Fuck what you’ve heard. You can use ChatGPT to help rewrite your resume. A lot of other career strategists and recruiters will tell you otherwise but leveraging free AI to revamp that dusty resume of yours can be beneficial so long as you’re actually using it correctly. Here are a few tips to help you out.
1. Use a Purposeful Prompt (or just copy ours)
First things first, you gotta make sure your prompt is on point. The less specific you are, the more likely ChatGPT is to spit out some garbage that will have the ATS scratching its metaphorical head.
Vague prompts like "help me with my resume" or “write a resume for a customer service representative” leave way too much room for interpretation and, more often than not, result in a jumbled mess of text that misses the mark completely.
Since we don’t want y’all to suffer through the tedious ass process of trial and error, feel free to use the following prompt:
"Write resume bullet points showcasing my expertise as a (job title) based on the following job description:"
Then, before you hit enter/submit you’re going to copy the job description from the role you’re looking to apply to and paste it within the same prompt box. Including the job description in your prompt will provide ChatGPT with a valuable source of information about the role's expectations and requirements so it can generate content that aligns with what your prospective employer is looking for in a badass employee.
Since most employers use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter and screen resumes it’s important for your resume to incorporate keywords and phrases that match the job description naturally. That way it's more likely to pass through the ATS successfully and reach the hands of an actual recruiter or hiring manager.
It’s also going to save you time (as well as a fuckton of effort) since you won’t have to struggle trying to write out those bullet points yourself. Win/win. But don’t submit what pops out as your final resume. There are a few more things we need to do first.
2. Fix Your Formatting
You know how we’re always saying that your resume is a billboard and that you want it to make a good first impression? Formatting plays a pivotal role in all of that and ChatGPT isn’t very good at it.
So, unless you want your resume to be a cluttered, disorganized, and inconsistent ass mess, you gotta spend some time reformatting the content it spits out by doing the following:
Adjusting your font (Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri are good).
Aligning your margins (meaning all your paragraphs should line up with each other on the same margin and all your indented bullet points should line up as well).
Making sure your bullet point styles are all the goddamn same.
Putting all your important info in your heading (your full name, the job role you’re applying to, your phone number, a professional email, and your city/state … you don’t need to put your entire address on there).
Proper formatting is going to increase readability and highlight the most critical information on your resume. That way your future hiring manager can quickly identify the key qualifications and achievements that matter most. And when a hiring manager is only taking 5-10 seconds to scan a resume before deciding if they want to read more, we need all the help we can get.
It doesn’t hurt that a clean, well-formatted resume also demonstrates professionalism and attention to detail (which are obviously qualities highly valued by employers).
3. Check for Repetitive Language
A common complaint people have about ChatGPT is that it tends to generate repetitive lines and bullet points, especially if a skill is mentioned multiple times in the same job posting. That’s why you need to go through what ChatGPT spits out, line by line, before you submit your final resume.
Watch out for lines that are very similar as well. If the same thing is being said over and over again, just in slightly different ways, keep the lines you like the most and then scrap the rest. All that redundant info will quickly clutter your resume and make it obvious that a person didn’t write it.
4. Remove Irrelevant Info
ChatGPT is a dope ass program but it has its limitations. Though it’s great at creating content based on our parameters, it’s also kind of stupid. Occasionally, it’ll draft bullet points that don’t align with specific requirements of your job application and you need to make sure you’re deleting them before applying to jobs using your resume.
For example, you know how sometimes jobs list that you have to be a citizen of a country or licensed to work there before they can hire you? If you accidentally copy and paste that portion of a job description into ChatGPT (usually because you’re rushing through the first step we discussed above) then the AI will absolutely spit out a bullet point or two for that section of the posting. Don’t be lazy and skip this step. Always check!
5. Include Measurable Metrics
ChatGPT doesn’t know your measurable impact, percentages, or numbers. You have to manually add those if you want to look like the badass that you are on your resume. For instance, if you helped boost sales in your department, don't just mention it offhand or take what ChatGPT spits out as gospel. Include the specific percentage increase or the exact revenue generated as a result of your efforts.
Need an example? Say less. Instead of saying this on your resume:
“I trained and managed the customer service team. This increased sales.”
Try this instead:
“I created and implemented a training for our 20 person department that resulted in a 30% increase in sales revenue within the first year and a 15% increase in overall customer satisfaction scores.”
See what we did there? Pro tip: if you’re struggling hop on JobHero.com and search for the job you’re applying for to get some extra help.
Concrete details are a powerful indicator of your accomplishments and provide future employers with a clear understanding of the value you bring to the table. By including measurable, number based metrics, you’ll be simultaneously showcasing your achievements and demonstrating your potential to contribute (in an impactful way) to the company.
Bonus Tip: Use Grammarly for Proofreading
If you have access to Grammarly, running your resume through it can be a game-changer. This isn’t a sponsored post but Grammarly is really good at fine-tuning your writing by adjusting your tone, detecting and then rectifying grammatical errors, and enhancing your overall readability.
Yes, it sounds like a souped up spell check but this final (and obviously optional) step will help ensure that your resume shines.
So Don’t Be Afraid
Go forth and fearlessly use the hell out of ChatGPT's capabilities in order to rewrite your resume. With the right approach, it’s a great tool to help you craft an amazing resume that can help you standout among other job seekers (and significantly boost your prospects of securing your desired job in the process). If you have questions, don’t hesitate to drop them below. Good luck and happy hunting!
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