Why You Shouldn't Rely on AI to Write Your Resume

Before you rely on a resume prompt to create your resume, make sure you understand the reasons you shouldn't!

The emergence of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence has prompted an ongoing debate about what AI could mean for humanity. Will this machine intelligence improve lives by working in concert with its human creators to advance knowledge and create a better world? Will it replace people in the workforce, or help to create new jobs and industries? And what about the job search process? Will job seekers start relying on resume prompts to get AI to create their resumes?

In this post, we'll explore the idea of using resume prompts to create AI-generated resumes and the potential advantages of using artificial intelligence in your job search. We'll then examine the top reasons why you shouldn't rely on AI to write your resume, and why you should opt for a professional resume writer instead.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a hot topic of discussion these days - and for good reason. Every day, there seems to be some new development in the field of machine learning, as various AI projects continue to make major strides toward simulating actual human intelligence. But what is AI and why should you be concerned about its potential use in the job search process? Moreover, what is a resume prompt and how does it work?

First, it's important to understand the concept of artificial intelligence. At its core, the goal of AI is to create machines that are capable of thinking like human beings and mimicking their thought processes and their ability to learn and improve on their own. This concept has been dramatized and explored in science fiction books and films, from Isaac Asimov's famed I, Robot stories to Star Trek's android character, Data. In many instances, entertainment creators have used AI characters to explore the very definition of things like consciousness, ethics, morality, and even the nature of life itself.

As researchers and developers continue to make advancements in this type of machine learning, AI has taken root in many areas of technology. Today, its applications include web search engines, strategic gaming, automated decision-making systems, speech recognition programs, and the emerging self-driving vehicle sector. There are also programs available to the public that can be used to generate AI art and advanced interfaces like OpenAI's ChatGPT.

How do resume prompts work?

As you might expect, there are a host of companies racing to incorporate artificial intelligence into their business models. On the surface, it makes sense since many areas of human enterprise can benefit from increased automation. In fact, we can all expect to see an increased reliance on AI as companies integrate this technology into their businesses to perform many of the most common and repetitive work tasks. At the same time, however, some believe that AI may also have a place in more creative endeavors.

For example, a simple Google search for the keywords resume prompt will provide a number of links for websites that promote AI-powered resume builders. These sites enable users to utilize various resume prompts to create their own AI-generated resumes. The AI uses the provided prompts to create a resume that incorporates keywords from the job description (to satisfy applicant tracking systems, of course) as it completes all of the requested resume sections.

ChatGPT: What's it all about?

ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022, providing many people with their first user experience with artificial intelligence. The program was created by OpenAI and uses AI to mimic real human conversations. That human-like interaction is due to the program's access to vast amounts of knowledge, which was acquired through extensive training by its developers. Those developers fed the system with a massive amount of facts and data from the internet and beyond.

Basically, ChatGPT is a computer program that has been trained to understand how human beings use language to communicate. So, when you provide it with a text prompt, the system can interpret your statement or question and then draw upon its incredible library of information to provide a response. That knowledge base includes information from books, websites, articles, and other data sources, which helps ChatGPT to discuss almost any topic known to man.

Though it has only been available to the public for a relatively short time, people are already using ChatGPT to take care of a variety of needs. Some examples of how this technology is now being used include:

As a Smart Assistant: The program can do tasks like writing a business plan, providing recipes for cooking, or managing a schedule
Language translation: Yes, this program can even translate words and sentences from one language to another
Coding: Debugging programming code, or even writing sections of software code
Problem solving: ChatGPT can solve complex math problems and will even show its work
Resume writing: This can be a quick way to generate a resume, of course, but may not be the best solution for maximizing your chances of landing an interview - more on that later!

Potential benefits of having a chatbot write your resume

It would be disingenuous to suggest that there are no benefits to using an AI chatbot to write your resume. The fact is that you can probably already name several potential benefits that you might enjoy if you use a chatbot prompt for resume creation. Before we discuss the many reasons why you shouldn't rely on an AI to write your resume, it's only fair that we examine the other side of that argument. So, what are the benefits of using AI to write your resume?

Ease of use

One of the biggest benefits of AI is that the currently available ChatGPT chatbot is extremely easy to use. If you know which resume prompts to use to get the AI started, the rest of the process is extremely simple. To truly simplify the process, though, you will need to compile the information that you want to see in your resume. That includes all of your relevant skills, your experience, and education. Once you provide that information to the chatbot and ask it to write each section, it does the hard work for you!

The chatbot can help you with keywords

If you're struggling to figure out which keywords you should include in your resume, you can provide the job description to the chatbot and ask it to select the most relevant keywords for that job. While you're at it, you might as well ask it to suggest other relevant keywords for the position too. You can then ask it to include those keywords within each section of resume content that you want it to create.

AI is great with both grammar and spelling

How's your spelling and grammar? Unless you do a lot of writing in your current profession, or just love to write in your spare time, chances are that you might have some doubts about your skills in that area. Well, artificial intelligence can be a powerful tool to ensure that your resume is error-free. This AI technology consistently produces grammatically correct content with flawless spelling.

