Maximizing AI-Driven Insights to Elevate Your Resume

When you’re looking to reach that next rung on your career ladder, there’s always one first step regardless of the sector in which you seek employment: your resume (or CV). This is a snapshot of your life, containing the essential information that employers look at before they decide if you’ll progress to tests or interviews in the recruitment process.

For something so – relatively – short, you need to ensure that it contains all the information a potential employer will need. Your skills and experience are obvious inclusions, as are your qualifications. But employers also like some other details to get an idea of who you are. AI-driven insights can be a great way of taking your resume to the next level.

The benefits of using AI to help create the ideal resume

AI is an important part of the current wave of digital innovation (read this if you’re wondering: what is digital innovation?). Importantly, though, AI is not a replacement for the human touch, and you should not abdicate total responsibility for your resume to any generative AI tool. Instead, focus on it being a tool that can polish up areas of your resume that you may be unsure about.

There are a number of benefits that come with using AI to help you craft the ideal CV for every job you apply for:

Optimisation. AI is now being used in all sorts of business scenarios, from FP&A AI tools to applicant tracking systems. Having AI analyse any job description can help it suggest relevant keywords that can get you through those tracking systems.
Analysis. Do your skill sets exactly match what the employer is looking for or are there gaps? AI can quickly spot any weaknesses in your CV when it comes to what the employer wants from candidates. It can also suggest how to improve the skills in your resume.
Customisation. If you’re applying for multiple jobs, you’ll notice that sometimes employers have different requirements. Once you have your core resume, you can use AI to help you customise it if you find different things are being asked for.
Suggestions. You may have already written your resume but aren’t entirely happy with it. AI can make suggestions on your content, the language you use, and how you have formatted it so that you can strengthen your resume.
Transitions. Your existing resume may be geared toward the sector you’ve been working in. But what happens if you decide to change your career path and seek employment in a different sector? AI can help you customise your resume for any new sector, identify overlapping skill sets, and upsell your existing skills to suit the new sector.

How to use AI for your resume

There are several steps to using AI in resume creation (or editing), but the first step to success is choosing the AI tool you’ll use. There are many GAI tools now available, some far better than others. You wouldn’t invest in any B2B marketing automation platforms without looking at them closely, so why should AI be any different?

Think about what you will use a GAI tool for. Is it purely to help you craft the ideal resume, or will you use it for other things, too? Look at tools specifically designed to assist with CV writing as well as more generic ones. Consider the features it offers as well as the pricing structure. As with anything, scrutinise user reviews to see how good and user-friendly they are.

Role Playing

You want your resume to reflect what the employer is looking for and the tone of voice used to align with the employer’s expectations. Each application may be slightly different, but you want to tailor your resume to fit the jobs you are applying for. Though you may be seeking a specific role, such as a software engineer, every vacancy may ask for different things.

This means that there needs to be an element of roleplaying when you use GAI. This doesn’t involve dressing up in a wizard’s hat and staff but simply emulating the role you want to fulfill. Here’s how:

Research. You need to understand the job you are applying for as well as the company you want to work for. That can mean knowing any responsibilities and any relevant technical or professional jargon used as well as the company’s culture.

You can also take things a step further by identifying several industry leaders who work(ed) in the role you want. Look at their LinkedIn profile, read any papers they have authored, or media interviews they’ve had. You want to gain insights into how they communicate and think.

Practice. Once you have relevant information as a foundation, it’s time to start practicing some prompts. This can be a trial and error process, so don’t get despondent if things don’t work well at first. Your goal is to have your resume echo the professionals you have researched and studied.
Tweak and polish. As your prompts improve, you want to look closely at the results and ensure they’re accurate and reflect your skills and experience. Edit where needed, or, if you’re unhappy with the results, redo any sections you feel you need to.

