Problem
GenAI tools have become such a staple in our everyday lives. We use AI to help with administrative tasks like capturing meeting notes and action items, various aspects of technology, research and problem-solving, navigating difficult conversations or reframing our messaging to speak to a non/less technical audience, and so much more. Even in our personal lives, many are using AI to help with recipes, building out travel itineraries and financial savings plans, creating cool custom stories and coloring pages for the kids in our lives, and researching anything and everything. Yet most job seekers I talk to still aren’t using AI as a key tool and resource to help them navigate, simplify, and optimize their job search. In this article, we look at how to use an AI tool for resume writing and enhancement.
Solution
One of the best pieces of advice I received early on about how to best leverage AI tools was from my colleague Kevin Graves. He said, “The first prompt I always give when learning how to do something is to actually ask the tool how it can help me with my goal/task.” He then said, “You don’t know what you don’t know, and as this technology continues to grow, we all most certainly don’t know to the extent that it can help us!” With that golden nugget in mind, try a few prompts on this!
Example Prompts
- I am a Senior Data Scientist, and I have not updated my resume in over six years. How can AI tools like Copilot or ChatGPT help me with my resume? Can you also provide recommended prompts to help me achieve each of those things? Please gear your advice to a Data Scientist.
- Please provide 10 more specific suggestions.
- These are great! Can you provide even more suggestions? Keep in mind that I am targeting a remote job, ideally as a Lead Data Scientist.
*If you don’t learn anything new from the first prompt, keep re-prompting until you do learn something helpful! This could be simply “asking for more” (as in the second prompt) and/or providing additional context about your particular situation, being as detailed as possible (as in the third prompt).*
Now, in addition to the examples above, give some thought to all the questions you have concerning resumes. What challenges have you experienced writing and updating a resume? (Hello, writer’s block!) What questions always seem to have mixed opinions/responses (ex. resume length)? What feedback have you received that you were not sure how to implement (ex. “add more KPIs/ROI metrics”)?
Common Resume Questions and Challenges
“What should I include in my resume? Should I include every job I have ever had? How far should I go back?”
“Should I add training I’ve taken towards a certification if I don’t have the certification yet?”
“How do I frame this particular experience/skill?”
“How can I effectively communicate core accomplishments? What even classifies as an accomplishment worth sharing?”
“How long should my resume be? Does it need to be one page?”
“How can I enhance my resume for the particular jobs I am applying for without exaggerating my experience/skills?”
“Someone told me it’s common to have multiple versions of my resume. Is this true? What are the best practices and expectations here?”
“How do I ensure my resume passes the Applicate Tracking System (ATS) and gets seen?”
One of the first things I heard when it came to the topic of AI and job searching was that every job seeker now has the massive benefit of having a Career Coach/Counselor at their disposal 24/7! That also means you have an on-call Resume Coach! So, ensure you are leveraging this tool to help improve and optimize your resume/s. While there are even more use cases and applications than those outlined below, let’s focus on these extremely helpful ways to use GenAI tools for your resume.
Use Cases
NOTE: All these prompts provided great results using the FREE version of ChatGPT and the paid version of Microsoft Copilot! I want to encourage you to still consult others in addition to leveraging these tools, such as asking a skill-focused Recruiter or a fellow Data/Tech professional who has gone through a job search in the last year.
General Questions and Research
Have you ever had one of the above questions around your resume? What others have you had? I often hear my peers describe Copilot or ChatGPT as a friend or confidant they turn to for asking basic questions they don’t want to bother someone else with or simply want another opinion.
Example Prompts:
- How can I make my resume AI-friendly?
- What are the top things Recruiters and hiring Managers look for in a Data Scientist resume?
- As a job seeker targeting Data Scientist jobs, what are the main strategies to help ensure my resume gets seen? Ideally, I am looking for 100% remote jobs.
Context is key! You will always get better results and advice if you include more specific details, such as your target jobs, industries/companies, technologies, location/s vs. remote, etc. Before you start prompting, take a few minutes to reflect on what you want.
Design, Formatting, and Content
One of the biggest challenges when writing a resume is determining the framework/design and format you want to use (i.e., template), the specific ‘Sections’/Categories you want to build out, and then the specific content you want to include. Even though I have now been coaching job seekers for 20 years, I have learned about so many new tools and pieces of advice by leveraging AI tools with all these questions!
Example Prompts:
- Where can I find some quality resume templates for Data Scientists?
- What are the main sections/categories of content I should have in my resume?
- What key information should be included on the first page?
- What are some powerful KPIs or other metrics I should include in my resume to help capture attention?
Frame, Wordsmith, and Proofread
Writer’s block is a real challenge for many people, much like spelling and grammar. One communication challenge I experience frequently is that I feel like I use the same words over and over. Others struggle with modesty and, therefore, are often too passive and soft when speaking to their skills and contributions.