Spend less time worrying about your resume

Once you figure out how to use resume prompts to interact with ChatGPT, you'll be amazed at how little time it takes for the AI to generate your content. Instead of spending hours of time composing your resume, you can get the document finished in a matter of minutes. And we all love to save time, right?

Can AI replace a professional resume writer?

After examining those potential benefits, the next question is whether AI can actually take the place of an experienced, professional resume writer. Obviously, the idea of artificial intelligence replacing human workers in any field can be a little unsettling. Add to that the fact that some media companies are already experimenting with using AI for article generation, and it only makes sense to wonder whether other critical writing tasks will eventually be dominated by technology.

Of course, that brings us to the professional resume writer. Can AI create resumes that compellingly sell you as the best candidate for any given job? There are many different reasons to believe that AI technology won't be a match for human resume writers any time in the near future. As you might imagine, those reasons all tend to revolve around the fundamental differences between machine intelligence and the human mind. We'll examine some of those differences in the next section, as we explore the top reasons why you shouldn't use AI for your resume.

Top reasons why you shouldn't rely on AI to write your resume

AI only knows what it is taught

One of AI's biggest weaknesses at the present time is that it only knows what it has been taught by its programmers. Basically, its knowledge base is limited to the information provided to it by its developers. That may seem like an enormous amount of knowledge - and it is - but data and facts are a finite commodity when you're talking about machine intelligence.

The fact is that humans are a little like that too. The average person is taught certain things and learns others through experience and exposure to additional information. However, a human being has traits that machines lack, including the ability to make inferences, use intuition, and recognize when information is outdated and irrelevant. Artificial intelligence may get there someday, but that day is not today.

How can this potentially impact your resume if you choose to use an AI chatbot? Well, you have no way of knowing the AI understands your industry or the job you're seeking. That could mean that it will write your resume using outdated information it's acquired from old news sources or articles. The buzzwords and jargon may be all wrong, or it may focus on the wrong job requirements.

AI cannot duplicate the human element

Artificial intelligence can create fact sheets that list your achievements, skills, and other qualifications, but it can't mimic that human element that every successful resume showcases for hiring managers. The problem is that resumes are not supposed to be dry, dull documents that simply list qualifications. They are personal marketing tools designed to sell you as the best fit for a company's open position.

Every experienced professional resume writer understands the need to ensure that your resume is a showcase for more than your qualifications. They know that companies don't hire skills, experience, or past achievements. They hire people. If your resume doesn't do a great job of conveying your values and personality, then chances are that another candidate's resume will.

This human element is simply something that AI can't duplicate. While artificial intelligence has made tremendous strides and can do a great many things right now, its ability to mimic that human element may not manifest for many years - if it ever manifests at all. If and when that happens, AI may be able to compete with human resume writers and produce documents with real personality. Until that day, however, its inability to replicate the human element is something that can't be ignored.

Professional resume writers can interact with you in ways AI can't

One of the greatest benefits of using a professional resume writer is that they collaborate with you on the process in ways that AI simply can't. Artificial intelligence will answer your questions and produce perfect grammatical resumes if you use the right prompts. What they won't do is communicate with you on a human level to determine the best way to create truly compelling messaging. AI can't read you as a person to figure out why you would make a great job candidate.

As a result, artificial intelligence chatbots will only be able to provide you with the same sort of one-size-fits-all resume draft that they would produce for any other job candidate with your experience and skills. The personalization that your resume needs, to truly capture a hiring manager's attention, is just not going to be there. Your resume will be a dry, dull recitation of whatever facts you feed to the chatbot. Your qualifications will be present in the resume, but there will be nothing to showcase you as a person.

Contrast that with the results you can get from an actual human resume writer. That writer will work with you on a personal level, asking questions so that they can better understand why you're such a great job candidate. They will pay attention to your answers and make sure that the resume you receive does more than just recite facts and history. By connecting on a human level, they can help to ensure that your resume reflects your goals, dreams, and value as an employee and human being.

Artificial intelligence is not always trustworthy

Consider this as well: that artificial intelligence that you're trusting for your resume may not be as trustworthy as it appears. A host of news reports have emerged in recent months warning about AI chatbots that get simple facts wrong, spread conspiracy theories, and engage in communication that many consider to be hate speech. If your human resume writer did that, you'd no doubt fire them on the spot!

Fortunately, professional resume writers are focused on providing resumes that contain the right facts, presented in the most inoffensive manner possible. You won't have to worry about your writer suffering some sort of “glitch” that causes them to include information or comments that reflect badly on you.

AI's programming can prevent unbiased assessments

Artificial intelligence's ability to provide you with unbiased assessments of your skills, experience, and career choices is all but non-existent. That machine intelligence relies on programmed rules, which renders it incapable of avoiding the bias of its programmers. It's also bound by the information that it has at hand, which can reinforce its bias. These facts help to ensure that AI chatbots reflect the bias of their creators, unlike human resume writers.