Top tips

If you’re new to using GAI, then you’ll find a wealth of resources available online that can help you on your journey. Find what tips work best for you and practice with them until you’re comfortable crafting your own prompts. Some great tips for approaching the use of GAI include:

Show, don’t tell. Don’t just list facts and achievements; look at what those things did. For example, instead of just saying, ‘I led a marketing team that met all its goals’, you could say, ‘I led a marketing team that achieved a 30% improvement in account based marketing metrics’. You could then expand to discuss how you nurtured your team, improved collaboration, and any hurdles you had to overcome.
Active. Always ensure you use the active rather than passive voice. Employers want to see dynamic content. For example, instead of ‘met all deadlines,’ you could say, ‘our project tasks were all completed before the relevant deadlines.’
Senses. Avoid sterile statements and add personality to them. Describe how busy or stressful a project was or the feeling of fulfillment that came from good teamwork.
Stories. Rather than just listing every stage of your career to date, tell the reader a story. AI can help you turn the linear path of your career into an engaging narrative arc.
Challenges. Employers like to read about how you dealt with difficult challenges during your career. Think about any challenges or conflicts you have faced and how you overcame them. You can then use AI to integrate those stories into your narrative arc and show that you have good problem-solving skills.
Symmetry. You want your resume to look well-organised. GAI can help you do this by ensuring every section is presented in a similar structure.
Keywords. One of the biggest benefits of using AI is that it can analyse job descriptions and identify keywords and phrases used so that you can incorporate them naturally.

3. Put yourself in the employer’s shoes

You may think your resume looks perfect but how will it look from the employer’s perspective? More specifically, how will it be viewed if the employer is using an ATS (applicant tracking system)? An ATS screens applications by looking for certain keywords, phrases, or specific qualifications the employer is looking for.

However, these systems do not recognise certain formats such as the use of columns or CVs presented as images, and could just summarily reject your application. AI can act like a bespoke tailor, offering suggestions for recommended formats, what skills and experience to highlight, and any specific achievements that you’ve listed that match the job requirements.

Beyond those factors, GAI tools will also offer you insights and feedback on your grammar, the tone of voice you’ve used, any spelling mistakes, and how much of a match you are for the job you’re applying for.

Best practices and things to avoid

It may take time to find your feet and select an AI tool that suits you. You would probably spend some time looking at Google Analytics competitors if you wanted an alternative tool, so don’t be afraid to do the same with AI tools and take advantage of any free trials you find. Once you have your ideal tool and are more used to it, you can adopt some best practices and note what to avoid.

The thing to remember is that AI is just a tool that assists you in improving your resume. It does not replace you in any way, so feel free to use it as much or as little when creating your resume. Current AI tools make mistakes. In fact, they make a lot of mistakes, so think of the tool you are using as a trainee worker that needs to be supervised.

Best practices

Customise. While you don’t want to create a resume from scratch for every position you apply for, you do want to tailor it to any differing requirements. That can cover things such as the job description and the company’s culture. There may be some variation in keywords, even within the same sector.
Highlight. You want your resume to highlight achievements, awards, and any advanced qualifications you may have. You can use your AI tool to create bullet point lists that make these stand out to any reader.
Design. Be aware of resume design restrictions if an organisation is using an ATS. Beyond those restrictions, you also want your resume to look clean and professional, so take any AI suggestions on board and avoid showboating.
Proofread. AI tools can be great for general proofreading to pick up spelling or grammatical errors. However, it’s best to have a final proofreading done by human eyes.

Things to avoid

Reliance. Remember, GAI is just a tool, and while you can use it for a lot of your resume, it’s essential that you don’t lose the human touch and that your resume becomes cold and sterile rather than personal.
Genericness. Try not to use too much generic language when describing prompts. By tailoring the language in your prompts to your needs (and those of the employer), your content will be richer and more personal.
ATS. Do NOT forget that many businesses now use an ATS. If your resume does not have relevant content, or if it is in a design that isn’t recognised, then your job application may not get off the starting line.
Soft skills. You may be focused on the skills, qualifications, and experience a job asks for, but don’t leave any relevant soft skills in your wake. These are often overlooked by an AI tool but can be the things that make a real difference to your application.

The takeaway

When it comes to using AI for your resume, there are two important things to remember. The first is that you want to elevate your CV to the point where it gives you the best possible chance of getting the job you’re applying for. The second is that AI resume tools are just that: tools. There is no pressure on you to accept the suggestions that the tool makes, though many of them will be advisable.

Understanding the limitations of AI is as crucial as understanding the benefits it can bring. That said, it can provide valuable insights you may have missed and can thus take your resume to the next level. Make sure your resume never loses the human touch, and you can use the insights to help you achieve the job you’re looking for.