When it comes to resumes, what are your communication challenges? Do you experience ‘imposter’s syndrome’ or struggle to confidently portray your professional value proposition or elevator pitch? AI tools can truly be a lifesaver in helping to find different ways to say things, compile what you want to say for your Summary or Job Descriptions into eloquent sentences, and anything else you are struggling with.
Example Prompts:
- What are a few better ways to communicate this statement? – “I implemented a PowerBI dashboard in 6 months that is now a go-to dashboard for our field leadership team.”
- Create three options for a professional skills summary for applying for Senior Data Scientist roles. Include my experience mentoring and training others and that I have built over 15 custom dashboards.
- Please proofread my resume and provide any suggestions. Provide a list of the specific changes you recommend.
- Do a thorough analysis of my resume and provide a list of key suggestions for optimizing my resume against this job description. Also include a list of potential KPIs or other metrics I could consider to demonstrate value.
Understand Any Applicant “Red Flags”
A question I wish every applicant/candidate reflected upon for any job they applied for and/or are interviewing for is “Why might I NOT get this job?” We often refer to this as candidate red flag/s. This could be a variety of things, such as not having strong enough experience, missing a specific technology or certification, not having worked in a while or relevant industry experience, or other reasons.
Example Prompts:
- How can I better position myself as a top candidate for this role? How can I strengthen my qualifications for this job?
- Provide any potential concerns or red flags a Recruiter or hiring Manager might have about my candidacy for this role. (Reader: Remember to upload resume and job description.)
Optimize for Job Descriptions
One of the ways some Recruiters leverage AI is to:
- Upload all the resumes of the top candidates they are considering,
- Copy and paste in a job description, and then
- Ask the tool to help rank and prioritize the candidates based on fit against the job description.
Knowing this, hopefully, you will apply this same concept and then take measures to optimize your resume (while ensuring your resume accurately reflects your skills!).
Example Prompts:
- What percentage of a match is my resume for this job description? Provide a detailed analysis of why I am a fit, as well as any skills or requirements I may be lacking.
- How can I improve my resume to better match this job? Please provide suggested keywords.
*As you identify your lacking skills/technologies that seem in demand for your target jobs, use AI to identify potential training avenues for you. You can even have AI help you build a complete skills development plan!*
Checklists
I, for one, will always be a fan of checklists. Especially after going down a long rabbit hole of prompts with AI, I love condensing all the suggestions into a checklist!
Example Prompt:
- Provide a robust checklist for improving and enhancing my resume so my resume stands out and gets a lot of interviews for Senior Data Scientist jobs using Tableau and Python.
Cover Letters or Write Ups
Given the opportunity, make sure to provide or upload a cover letter with your application. One of many reasons to include it is that it can strengthen or add weight to your application. You might also want to include a few relevant experience bullet points when reaching out to a Recruiter/Talent Acquisition professional about an opportunity you are pursuing.
Example Prompts:
- Please take my current cover letter and enhance and cater it to this specific Data Scientist job while still being honest about my experience and skills.
- Draft a few cover letter options for this job description based on my resume.
- Compile four powerful bullet points that speak to my relevant experience for this Data Scientist job that would be attractive to the Recruiter or hiring Manager.
Friendly Reminders/Disclaimers
Each of the above prompts should help get you started, but not be an “end all, be all!” Continue to iterate on your prompts, providing more context around your specific situation, goals, and the jobs and companies you’re applying for. Also, get additional advice from skills-based Recruiters and/or others who might be going through a job search. Consider having a virtual or in-person “working meeting” where you experiment with the above concepts and prompts and build upon them together!
Next Steps
I can’t stress enough… The above potential uses of these AI tools should only be a starting point; you should continue to iterate and enhance your prompts to provide far more effective results! The prompts you use will also differ dramatically based on the current questions you have, your goals and/or challenges you face, your specific skill set/location/scenario, etc.
Important Reminders:
- Don’t lose a piece of yourself. A continued fear of mine is that I will become too reliant on AI for certain things, including communication. I never want to lose my ability to think strategically, identify solutions to problems, draft communications, etc. Therefore, use these tools AFTER you’ve given your goal/question some personal thought!
- Two minds/tools are better than one, so consider using two AI tools and take what you like from each output. Also, get input from others who might have quality advice.
- Hallucination is real, so don’t put complete faith in the results you’re getting. Validate, validate, validate!
- Collaborate when and where you can. Who do you know who might be in a similar situation or have similar goals? Can you reach out and set up a few collab meetings where you’re doing these types of things in real-time and sharing feedback/ideas?
Do you have other resume-type use cases or prompts you have used that provided helpful results? We are all continuing to learn ways to use this technology and its best practices. So, share any additional advice, ideas, or prompts in the Comments section!
Check out these related articles about resumes.
