AI can be a great help with job searching and resume writing. But lately, we’ve noticed quite a few AI resume errors in time worked at companies and education issues not aligning on resumes, which we’ve traced back to resume writers pulling in information from LinkedIn.
We recently covered this same topic for employers and hiring managers after spotting these issues ourselves and getting repeated questions from clients about it. Employers are rightfully worried that nearly half of job seekers today either have or would consider using AI resume writers. Understanding their concerns is critical. What we told them is what you, as a job seeker using these tools, need to keep in mind: “You may not like the idea of AI-generated resumes infiltrating your candidate submissions, but let’s examine the real problems: truthfulness and accuracy.”
And there’s the rub. Let’s revisit a blog post from a few months ago: Resume Update Do’s and Don’ts for 2024. In it, we encouraged you to experiment with AI. “There are dozens of AI tools specifically developed to rescue your resume, including Resume Genius, Rezi, Resume.io, and Jobscan. You can also use ChatGPT, Grammarly, Google Bard (now Gemini), and other multi-purpose AI tools,” we pointed out.
But we also warned you not to trust AI completely. You need to “check its work” because AI resume writers can often be outright wrong. It makes assumptions and can suffer from what’s called AI hallucinations (outputs IBM calls nonsensical or altogether inaccurate). It can also do a poor job of creating an accurate connection between your interests and skills and what makes you ideal or even marketable for a specific opportunity.
“While an AI tool can indeed generate content quickly, it’s important to carefully tailor your materials to each specific position, and to proofread every line for errors, grammatical mistakes, and anything else that could sink your application,” cautions Dice.com writer Nick Kolakowski.
A UK staffing agency decided to test ChatGPT-generated CVs. They were astonished that the AI made an average of 14 embellishments per CV, “with changes ranging from slight rewordings to substantial additions in skills and experiences.”
So, how do you avoid the trap?
- Assume you’ll have plenty of cleanup to do. Again, using an AI resume writer to pull details from LinkedIn or other areas and create a resume for you isn’t inherently a bad idea. But neglecting to comprehensively review that resume once AI has done its job is. There is no shortcut here, unfortunately.
- Recheck again and again. Whenever you have a tool (or human) touch your resume, you must review it again for errors. We’ve seen errors in timelines, titles, results, education and more introduced covertly during a seemingly benign final grammar or spellcheck review.
- Role play. Put yourself into the shoes of the hiring manager, recruiter, or employer while reviewing your resume and see what sparks red flags. Many will compare the resume against your LinkedIn to see if changes made – usually to match job descriptions and get past applicant tracking systems (ATS) – have introduced concerning inaccuracies.
And what if your AI resume filled with falsehoods gets past your detection but is sniffed out during the interview process? Check back on our classic advice written before the AI resume age but still relevant today: So You Lied on Your Resume…Now What?
