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Don't we all wish a robot would write our resume and save us the headache?! Well, with the help of ChatGPT, we're almost there!
The new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, ChatGPT, was developed by OpenAI to help us communicate with computers easily and intuitively.
From debugging code to explaining a complex topic in a few short paragraphs, ChatGPT is also a powerful tool in your job search. Let's dive into specific strategies and ways ChatGPT can be used for writing and editing your resume.
Table of Contents
- How ChatGPT Makes Writing Resumes Easier
- What Are ChatGPT Prompts?
- How to Write a Resume With ChatGPT
- How to Use ChatGPT to Generate a Compelling Resume Summary
- How to Use ChatGPT to Tailor a Resume to a Job Description
- What Will Employers Think About Using ChatGPT With Your Resume?
How ChatGPT Makes Writing Resumes Easier
Navigating the search for a new job can be a daunting task, particularly in an ever-evolving job market where hiring patterns undergo changes due to factors such as widespread layoffs and workforce reductions. In such a context, the potential for AI to simplify the process for job seekers can actually be super helpful.
Similar to utilizing professional resume writing services or resume templates, ChatGPT offers a unique opportunity to streamline the process of crafting a resume such as:
- Writing a resume from scratch
- Tailoring a resume to a specific job description and/or company
- Giving feedback on a resume
- Crafting resume summaries
- Writing achievement bullet points
Is AI Beneficial for Your Job Search?
We believe so! With its training data limited to information from 2021 or earlier, ChatGPT can assist you in constructing a resume by leveraging its knowledge about various careers and specific details.
However, it's important to note that ChatGPT lacks personal knowledge about you and your specific achievements in your previous roles—unless you provide the appropriate instructions called "prompts." More on prompts later!
In addition to making sure you're providing the right prompts, you'll also want to take a cautious approach with ChatGPT and understand that machine learning, while impressive, cannot entirely replace the effort a real human puts in. That's because ChatGPT can duplicate, but it can't create. You want to work with ChatGPT, not let it do all the work for you.
Job seekers are fortunate to have tools like ChatGPT available. However, it is essential that job seekers avoid simply copying + pasting the answers but instead review them carefully and make necessary adjustments to answers before using them.
While AI cannot entirely replace the expertise of a career coach or a human's ability to create from scratch, it's a great complement to combine all these things in your job search.
What Are ChatGPT Prompts?
Prompts are how you communicate with ChatGPT.
Prompts guide ChatGPT in the form of suggestions, directions, or questions you input. ChatGPT generates an output tailored to your specific input. The more clearly you can explain what you want, the more clear an answer you'll receive from ChatGPT.
This is one of the coolest features of ChatGPT—and why it stands out from your everyday Google search.
For example, if you input "Write an elevator pitch," you will get general tips based on all the advice published online. But if you asked, "Write an elevator pitch for someone transitioning from elementary school teacher to recruiter using this job posting," you would get a much more detailed answer.
Here's what you need to remember when writing your prompts:
1. Specificity is key: Write prompts tailored to the specific role you are applying for. This ensures that the materials you create are customized to highlight your relevant skills and experiences for that particular position.
2. Always customize your prompts: It's essential to personalize your prompts to your unique circumstances and personality. You can ask ChatGPT to write in a specific tone of voice, tell it to use specific keywords, or not to exceed a certain word count.
3. More can be better. Combine multiple prompts: Instead of relying solely on one or two prompts, use multiple prompts to generate a diverse range of responses that align with your specific career objectives.
4. Humans > Robots. Don't rely only on ChatGPT: Remember that ChatGPT shouldn't do the work for you. Don't copy + paste. It should be used to help you do your work. You still want to proofread and edit all writing—all while adding your own creativity to your work.
How to Write a Resume With ChatGPT
Now to the fun part! There are so many ways ChatGPT can help you with your resume, from generating a resume outline to writing a compelling resume headline or even writing bullet points that detail your achievements.
If you're using ChatGPT to generate a completely new resume, it is essential to provide your relevant information in as much detail as possible. Because ChatGPT utilizes machine learning, the more information you input, the more tailored the outputs will be.
Before you input anything, please remember to prioritize your comfort and safety regarding privacy. Before sharing any personal data or information with ChatGPT, make sure to review the privacy policy and ensure you're making an informed decision.
1. Introduce Yourself
Provide enough information about yourself upfront that ChatGPT can at least create a foundation for you. If you use too broad of a prompt like "Write me a sample resume" or even "Write me a sample resume for [JOB TITLE]," you'll still spend a lot of time adding in your own personal details.
Consider including the following:
- Name
- Education (school, degree/major, graduation date is applicable, additional education like certificates)
- Previous work experience (company, job title, employment dates)
- Hard skills or technical skills
- Soft skills
Here's what this might look like:
2. Provide Your Work Experience
You might produce a pretty reasonable first draft using this first step. However, you may come across several job description entries that don't work, either due to being overly generic or entirely inaccurate.
The next step is to give ChatGPT more information about your work experience and ask it to rewrite specific sections.
