ChatGPT’s arrival has changed nearly everything, from term papers to law school exams, from work emails to obituaries. “If AI is so capable,” you wonder, “why not have it get a job for me too?”

It’s tempting to want to use AI tools like Rezi or ResumA.I. or even ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini to help write your resume and cover letter to land that dream gig. It becomes even more tempting when you hear success stories of folks who only got a “yes” from an employer after they had AI do a once-over on their resume. When it comes to AI resumes, here are the most pressing questions:

Can AI Write Your Resume?

The answer is yes, you can use AI to write your resume. Reviews from folks like Tom’s Guide and TechRadar show that tools like Kickresume and Resumaker do an okay, and sometimes even good, job at crafting a summary of your work experience. And even general AI tools like ChatGPT can handle putting together a resume for you. If we’ve reached the point where generative AI can fabricate a high-definition video just from a short paragraph of text, it can definitely soup up your resume.

Alia ElKattan is a PhD student at New York University, studying the implications of online platforms. Alia is also one of the three creators of Survival Of The Best Fit, a game about bias, AI and the effect of adding artificial intelligence to the hiring process. “AI can speed up and scale the hiring process by facilitating tedious and redundant aspects,” says Alia, but this doesn’t come without downsides.

“When preferring certain applicants according to a given dataset the algorithm 'learned' from, we introduce biases associated with the type of applicant who's most likely to be present in such data.” Alia points to an example where an Amazon hiring tool in 2018 was biased against women searching for technical roles.

Should You Use AI To Write Your Resume?

It isn’t hard to find ways for AI to write your resume for you — but should you? If you’re on the hunt for a new job, using AI to craft your resume or CV comes with advantages and drawbacks.

“Applicants can utilize AI-based tools to make the job search less insufferable and time-consuming, but should remember that the outputs are often not only vague and generic, but also are not necessarily accurate or reliable,” says Alia. It’s important to remember that relying solely on AI could make your resume appear cookie-cutter — for better or worse. Alia recommends still adding that unique flair. “When making use of AI software, applicants need to make sure to use them in limited ways that complement their own work, assessment, and review, rather than completely replacing their input and perspective.”

What About Employers? Should Jobs Use AI When Hiring?

It isn’t only applicants that are finding ways to add AI to the job hunt process. Many employers added artificial intelligence to the employee search long ago. In some ways, this addition has been problematic — if you’ve ever read anything on Mozilla Foundation’s blog, you know exactly how bias can seep into the tech tools humans create. The same can be true for the tools employers use to find candidates.

When it comes to AI’s use in the hiring process, the pitfalls are all too glaring. “Applicants from underrepresented groups are at risk of getting filtered out at various stages of the hiring process because their profiles and experiences may not match the ones most commonly present in training data,” says Alia. “A common rebuttal is that employers could just build programs that do not read or retain your age, gender, race, etc. — identifiers that typically aren't even on a CV — but it's more complicated than that. Sometimes the trends an algorithm picks up on aren’t as explicit as those literal demographic identifiers. It can be as subtle as the kinds of jobs or extracurricular activities a person has on their resume. Or even the universities that tend to include (or exclude) certain groups.”

You may think human hiring has its biases too but, according to Alia, software-based discrimination becomes systemic and offers a way for employers to avoid accountability.

AI And Hiring

In a world where ChatGPT can write all your emails and Sora can fabricate a woman walking down a Tokyo street in HD, AI software probably has a not-so-hard time drafting up your resume. But keep in mind the ways bias can affect the output. Also, don’t think you won’t have to add anything to the process. If everyone has access to these tools, is it really an advantage?

“The use of AI should always, at the very least, be paired with oversight and intentionality,” says Alia. “If employers are using AI to search for candidates, are they investigating where that search leads to, and based on what? What are these algorithms trained to pick up on, and what platforms or avenues is it searching through? For candidates, it may be less consequential, but it's still important to remember that the same AI software you use to build your application may be used by many others. As such, its output can tend to be repetitive and generic, which is generally not a strong way to stand out in the job market.”

Want AI To Write Your Resume? Here’s What You Should Keep In Mind

Written By: Xavier Harding

Edited By: Audrey Hingle, Kevin Zawacki, Lindsay Dearlove, Xavier Harding

Art By: Shannon Zepeda