How To Use ChatGPT To Write a Resume
ChatGPT can help you draft a professional email and summarize long reports, but it’s also a valuable tool for creating and honing your resume. Around 22% of Generation Z (Gen Z) applicants are already using ChatGPT for their resumes — and getting positive results. This guide covers how to generate a resume with ChatGPT, including benefits and best practices.
Why Use ChatGPT for Resume Writing?
Talking to AI about your professional experience and career goals may seem a bit awkward, but it can provide several benefits in addition to a more polished resume. Here’s what ChatGPT has to offer.
Efficiency and convenience
Using ChatGPT for resume writing streamlines the process and gets you an actionable resume much faster than the traditional route. Given the proper information, AI can draft a resume in just a few minutes compared to the hours it could take a human. The result will still need some polishing and human review, but it’s hard to beat for efficiency and convenience.
Personalization and customization
With the right prompts, ChatGPT can create a resume specifically tailored to a job description or tweak an existing resume to optimize it for applicant tracking systems (ATS). Again, this can be done in just a few minutes, saving you time without sacrificing quality or personalization.
Overcoming writer’s block
It can be difficult to write about yourself and your achievements, and many people struggle with resume writing. But writing a resume with AI means you can use it to help you generate ideas or create a template where all you have to do is add in specific details.
Even a simple prompt like “Please create a list of common soft skills hiring managers are looking for in [industry]” can provide valuable ideas.
How ChatGPT Works for Resume Writing
While AI language generators are fairly intuitive, it helps to understand how it works to know how to optimize ChatGPT for your resume. This AI model gets its name from the chat format you use to enter prompts. You can type to ChatGPT as if you were asking a friend or colleague to help you, and it’s trained to provide responses.
ChatGPT works best when you use thorough prompts that provide plenty of details to include in your resume as well as examples of the tone and format you want to use. It’s also possible to use custom GPTs that have been specifically trained to produce resumes.
Best Practices for Using ChatGPT for Resume Writing
While ChatGPT can produce an entire resume at once, you’ll usually get better results if you take it one section at a time.
- Start with a strong resume summary: Ask ChatGPT to create a profile that summarizes your skills and experience. Provide a list of your educational and professional background, and note anything you specifically want called out in this section. If you’re creating a resume for a specific position, providing the job description can help ChatGPT tailor the summary.
- Craft the work experience section: Give ChatGPT a list of your previous work experience. This can be from a bulleted list, an old resume, or your current job description. Ask it to create a work experience section for a resume, and specify that it should include three to five bullets per job with metrics if possible.
- Highlight skills and competencies: If you’re not sure what skills to list on your resume, ask ChatGPT to create a list of common skills hiring managers are looking for in your industry or for a certain job title. Specify that you want it to include both professional and technical skills. Narrow down what you’ll actually include on your resume by relevance and level of competency.
- List education and certifications: ChatGPT can format your education, certifications, and other training for you in a matter of seconds. Provide this information in bullets or paragraph form, or copy it in from your current resume.
- Include additional sections: Consider asking ChatGPT to review your resume and make suggestions on any additional sections you should include, such as awards, publications, or volunteer work. If you have the job posting you’re applying for, it can help the AI model target these sections to your specific industry.
ChatGPT Resume Writing Tips
Provide detailed and specific information
The best ChatGPT prompts for resumes are those that are as specific as possible. The more context and details you can provide the model, the better. Include numbers and other quantifiers when possible. For example, if you want to include that you raised the customer satisfaction score, provide the percentage of increase so that ChatGPT can add this quantifier.
Don’t rely solely on AI outputs
One of the common mistakes to avoid when creating a resume using ChatGPT is not reviewing and revising the output. AI resume builders can and do make mistakes — called hallucinations in the AI industry — and a human review is necessary to catch these. AI resumes can also result in generic content if you don’t take the time to customize the template it provides to each position.
Seek feedback
Ask a trusted friend or mentor to review your resume before you start sending it out. They can help you identify weak or confusing areas and point out anything that makes it seem like it was AI-generated, such as fluffy phrasing or inaccuracies.
Use ChatGPT for cover letters and job applications
ChatGPT’s usefulness isn’t limited to resumes. It can also help you draft job-specific cover letters and answer open-ended questions on job applications. However, remember that the ideas should be your own. It’s fine to use ChatGPT to refine your phrasing or polish your writing, but your answers should convey your own thoughts and experience.
Example ChatGPT Prompts for Writing a Resume
Here are some ChatGPT resume example prompts you can use to get started:
Entry-level
“I’m looking to create an entry-level resume. I just graduated with a degree in [Your Degree] and have limited work experience, but I’ve completed internships and have some relevant skills from school projects and volunteering. Could you help me structure my resume to highlight my education, skills, and any experience that might be relevant for a job in [Target Industry/Job Role]?”
Mid-level
“I’ve been working in [Your Industry] for the past [X years], and I’m looking to update my resume for a mid-level position. I have experience with [Key Responsibilities/Skills], and I want to highlight my career progression, leadership skills, and key projects. Could you help me organize my resume to make it stand out for a [Specific Role]?”
Career change
“I’m in the process of changing careers from [Previous Industry] to [Target Industry]. I have transferable skills like [Key Skills], but my experience doesn’t directly relate to the roles I’m applying for. Could you help me create a resume that emphasizes my transferable skills and any relevant experience while downplaying my previous industry focus?”
Additional Resources
- General (Universal) Resume Templates and Examples for 2024
- How To Make a Resume
- What To Put on a Resume
Frequently Asked Questions About Using ChatGPT to Write a Resume
Yes, ChatGPT can help you improve or optimize your current resume. Copy the resume into the platform, and ask ChatGPT to revise it (or suggest revisions) based on changes in your experience or additions to your skills. You can ask it to add another position to the experience section or revise your profile to reflect your most recent job duties.
If you have a job you want to apply for, you can provide the job description to ChatGPT along with your resume and ask it to tailor the resume to the posting and add keywords to help pass applicant tracking systems.
If you thoroughly review and revise the basic resume ChatGPT provides, a hiring manager shouldn’t be able to tell that you used AI. However, AI tools for resume writing often have certain tells recruiters may be looking for, such as flowery or repetitive language, analogies that don’t make sense, or overly generic phrasing.
Keep in mind that even if a hiring manager suspects you used AI to create your resume, it won’t hurt your chances in most cases. A recent study showed that 90% of hiring managers believe it’s okay to use ChatGPT and others like it to help you draft a resume or other documents.
There’s no reason not to use ChatGPT to help you create your resume, as long as you’re taking the time afterward to customize it to the position and review for phrasing and errors. The exception to this could be if you work in a writing-heavy field, such as journalism or marketing. In this case, your resume is an example of your work and may be better to be 100% original.
ResumeTemplates offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.