Love or hate AI, it’s reshaping how we apply to jobs. Whereas almost a 3rd of job candidates suppose AI is hurting their job search, in response to current research from Profession Group Corporations, the identical report discovered 62% of candidates utilizing AI to put in writing a résumé, cowl letter, or writing pattern for a job utility—up from 32% simply six months in the past.
So if you happen to can’t beat ‘em, how do you be part of them and use AI to put in writing résumés that stand out in a sea of functions? Résumé writing specialists say it’s necessary to keep away from common pitfalls and know when a human contact is irreplaceable.
The place AI shines
The commonest resume errors job seekers make is overlooking the truth that they should make a superb impression on hiring managers who’re strangers, Marc Cenedella, founding CEO of Ladders, a résumé and profession companies firm, identified. Résumés must be clearly formatted and free from errors to assist these strangers focus their consideration on attending to know a candidate, what they’ve already finished, and what they might do in a brand new position.
AI will help with the “frequent, foolish errors that find yourself hurting [candidates] within the job search,” Cenedella stated. A few of these errors will be fastened by merely asking AI to reformat or proofread a résumé. AI packages also can assist change the tone or phrase decisions in a résumé to match what a sure firm is on the lookout for.
For folks seeking to swap jobs or enter a brand new subject, AI also can make a superb profession coach, stated Dana Leavy-Detrick, founding father of Brooklyn Resume Studio. It could possibly assist brainstorm new roles that match a candidate’s present ability set, and it may possibly analyze job postings to anticipate how a candidate’s résumé will stack up towards the competitors.
AI could make it simpler than ever to create a refined résumé. However with so many candidates utilizing AI, résumé specialists emphasize that human perception continues to be crucial for crafting a résumé that can stand out to hiring managers.
“What I’ve observed is that the ground of resumes has gone up,” stated Keith Wolf, cofounder and CEO of ResumeSpice, a résumé session service. He identified hiring managers are seeing extra “okay” résumés, these he’d price a 5/10. “It’s very easy to go from a zero or two to a 5 [due to AI], however there are such a lot of fives,” he stated
Taking your résumé to the subsequent stage requires understanding learn how to differentiate your self with a human contact.
The place human perception issues
Though AI is evolving quickly it nonetheless can’t talk the complete expertise of a candidate the best way a human-written résumé can. “There are all the time nuances about your subject and about the best way people discuss experiences that AI doesn’t fairly decide up on,” Cenedella stated.
Utilizing phrases that precisely describe a earlier position—moderately than simply the phrases AI may provide you with—helps lend credibility to a job seeker’s utility. This concern about credibility and authenticity is especially related on condition that as many as 10% of job seekers admit to having lied on their résumé, typically utilizing AI instruments like Open AI’s ChatGPT to take action, in response to a current survey from AI Resume Builder of almost eight thousand U.S. adults.
“It’s fairly simple to identify when anyone’s used AI to only throw in a bunch of key phrases and terminology that doesn’t actually relate to what we all know anyone at that stage could be doing,” Cenedella stated.
Past capturing the nuance and proper terminology utilized in a job seeker’s subject, AI may wrestle to maintain up with modifications in hiring processes. Recruiters’ preferences about résumé formatting and the sorts of applicant monitoring methods they use are all the time altering, Wolf stated, so it’s necessary to customise a résumé earlier than sending it out—even when utilizing AI.
How you can leverage AI
For job seekers who need to use AI of their résumé writing course of, résumé specialists say it’s necessary to not count on its first try and be an ideal match for the job you’re making use of to. As a result of AI depends on aggregating preliminary data, “at finest, you’re sounding like what’s already on the market,” Leavy-Detrick stated.
One technique to keep away from writing a generic résumé, Cenedella suggests, is to ask the AI program to reply questions—reminiscent of, What are 10 items of recommendation for enhancing this résumé?—from the standpoint of a recruiter. By asking this system to behave as a recruiter of their subject, job seekers can get extra focused strategies.
One other key piece of recommendation, Cenedella stated, is to ask AI to assist candidates quantify the affect that they had in earlier roles. “Each job in each subject on planet Earth in 2025 will be described in numbers,” Cenedella added. Including these numbers is an efficient approach to assist recruiters perceive a job seeker’s potential, and AI packages can recommend methods to seamlessly add these numbers into the résumé.
Above all, the résumé specialists recommended staying true to your individual story and experiences all through the job search, moderately than letting AI take the reins.
“On the finish of the day, what you’re doing is getting a narrative throughout,” Leavy-Detrick says. “You need to put your individual voice on it. Belief your individual voice, as a result of [AI] can’t inform that story for you.”
