CREDITS
Your Career – Your Future
By Denise Bitler, MRW, CPRW, CDBS, CICNC, CIC
DO’S if you are Considering Using AI to help write your resume or cover letter
1. Consider generating a template to get started or overcome writer’s block with resume and cover letter writing. Useful prompt: “Write a resume or cover letter for this job description.” (Remember that anything ChatGPT creates must be customized for your specific experience and accomplishments and should support your personal brand and value proposition.)
2. Boil down a job description to understand the role’s skills, responsibilities, and requirements. Useful prompt: “Write resume bullet points for (insert job title) and include metric-based achievement examples.”
3. Ask for the top keywords related to a job description or a targeted role. Useful prompt: “What are the essential keywords for this job?” (Paste job posting before hitting Enter.)
4. Submit a draft of your resume and a job description to align your resume to a job of interest. Useful prompt: “Can you optimize the resume for this job?” (Paste a copy of your resume and the job description before hitting Enter.)
DON’TS if you are Considering Using AI to help write your resume or cover letter
1. Don’t use AI tools to complete a resume or cover letter. If you copy and paste documents produced by AI tools, your resume and cover letter will not include your personalized career materials that showcase your unique stories and measurable achievements. AI produces a commoditized document, and your customization will turn these documents into personal branding.
2. Don’t use an objective statement. ChatGPT almost always includes an “Objective” statement at the beginning of any resume it creates. According to the Muse, an objective statement is redundant— you’re applying for a job, so it should be clear what your objective is. Objectives don’t give the reader any new or useful information.
3. Don’t depend on AI tools to format your resume – the layout format is dated and does not use industry best practices.
4. Don’t use AI tools for the final editing. There are many grammar and writing rules for resumes and cover letters, and AI tools haven’t learned them yet!
AI tools can provide helpful suggestions for writing a resume or cover letter, but we do not recommend using it as the sole source for creating your documents. A high-quality resume that will land you more interviews requires a lot of personalized information and tailored language that reflects your unique experience and skills