One of the greatest things about working with a professional resume writer is their ability to provide you with a truly unbiased assessment of your career. These writers are happy to give you the type of feedback that you need to understand your own areas of strength and weakness. They know how to approach each resume with one goal in mind: to help you to craft a compelling message that highlights your strengths, while minimizing your weaknesses.

Machines lack human creativity

Without consciousness, no machine can match human creativity. Sure, there are artificial intelligence programs that can produce really interesting - and in some cases, awe-inspiring - works of computer-generated art, but those depictions pale in comparison to human-generated art. That's not a criticism, mind you, but rather an acknowledgment that human artistic creativity can't yet be matched by AI. The same is true for that technology's ability to craft creative and compelling resume content.

Anyone who has experimented with ChatGPT knows how impressive its writing ability is and the amazing way in which it can gather relevant information from its accessible knowledge base. At the same time, however, no serious person would confuse the chatbot's writing for a product of human creativity. AI-generated resume content lacks personality, a human voice, and compelling storytelling. In short, the machines simply lack the ability to craft content that will help you to stand out from your competitors.

Chatbot AIs are unoriginal

When you're searching for a job, do you want your resume to be just another document on a stack of other resumes, or do you want it to be something special? If the former, then an AI resume may be good enough to give you a chance at landing an interview. Why? Well, because artificial intelligence does a really good job of creating unoriginal, formulaic resumes. For some jobs, that may be all you need. But if you're in a competitive field where you really need to shine, that artificial intelligence probably won't be up to the task.

Part of the problem lies in AI's programming. Since it will only have access to the information it has learned, its ability to customize your resume will be extremely limited. Every artificial intelligence program is instructed with set processes, procedures, and rules. If your work history or skills present challenges that defy those rules, the AI will struggle to incorporate that data in a compelling way.

On the other hand, a professional resume writer knows how to customize and tailor a resume to play up your strengths and mitigate any weaknesses. This customization can be essential when you need to emphasize certain skills and downplay areas where you may be less qualified than you'd like. It can also be essential for drafting a resume that de-emphasizes work gaps in a way that doesn't make you look like you're hiding something.

That machine isn't going to provide career coaching

If you log into a chatbot expecting to receive the same level of care and attention that you'd get from a human resume writer, be prepared for disappointment. While you can ask ChatGPT for some basic career advice, you aren't going to receive wisdom that's tailored to your unique personality and individual life goals. You're more likely to receive answers similar to those provided to other users.

The reason for that is simple; artificial intelligence doesn't know you as a person. It can't provide the type of nuanced coaching that you may need to get your career on track. All it can do is provide generic advice gathered from its knowledge base. Unfortunately, that type of advice is probably not going to be what you need when you're making those big decisions about career and life.

Professional resume writers often spend a great deal of time doubling as career coaches. Part of their job involves working to understand the job candidates they are collaborating with. To do that, they'll try to learn about your career goals, your strengths, and your areas of weakness. Most will want to better understand your personality and work style preferences too. Often, they can offer invaluable advice to help you to improve your job search strategy, interview techniques, and networking habits.

Unlike machine intelligence, a great resume writer serves as your partner in the job search process!

Artificial intelligence won't catch the subtleties within a job advert

From an AI program's perspective, a job advert is exactly what it seems to be. The words used mean what they mean, and the qualifications conveyed in that description are what they are. Artificial intelligence can't recognize the subtleties in tone and context that many adverts can attempt to convey. That inability to grasp those unwritten messages can cause AI to create resumes that may not always fit the company's actual needs.

Human resume writers are more skilled at reading those job descriptions and making inferences based on the information provided. They are also more adept at deciphering the company's needs, matching those needs to a job candidate's qualifications, and then creating a resume that sells that job seeker's potential value. These human skills are not something that the AI can match at this point in time, but they are critically important for ensuring that your resume is properly tailored to the job you're seeking.

AI cannot put itself in a hiring manager's shoes

A great resume writer works to understand what hiring managers want to see in a job candidate. That human insight enables them to put themselves into a hiring manager's shoes and to view the candidate's resume from that perspective. Again, your resume is a marketing tool, so it's vital that it communicates your narrative in the most compelling way possible to your “customer” - the hiring manager. Every successful resume writer can accomplish that task far more successfully than a machine.

The fact is that artificial intelligence programs can't achieve those same results because they are not human. They can't imagine being human either. If you doubt that, have a conversation with ChatGPT sometime. That AI will readily acknowledge that it is incapable of emotion and other distinctly human traits. Again, this is not a criticism of the technology. It is simply an acknowledgment that no machine intelligence has the ability to understand what any human actually wants.

AI may be the future

AI is one of those emerging technologies that will undoubtedly play a major role in reshaping mankind's future, and AI chatbots may one day be able to help you to craft the compelling resume that you need to advance your career. For now, though, there are too many reasons why you should skip the AI resume prompt and rely on a professional resume writer to help you generate that winning resume.

Want to ensure that your resume has what it takes to land you that great interview? Be sure to get your free resume review from our team of experts today!