writing—or not less than serving to me write—my résumé? Or will it’s apparent to hiring managers, and negatively have an effect on me?
This is a query that I’m requested very often from job seekers, purchasers and pals: Is utilizing AI going to avoid wasting me time, however harm my candidacy in the long term? One of essentially the most disturbing components of job looking is the period of time and power it takes to curate résumés, write cowl letters and prep for interviews. Factor within the precise interview, and instantly on the lookout for a brand new position begins to really feel like a full-time job.
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While personalized résumés and canopy letters can actually assist candidates stand out to recruiters, they’re extraordinarily time consuming. This is very true if you’re making use of to a number of jobs. So it’s no marvel why extra persons are turning to AI for job-related duties. Leaning on expertise to make you extra environment friendly in your job hunt is a superb thought, as long as ChatGPT builds the inspiration of your résumé—not your entire factor. When utilizing generative AI on your résumé, contemplate these items of recommendation:
ChatGPT is aware of quite a bit, but it surely doesn’t know you
When ChatGPT is used to develop a generic résumé or cowl letter template, it really works splendidly. When it’s used to create your completed résumé and canopy letter, it’s going to lack the vital particulars wanted for a recruiter to decide in your candidacy. ChatGPT is in the end nonetheless a language-processing instrument that’s unable to detect implied messaging or tone. It additionally can not absolutely convey your private model. In different phrases, ChatGPT understands the fundamentals of assorted industries and may give you useful prompts, however it could possibly’t write particular particulars about your expertise, passions and profession ambitions.
I counsel utilizing ChatGPT to help you in constructing the primary draft of your résumé, however to speculate the time in making edits solely you’re outfitted to do. For instance, in case you have been focused on making use of for a finance position, I’d ask the instrument to “write a résumé for a senior finance analyst role at a bank” and feed it as a lot data associated to your expertise as potential, together with your {qualifications} and work historical past. ChatGPT offers you with an inventory of solutions on your résumé. Then, copy that draft over to your required résumé template.
From there, the most effective factor you are able to do is learn the résumé critically: Does it precisely seize the specifics of your earlier jobs and the small print of the duties you carried out? Does it embrace information that highlights your accomplishments? Is it written in a tone that displays your private model? You might want to embrace further details about your duties, quantified outcomes in your earlier position and even your profession aspirations. This stage of element will allow you to stand out to recruiters, particularly if it’s immediately associated to the job posting you’re making use of for.
ChatGPT-generated résumés can lack element
ChatGPT can also be being leveraged as a search instrument. Job seekers may ask, “what are the top skills needed for X job?” While the generated data may assist inform what you embrace in your résumé, it’s not a slam dunk. I’ve seen so many individuals use ChatGPT to create a résumé or cowl letter that in the end wasn’t business acceptable, or lacked the charisma wanted to face out for the given position. That’s as a result of ChatGPT is designed to supply essentially the most generally accepted solutions to your questions—not nuanced solutions to particular questions.
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The greatest approach to make use of AI in these situations is to make use of it as a framework, however bounce concepts off actual individuals. If you create your résumé template with ChatGPT, have people in your business evaluate it to make sure you are representing essentially the most up-to-date wants of the sphere, and providing worthwhile data that may attraction to a recruiter or hiring supervisor.
Likewise, for folk in artistic industries or seeking to make profession transitions, the standard résumé writing ChatGPT can supply might not match the invoice. If you’re switching industries, you’ll wish to clarify why and be actually intentional about your language. If you took a profession break to look after a member of the family, for instance, or determined to return to high school, that data can’t be generated by AI. ChatGPT will seemingly lack the storytelling abilities and creativeness that’s mandatory to face out—particularly in case you’re making use of for a job the place artistic considering is a should, like advertising or graphic design.
ChatGPT is a tremendous instrument to empower us to work extra effectively, and it’s altering the way in which we do many duties—together with résumé writing. But workplaces wish to rent actual individuals. AI needs to be used as a place to begin, and you create the completed product by including information, particulars and private branding touches to make sure your résumé feels human.