For example, here's what ChatGPT created for my Hulu recruiting job:
To refine this, it's easier to copy + paste a job description, feedback from a performance review, and/or a summary of your top three work achievements directly into ChatGPT. Additionally, if you know you're trying to use specific keywords, you can include those in the prompts.
Here are some examples of prompts for this specific focus:
- Re-write my resume bullet points to this job description for a [JOB TITLE] role at [COMPANY]. Copy + paste your current resume bullet points and the job description.
- Write resume achievements with metrics based on these job responsibilities. Copy + paste the responsibilities from your job description.
I used a prompt and copied + pasted the responsibilities from a Hulu Recruiter job posting I found on the internet to create this:
With ChatGPT's input, I can take these new bullet points and personalize them more. Once they are in a place that's accurate and sounds like me, I can copy + paste them into my new resume.
3. Share the Job Description You're Applying To
It's essential to tailor your resume to the specific job and company you're applying to. To do that, the job description is your best friend. At this point, most people will copy + paste from the job description, but recruiters and ATS will notice this. We recommend first asking ChatGPT to summarize the important information in the job posting like this:
Now that you have summarized your top skills, you can ask ChatGPT to tailor your resume using this job description summary.
ChatGPT Prompts to Create a New Resume:
- Write a resume for a [JOB TITLE] based on this job description. Copy/paste the job description.
- Write a resume based on this [JOB TITLE] at [COMPANY] and include bullet point achievements that show impact and metrics. Copy + paste the job description.
- Re-write my resume bullet points to this job description for a [JOB TITLE] role at [COMPANY]. Copy + paste your current resume bullet points and the job description.
- Write resume achievements with metrics based on these job responsibilities. Copy + paste the responsibilities from your job description.
- Based on this job summary, write a tailored resume. Copy + paste the job summary.
How to Use ChatGPT to Generate a Compelling Resume Summary
Is a resume summary necessary? The short answer is that it depends on who you ask. For some recruiters, this is a waste of resume real estate.
Other recruiters and hiring managers appreciate a well-written resume summary. We believe a resume summary can be very beneficial in the following scenarios:
- Career transitions
- Long work history
- Returning to the workforce
If you're a recent graduate or someone more entry-level with less formal work experience, you can skip the resume summary and go straight to your relevant work experience. For everyone else, you can use ChatGPT to help summarize your work experience into an impressive resume summary.
1. Get Your Job Description
Start with a copy of the specific job description that you're applying to. If you don't have a specific job in mind, pick a job description for your current role or one that is close to what you'd want to pursue in the future.
For example, if you're a marketing coordinator but aspire to be a marketing associate in the future, use a marketing associate job description at a similar company for this exercise.
2. Include Your Resume
Next, you'll need a copy of your resume. This copy of your resume will influence what ChatGPT writes for your summary. Make sure the resume you select is in pretty good shape.
3. Select Keywords
Lastly, have a list of five to seven keywords.
You can use ChatGPT to summarize the keywords from a job description by copying/pasting a job description into ChatGPT with the prompt "Summarize the most important skills from this job" or "Tell me five keywords used in this job description that I should highlight in my resume."
After you've collected this information, try one (or all) of these prompts to generate resume summaries. Just be sure not to copy/paste from ChatGPT directly. Take the results as inspiration for your own and tailor it for each job and company you're applying to.
ChatGPT Prompts for a Resume Summary:
- Write a resume summary using my resume below and keep it to 200 words or less. Copy + paste your resume.
- Create a resume summary that showcases my skills in [X] [X] [X] and experiences relevant to a [JOB TITLE]. Copy + paste your resume and the job description.
- Create a summary that conveys my passion for [INDUSTRY/ COMPANY] and my career aspirations. Copy + paste a short list of career aspirations.
- Write a professional summary for a [JOB TITLE] using my resume and the job description below. Copy + paste your resume and the job description.
- Write a professional resume summary for a [JOB TITLE] that includes [KEYWORD 1], [KEYWORD 2], [KEYWORD 3], and [X] years of experience. Copy + paste your resume and the job description.
- Write a resume summary that includes metrics based on my resume below and keep it to three sentences or less. Copy + paste your resume.
- Generate a summary that emphasizes my unique selling points and sets me apart from other candidates for this job. Copy + paste your resume and the job description.
- Write a resume summary based on this job description that's 100 words or less. Copy + paste the job description.
- Re-write this resume summary to include [KEYWORD 1], [KEYWORD 2], [KEYWORD 3].
- Give me feedback on this resume summary compared to this job description. Copy + paste your resume summary and the job description.
Using one of these prompts, here's what I got using the Hulu Recruiter example. Next, I would refine this a bit more with ChatGPT and humanize the copy a bit more; however, ChatGPT saved me a lot of time with creating a foundation for my summary!
How to Use ChatGPT to Write Work Experience Bullet Points
Moving on to another arduous part of writing a resume—your resume bullet points!
This might be my favorite section to use AI's help because it's a lot to remember. You need to consider your achievements, know your metrics, and don't forget the impact your work had. PHEW.
