Can AI help you showcase your skills better in job applications? We put it to the test

It’s always a good idea to make your resumes and cover letters tailored for the specific job you’re applying for. The question is, do AI tools make it easier while maintaining accuracy and a human touch?

A recent study found that 66 percent of hiring managers polled approved of using AI tools to create resumes. Whether they approve of using AI or not, 58 percent believed that applicants were using it.

When we asked hiring managers how they felt about applicants using AI in March, we found that they were for it. One even said that they expect people to use it during the application process, since they’ll be expected to use it on the job.

“Honestly, we’re a little underwhelmed if there aren’t signs of using it,” said Katie, a member of Technical.ly’s public Slack who works for a design/development agency. “So long as they’re not misrepresenting themselves, it’s totally fine.”

But how, exactly, are applicants using AI tools? A quick search for AI resume tools brings pages of results, many of which are essentially template makers that focus on the aesthetics of the resume. Sites like Resume Genius and Top Resume offer tools and features for making custom, eye-catching resumes — for a price. 

Whichever generative AI tool you’re comfortable with, whether it’s ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot, you can tailor your resume with a few prompts for free (or, if you subscribe to the service, without paying a fee for an additional tool). 

To see if it’s worth running your resume through an AI tool before sending it to a prospective employer, we ran some tests using ChatGPT and asked our Slack community for input.

How to use ChatGPT to customize your resume

Your first stop when creating a new resume should be LinkedIn. If you have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile, a lot of the work is already done. If it’s not updated, spend a few minutes tightening it up. 

Generative AI workhorse ChatGPT needs little prompting to make a resume once it has the necessary information. I used ChatGPT 5, but you will get similar results with the free version, with limits to how many prompts you can use in a session. 

ChatGPT can’t access links, so I just copied and pasted my LinkedIn profile information, then asked it to give me resumes tailored to different listings, which were also pasted into the chat box.

I chose three jobs that align with my skills, but have different focus areas. 

I used the prompt: “Using my [previously given] LinkedIn info, create a new resume for this job: [full listing pasted]”

It gave me three different resumes, each custom-made for each job, highlighting skills and experience that aligned with what the job listing asked for.

These resumes came through super fast, but with some caveats.

• It was eager to say I had certain skills that didn’t actually appear on my LinkedIn profile. For example, one job was looking for someone to write a newsletter. While I do have experience in that area, I realized that nowhere in the profile I had fed ChatGPT did it say I had that experience. 
• It doesn’t filter out unnecessary information without prompting. My LinkedIn profile includes a couple of fiction anthologies I’ve done, which I wouldn’t put on a tech or journalism resume. 
• The first draft will probably be longer than you need. After giving me a three-page resume, it asked if I wanted it to be streamlined into a one-pager. Depending on your work history, the sweet spot is probably somewhere in between.

These are all things that can be fixed with prompt revisions and editing. You can add more details and make cuts as you go. Where ChatGPT excels with custom resumes is the professional summary, with each made to appeal to different hiring managers, and the bullet points in the experience section. 

Rather than simply cutting and pasting the first reply, a good tailored resume may need some back and forth.

“It’s like a conversation,” said a member of Technical.ly’s public Slack when I asked people to share their experiences using generative AI to help with resume creation. “I’ll ask why it wants to reword a particular bullet point, ask whether something should be removed because it’s not relevant, etc. The process itself helps me better learn and understand the job.”

Have AI do some digging

Another task that gen AI can take on during the application process is effectively background-checking the company. 

I used the prompt: “Can you give me some background on [company name] as a company, including links to articles about it if there are any?”

It gave me a breakdown of the company’s origins, founders and company growth stats, as well as links to articles critical of the company if there are any. 

In one case, an article ChatGPT linked to, about the company’s business practices, would definitely make me think twice about applying for a job with them. 

“It’s much more comprehensive than just reading the company’s website, and faster than doing a Google search — it’s very helpful,” said the same member of the Technical.ly public Slack community. “I then use that information to craft the cover letter.”

Finalizing your custom resumes

Once you’ve gone over the resume and made your edits, ChatGPT can catch your typos and wonky wording in one final pass. 

“I do the resume document creation myself to ensure my hands and brain are involved,” said a Slack community member. “It then does a final copyedit review.”

From there, you can just cut and paste the final version into a document file and format it as you wish, or feed it into a resume template tool like the free Resume.io.

Is it worth it?

Using AI to tailor your resume can potentially save time, but, like anything else, it requires you to go over it with your own eyes and make adjustments as needed. Where it saves time is knowing which skills and experience should be highlighted for a particular job. 

Whether it’s worth it comes down to the same issue as anything else: If you want to make tailoring resumes more efficient, it can help with that.

“I’ve seen perfectly tailored cover letters and resumes coming in within seconds of posting a job,” said Louis Miller, partner at creative marketing agency Electric Kite, in March. “Considering most of our roles are focused on finding efficiency while maintaining creativity and quality, [using AI] seems like a positive to me.”