We've seen an increase in the number of comments when people ask for a CV writer that say just get AI to write your CV. Take part in our poll below we'd love to hear your thoughts.
Is it a good idea to use AI to write your CV?
Yes it's a great idea!
No way I wouldn't trust AI to write my CV.
The jury is still out for me I am not sure.
Your CV is your first impression—your golden ticket to landing interviews and getting promotions and pay rises, do you really want to leave that chance to AI?
Here's our thoughts on the pros and cons of writing your whole CV with AI.
Pros for Using AI
AI can generate a CV in minutes, reducing the time spent formatting and brainstorming bullet points. This is particularly useful for job seekers who struggle with writing or don’t know where to start.
✅ Helps Tailor Your CV for Different Roles
AI can quickly and easily summarise a job description focusing on key words, which is really helpful when tailoring your CV.
✅ Provides Stronger, More Compelling Wording
In our experiments with AI it is great for helping you shorten sentences and create clearer and more compelling accomplishments, particularly if you have a starting point.
✅ Helps You Overcome Writer's Block
If you know what you want to say but aren't sure how to say it AI is good at helping you come up with the words and than tailor it to what you need. So if you're stuck it's a good way to generate ideas.
Cons for Using AI
From our experience AI is helpful in creating your CV but there are pitfalls. We certainly wouldn't recommend you get it to write your whole CV for you to copy it and hit the send button and here's why.
❌ Generic and Overused Phrasing
AI-generated CVs often use certain words and language that we just don't use in everyday conversation. The more that people use AI to generate content for CVs the more recruiters and CV writers can spot it a mile off.
Here's a few of the words I know that AI loves but humans don't:
Orchestrated - use planned, managed, led, organised or coordinated instead.
Spearheaded - we aren't at war so led or project managed are fine.
Results Driven - just don't use this, put the results into your CV and let them speak for themselves.
Proven Ability - again let your CV accomplishments prove your ability.
On a recent call with HR professionals and recruiters they don't mind if you use AI to help improve your content and it actually shows you embrace change and new technology. What they do mind is if you've just blindly copy generic content that doesn't tell the recruiter what you've specifically achieved. Which leads nicely to the next con.
❌ Lack of Personalization and Storytelling
Your CV should reflect you, your unique skills, achievements, and personality. Without you giving it specific instructions on how to do this AI may struggle to capture your individuality, the detail of your career journey and your specific achievements.
❌ Potential Inaccuracies
AI tools might misinterpret your experience or suggest incorrect information. If you rely too much on AI without reviewing it carefully, you risk submitting an inaccurate CV or worse being asked about a section of your CV at interview and not having a clue what it means.
You also need to be confident you can talk about the content of your CV and provide further detail about your achievements if asked. If your answer is I don't know because AI or someone else wrote my CV then that's not a good first impression.
❌ AI isn't Aware of What's Important
AI can optimise wording, but it isn't an expert in your field of expertise, you however are. It doesn't know what's important to include, what is a unique skill in your field and what sets you apart from other applicants. This means it can easily delete something important or over emphasise something that's not important, which is why it's vital to check what it's done to your original content when summarising.
❌ Formatting Limitations
We have experimented with some AI-generated CVs and many are not formatted correctly for certain industries or ATS systems. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are software used by recruiters to help them manage the hiring process. Depending on their functionality some may just help track candidates progress and e-mails, others may have the ability to scan a CV and match it to a pre-programmed job description.
Formatting is best kept simple to ensure if the software scans your CV it can do it accurately. If you use AI and it creates a visually stunning CV with lots of columns, shading and dividing lines the chances are it may be difficult for an applicant tracking system to read.
❌ Tone
Whilst you can give AI instructions to write in a certain style, you CV needs to 'sound' like you and if the tone changes between different sections it can be obvious. I have worked with clients who have used other CV writing services and one of their challenges has been the final CV really doesn't 'sound' like them.
That's why we include a call with our services, we need to understand if the words we've used are words you use and if you are comfortable with the tone of the writing. If you're not we make live changes together so you can be confident your CV reflects you.
In Summary
As a CV writer I would strongly urge you to spend time and effort on your CV and not go for the easy option of just creating a CV using AI and hitting send.
The job you are applying for could be a promotion or a significant pay rise so making sure your personality and individual achievements come across is vital. I've worked with clients who have achieved up to 54% pay rises based on the CV we've created together so it's definitely worth spending the time to tailor it and make sure it represents your achievements.
In our experience AI is great for honing your content once you've created it and giving you ideas on what to include, but only you know your exact experience.
It's the same when you work with us as a CV writer, we have expertise in writing in the right style for a professional CV, formatting it correctly and prompting you for information to include based on our experience. We can also spot AI language, overused terminology and help you create better ways of getting the same information across to the recruiter. What you bring is your skills, personality, specific examples and expertise in your job role and industry. It's a job winning combination!
In summary our opinion is that at the moment AI is a great companion in your job search, it's not yet at a point where it can replace you or a professional CV writing service.
If you are curious about how best to use AI in your job search we are working on a new course that helps you understand how best to use AI. It's called Mastering AI in Your Job Search - A Practical Approach and covers:
How to create a great CV that is applicant tracking system friendly.
Using AI to tailor your CV.
How AI can help your job search.
Optimising your LinkedIn Profile using AI
It will be delivered using a mix of online content, workbooks, practical exercises and virtual group workshops.
If you are interested in finding out more contact us to get added to the waitlist for when it launches.
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