1. Your Bullet Point Formula
Start by reviewing your current bullet points. My go-to formula for writing bullet points that showcase your achievements and not just your responsibilities is:
What you did + how you did it + the result and impact of that work
Before we use ChatGPT, go through each bullet point on your resume and tweak them to this formula. For example:
Before: Held fundraising event with university donors.
After: Independently planned & facilitated an event with 25 donors fundraising $35,000. Was able to train five team members on this unique event format resulting in a $100,000 fundraised collectively.
2. Collect Your Skills
It's also helpful to list your hard skills, technical skills, and soft skills. Remember, you can use the job description and ChatGPT to help you create this list.
3. Identify Your Top Achievements
Lastly, summarize your top three achievements in each job listed on your resume.
Not only is it helpful to spend time reflecting on your achievements and successes, but it'll help ChatGPT produced tailored answers. Remember that the more context you provide ChatGPT, the better the answer will be.
Using the information you collected from your prompts, use one (or all) of the ChatGPT prompts for resume bullet points below. Copy/paste them into your resume being sure to review anything for accuracy before you do.
ChatGPT Prompts for Resume Bullet Points
- Write resume achievements with metrics based on these job responsibilities. Copy + paste the job responsibilities.
- Create bullet points for my most recent [JOB TITLE] role that showcases my achievements and impact.
- Write a resume bullet for a [JOB TITLE] that describes the impact and uses metrics. Include at least two of the following keywords: [INCLUDE 4 KEYWORDS OR SKILLS]. Copy + paste the job description.
- Create resume bullet points that emphasize my successes in [RELEVANT PROJECT/INITIATIVE].
- Re-write this resume bullet point so it describes my [ACHIEVEMENT]. Copy + paste your resume bullet point.
- Re-write my resume bullet points so they are tailored to this job description. Copy + paste your resume bullet points and job description.
- Write three resume achievements with metrics based on the following job responsibilities. Copy + paste the job description.
- Write three bullet points demonstrating my ability to [SKILL]. Copy + paste your list of skills.
- Re-write these bullet points to include metrics based on this job description. Copy + paste your bullet points and job description.
How to Use ChatGPT to Update an Existing Resume
Another resume scenario is that you already have a pretty good resume, and you're looking to take it up a notch! Or, more realistically, you haven't updated your resume in a while, and it needs to reflect your most recent work experience and accomplishments.
Here's where ChatGPT can help:
- Edit your resume
- Give feedback to make your resume more clear and engaging
- Tailor your resume for a specific job or career transition
ChatGPT Prompts for an Existing Resume
- Please review my resume and suggest any improvements or edits. Copy + paste your resume.
- How can I make my resume more concise and to the point? Copy + paste your resume.
- What can I do to make my resume stand out from other candidates for this job? Copy + paste your resume and job description.
- What are the most important keywords for applicant tracking systems to include in my resume using this job description? Copy + paste your resume and job description.
- Review my resume and provide five ways to re-write these bullet points for this job description to sound more impressive. Copy + paste your resume and job description.
How to Use ChatGPT to Tailor a Resume to a Job Description
We've touched on this already, but tailoring your resume to a specific job and company you're applying to is incredibly important. You have less than ~10 seconds to catch a recruiter's attention. The best way to do that quickly is to make sure the information that is relevant to them jumps out quickly.
The problem is that it's really tiring to tailor your resume for each new job you apply to when you're applying to lots of jobs. ChatGPT can help change all of that because it can generate suggestions in a matter of seconds, which saves time compared to manual creation.
Grab a copy of your resume and the job posting of the role you want to apply to. Next, use these prompts to help you tailor your resume for the specific job.
Once again, be sure to not just copy + paste the response from ChatGPT. Review them and use them as inspiration to edit your own resume. Once it's ready, name this new version of your resume and apply!
ChatGPT Prompts for Tailoring a Resume to a Job Description
- Tailor my resume to this [JOB TITLE] at [COMPANY] using this job description. Copy + paste your resume and the job description.
- Using my current resume, how should I re-write it if I'm applying to [JOB TITLE] at [COMPANY]? Copy + paste your resume and the job description.
- Re-write this work experience to be more impressive and tailored for this [JOB TITLE]. Copy + paste one specific work experience section from your resume and the job description.
- Using my current resume, re-write my bullet points to include metrics and achievements to match this job description. Copy + paste your resume and the job description.
- Using this job description, give me a list of 10 skills I should highlight on my resume. Copy + paste the job description.
- I want to make a career pivot to [JOB TITLE] at [COMPANY]. Using my resume and this job description, tell me which skills I should highlight as transferable skills.
What Will Employers Think About Using ChatGPT With Your Resume?
One final note about using ChatGPT for your resume. As a former recruiter, I would be impressed to learn that someone is interested in AI and ChatGPT.
I would also be impressed that someone used these tools to help them improve their final resume product. I would not be impressed with someone who just copied + pasted from ChatGPT or someone who lied about using ChatGPT during their job search process.
At the end of the day, you, the human, will need to speak about your resume and past work in an interview. It only benefits you to spend time creating a great resume.
