AI is everywhere these days and is seemingly used for everything. Large language models and generative AI tools like ChatGPT can hold a sustained conversation just as easily as researching an entire academic paper, and all within a matter of seconds.
This speed, combined with chat window accessibility, has ensured enthusiastic adoption by younger generations. In fact, 70% of Gen Z report using generative AI in their daily lives.
But employers are now using AI-powered detectors to scan, read, and reject resumes and cover letters that were created using ChatGPT.
Even the best resume writing service in Colorado will tell you, "As advanced as this technology is, it can’t do everything. AI is still prone to inaccuracy, “hallucination”, and a host of other problems that make its professional use difficult and easy to identify. In resume writing, an area where authenticity is expected, AI use is drastically increasing, with over 45% of job hunters using some form of generative AI assistance to create their resume".
For many employers and hiring managers, AI generated resumes aren’t just a major headache, but also a deal-breaker for employment. It’s vital to know why this is and how to avoid relying on the panacea of AI in your own resume writing work.
The Power of Generative AI
What we call “AI” in tools like ChatGPT is really a form of large language model. These tools use high processing power, deep learning, and advanced algorithms to form sentences based on prediction. A tool will predict the words in a sentence based on the material on which it’s been trained. Early language models drew on sources released before September 2021.
This large data pool enables these models to sound more human, but also limits their capabilities. Unlike humans, they can only work with what they know, and the information given to them. Additionally, they are always trained to provide answers, even when they don’t know the correct information. They do this through placeholders or “hallucinating” information.
You’ll never meet an AI that’ll return no response based on a lack of credible research or sources.
AI and Resumes
The appeal of AI tools is their speed and ease of use. Why waste hours carefully collating and crafting your resume when you can input the important details into ChatGPT and let it take care of everything in a few seconds? This mindset has led the job market to be flooded with AI assisted resumes and hiring managers resorting to AI tools of their own (ZeroGPT, Originality AI) to filter and reject them.
While AI can help with the resume writing process, it’s not the magic bullet that most young users think it is. Compared with a resume writing service that doesn't use AI to create resumes, tools like ChatGPT come with glaring issues and shortcomings.
In their own CV writing experiment with AI, the Harvard Business Review found that while a short list of prompts was enough to generate a well-structured resume with summary paragraphs, the information that was included was only partial and in some cases imagined. It assumed several facts and provided placeholders for deeper details that a human eye would flesh out and connect.
Just like any other tool, generative AI can be useful in its proper place, but should never be relied upon to do the whole jobs.
The Limits of AI Resumes
Here are just a few of the reasons generative AI shouldn’t be relied on to craft the perfect CV:
Old data – Many language models were initially trained on data now over three years old (at best). Though ChatGPT has released newer models since then, many still rely on outdated information that can lead to inaccuracy.
Does not keyword map plan or understand ATS - AI does not understand keyword map-planning to customize and tailor-make your resume specifically for the job you are seeking and with most companies using ATS to filter out resumes, this is bad.
Limited data – What’s more, many of these data sets lack the specificity of certain regions. If crafting your resume for a Colorado company, can you trust AI to fully understand the ins and outs of labor laws, like background checks?
Generic resumes – The flair of a resume comes from the injection of your own personality and outlook. Nobody can string two sentences together quite like you. Generative AI writes in a tone that it has learned from using billions of sources and distills this into an average, often identifiable style, that has none of the personality of the user who inputted the prompts.
Spelling and grammar – If nothing else, surely AI can be relied on for immaculate spelling and grammar? Sadly, no. The predictive modeling of generative AI means that phrases and words can appear out of place or read as grammatically incorrect. An AI resume still needs to be proofread and checked.
Why Hiring Managers Say No AI Created Resumes
So, in addition to the above shortcomings, why is AI written resumes being weeded out? Picture yourself as a hiring manager. All day, you have to sift through hundreds of resumes applying for various positions. All this requires an inhuman amount of focus and concentration, so much so that you must rely on assistants and AI tools to:
Screen for SEO keywords that align with the position.
Authenticate the online presence of applicants.
Track applicants.
Now, consider the rise of AI and the thousands more resumes and cover letters that pile up on your desk thanks to instant generation rather than being specially crafted by an applicant or a professional cover letter writing service. They range from generic to factually outrageous, leaving little to no accurate impression of the job applicant.
You’d want to weed out the AI generated resumes, too, wouldn’t you?
AI resumes won’t help an applicant in an interview, demonstrate their industry and regional expertise, and won’t build trust if the information is found to be false or hallucinated. In creative fields, where personality and creative power are prized, a generated resume shows a lack of care for the very task you want to be hired for and is an instant deal breaker.
AI’s Proper Place
AI may not be the magic bullet many hoped for, but it’s still impossible to deny its increasing presence in daily life. It’s hard to believe, but trusting important documents to spell-check tools was once looked upon with just as much suspicion in the 90s. Like any tool, AI will settle into some supportive role within workflows.
With regards to resume writing, AI generation can serve a variety of useful supplementary functions:
It provides a solid resume framework that can be fleshed out and edited.
It’s a good way to overcome writer’s block and to rewrite difficult passages.
The use of placeholders and hallucinated facts can be a good indication of the achievements and keywords that hiring managers in certain industries are looking for.
Essentially, provided that generative AI remains a tool to enhance or supplement a resume and is not used as a stand-in for effort, originality, or the skills of a resume writing professionals, hiring managers will have no reason to weed your resume out.