Artificial intelligence is emerging as the hot new trend of the decade, replacing functions and augmenting aspects of work through automation. People are using it for a range of purposes, from performing administrative tasks, to analyzing data, to creating content, to hiring, and even in the steps towards getting hired! Most recently the emergence of ChatGPT has spiked the number of job candidates who have turned to AI to draft resumes, write answers to job application questions, create cover letters, and even prep for interviews. While it certainly has tremendous advantages, it is essential to bear in mind that AI does have some limitations and won’t achieve stellar results on its own.
Before entering a ChatGPT prompt or using an AI-powered resume-building tool to draft your resume, here are a few potential downsides you need to bear in mind:
1) Lack of human observation, intuition, and personality
While you can prompt AI to draft well-structured bullet points, it cannot delve deep into the details of your career journey to date and unpack transferable skills and common themes which will be relevant to the roles you wish to apply for. It cannot coach you to achieve your career aspirations, or effectively help you tie your resume into your overall personal brand image. In addition, it lacks a human personality so it will look uncomfortably artificial and in some cases, crowded with too unnecessary verbiage. You cannot communicate your passion for a role or your culture fit for an organization using AI alone.
2) Lack of a compelling narrative
Resumes are more than just a bulleted list of previous job roles and associated descriptions. They are most effective when designed to convey your career story. AI struggles to communicate in a genuinely creative, effective storytelling manner. Thus, you lose opportunities to make your application unforgettable, merely merging into the sea of candidates with nothing unique to bring to the table.
3) Lack of understanding of unique trends and contexts
There are some things that only you, or a resume writer working with you, would be able to convey in your resume. For example, recent market and industry trends, role-specific or industry-specific jargon, and the priorities and values of the company advertizing the role will not be factored into your resume. In addition, the context of your career, especially if it is an unconventional one, will require a unique approach and may call for slightly different wording. All of this may be painfully evident if your resume is not customized to adapt to this.
4) Lack of dynamic adaptation
Nothing remains the same for long. Over the past four years alone, we’ve witnessed tremendous differences to the way we work each day, from small-scale industry changes to larger scale global transformations including the rise of remote work, the dawning of hybrid working, and—amongst other things—AI. Unfortunately, AI is trained on a set of data that is not current and evolving with the times. Currently, it cannot be aware of immediate events that could have an impact on you landing your future role, neither is it aware of buzzwords that should be incorporated into your resume.
5) You could be rejected because of AI
Recruiters and hiring managers are becoming more savvy at spotting increasing numbers of candidates using AI-generated resumes to apply for roles, and while in some cases, AI tools can improve your chances, this can also work against you. Since AI is trained on data existing all over the web, it could produce plagiarized copy. According to recruitment company Michael Page, “submitting AI-generated materials without differentiation from the original content could lead to rejection.” So you’ll need to run your final copy through a plagiarism checker to ensure it is not unknowingly repeating existing information and thus reducing your perceived integrity.
So, can I use AI at all when writing my resume?
Yes, absolutely you can, but the key is to use it collaboratively. AI does have its place for ideas inspiration as a starting point if you’re feeling stuck and uncertain of where to begin; you can also use AI tools to highlight and extract keywords from a job description, while noting keyword density throughout your resume. It can help save you time with formatting as well. But always bear in mind, nothing can replace the human touch. If you are going to use AI to write your resume, make it the skeleton on which you build your human insight, creativity, personalization and tailoring, and unique experiences to convey your passion for the role.
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