How to avoid AI pitfalls when writing your résumé

Today’s job market moves very quickly. Global recruiters like Josh Tinney from Gallup stress that applying for a job posting within the first 48 hours is vital. With such a short window, it’s understandable that you want to save time in the job application process. Before you turn to AI to write your résumé or cover letter, however, it’s important to understand how to use AI effectively, rather than to your own detriment.

The Perils of AI

Let’s start with a spoiler: I do not recommend that you use artificial intelligence (AI) to write your résumé. You want to stand out. Using generative AI can do exactly the opposite. When you and hundreds of other applicants toss the same job description into the same AI tool and ask it to write your résumé, the output can look very similar for different users.

Here are just a few of the problems with using AI to write your résumé or cover letter:

  • AI can be generic. Tools like Gemini and ChatGPT use Large Language Models and Generative AI to write the content they return to you. That means that AI tools scrape available sources for content, and then synthesize and regurgitate that content back to you. If you use the same language that hundreds of other applicants have used on their résumés, you’re blending in when you want to stand out. I’ve tested AI to see how well it can write a profile summary, and often the result contains broad language that could describe thousands of people. It failed to showcase a person’s unique qualifications and experience.

  • AI can sound robotic. I can usually tell when a client has used AI to write their résumé because the tone and style seem unnatural and inconsistent with the client’s correspondence. Employers hire people, not programs. Authenticity and expressing your true voice matters. This is one reason why I and many hiring managers do not recommend using AI to write your cover letter.

  • AI can generate inaccurate language. I’ve asked clients to clarify what a strange sentence on their résumé meant, and they’ve confessed that AI wrote the sentence and they don’t know what it’s supposed to mean. Worse yet, I’ve had clients confirm that a sentence did not describe work they had actually done, but instead had been fabricated by ChatGPT because it sounded like something the hiring manager would want to see on their résumé.


The Potential of AI

That’s not to say that AI has no potential to help you in your job search. I recently completed a training on job searching in the age of AI. It’s a module from the University of Maryland’s new, free certificate program on AI for Career Empowerment. The training reinforced many of the perils and potentials of AI that I’ve seen while working with résumé writing clients.

On LinkedIn, there is a new AI-powered tool within the platform that allows users to find job listings by describing their perfect role using a natural language search. LinkedIn’s AI-powered search bar lets users query terms such as “find me entry-level communications roles in media or entertainment” and “jobs for policymakers with experience in multilateral negotiation.”

If you choose to leverage technology, be intentional about it. Here are some ways in which you could give AI a try to make your job search more efficient: 

  • Analyze your résumé for transferable skills. This use of AI essentially does an objective audit of your experience to identify strengths that may be relevant for jobs beyond what you’ve done before.

  • Automate job tracking and job alert sorting. You can experiment with AI tools to help you efficiently filter irrelevant information out of your inbox, freeing up time for you to focus on the most compelling opportunities.

  • Identify other job industries. If you’re contemplating a change of industry, paste your job description into AI and ask what other industries share the same skill needs as your current role.

  • Brainstorm keywords. If you’re struggling to identify the key areas of experience that a company cares about for a specific role, throw the job description into AI and ask it to extract those keywords. Just remember that hundreds of other applicants may run the same search and focus their résumé and cover letter on the same results. Be sure to do a human readthrough to find what AI may have missed.

  • Shorten your interview preparation time. It’s always wise to research the organization before you walk into an interview. You can ask AI to summarize the organization’s mission, values, and priorities. Just be sure to do your due diligence and double check that what you’re reading is true before you bring up a news story that never happened in your interview. 


The Future of AI

I know that many of my brilliant tech colleagues from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have deep knowledge of AI. While I do not use AI in my résumé writing practice today, I acknowledge the potential power of AI to transform the job search and hiring process for millions of people. AI may not be there yet, but I look forward to seeing how it can become a tool that enables professionals to share their stories in compelling, accurate, and authentic ways.

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