Why An AI CV Writer Could Harm Your Job Search

There are several AI CV writer websites out there claiming that you can save time, use the right keywords, create better CVs and improve your job prospects.

Here at PurpleCV we think that generative AI tools like ChatGPT are incredible – and sometimes, very useful – but we advise against relying on them for your job application.

Taking the world by storm after launching in 2022, now OpenAI’s ChatGPT has 200m+ weekly users according to The Verge. And there are many other similar generative AI platforms including Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini and so on.

As we’ll explain shortly, asking AI to write a CV for you is a bad idea, for several different reasons.

But there are a few ways you can make good use of AI when searching for a new job. 

Many of us use generative AI in our current jobs. After all, AI can save you time when you’re at work – so it stands to reason that, used the right way, this is still the case when you’re working hard to find a new job.

Let’s take a look.

Some advantages of using AI during your job search

In the first AI Taskforce webinar, hosted by The Professional Association of Résumé Writers & Career Coaches (PARWCC), we analysed the impact of AI on career development.

During the webinar we discuss some of the ways they can benefit your career development and job applications, including: 

• Predicting career paths
• Personalised development plans
• Data-driven insights

Above all else, generative AI such as ChatGPT is a fantastic time-saving tool for most kinds of research or information gathering. This is where it can add value to your job search.

After all, even the world’s most popular job search portal LinkedIn is using generative AI now to provide a more conversational and personalised approach to finding new vacancies.

When it comes to writing a CV… While we don’t recommend using AI to create a new document from scratch, there are a few ways it can help you to collect useful information to inform your writing.

For example, it often helps to have a job description in mind – what employers are looking for in the role – as a starting point when writing about your skills, experience, and achievements.

You will get a sense of this from reading through different job vacancies on LinkedIn, but this won’t be comprehensive. Ask a generative AI tool for a full job description or list of typical responsibilities to get some inspiration.

Always remember to tailor your CV to the job description and specific vacancy you’re applying to.

You can also use AI for some inspiration. Have you written a sentence on your CV that just doesn’t look quite right? Put the text into a generative AI tool and ask for some alternate suggestions, to inform your second attempt.

Disadvantages of CV AI writer tools

Bear in mind that employers tend to receive hundreds of CVs for every open role, but will only invite a handful of candidates to interviews.

It means that only the very best CVs will remain under consideration after the hiring manager – or ATS software – has reviewed or skim read them.

And it’s very easy for hiring managers to spot CVs written by AI, for the following reasons. If they think you can’t be bothered to write a CV yourself, they’ll likely conclude that you don’t really want the job that much either – so they’ll reject it quickly.

#1 Lack of personalisation

AI language is often very repetitive, tending to use the same – slightly unusual – words such as ‘foster’, ‘tapestry’, ‘leverage’, ‘delve’, ‘seamless’ and so on. Here are the 100 most common AI words.

This means that a lot of AI CVs look the same and use a similar writing style. When a hiring manager is only looking for a few CVs out of a few hundred to put forward to the next stage, these generic AI CVs will be among the first ones they reject.

In terms of AI CV writer UK personalisation guidelines, watch out for text outputs generated as US English by default. Copy and pasting US English text into otherwise UK CV text will stand out for all the wrong reasons. 

#2 Lack of context

In most cases, a CV AI writer will produce a very generic document, probably not showcasing your most relevant skills or tailored to the specific job you’re applying to. Even the best AI CV writer will struggle with this.

AI tools do not understand who you are. They’ll struggle to write a perfect CV based on your career goals and personal identity, on top of the company’s requirements.

#3 Lack of common sense

Well-crafted CVs that serve as passports to new jobs are not about creating some standard content to reach a set word count.

To make one of the CVs that will stand out to hiring managers, you need to understand why you’re a strong candidate for the role and what the employer is looking for. Then write the CV accordingly, with the key points made strongly and prominently.

AI tools do not know you or the prospective employer well enough to make these kinds of judgement calls. A lot of common sense and smart thinking goes into the best CVs.

#4 AI hallucinations

A common argument for using AI or automation is to avoid human error. But generative AI is not yet mistake-free.

It is prone to AI hallucinations. This means that it creates false information and presents it back to the user – according to reports, it happens up to 10% of the time.

Your career is too important to risk avoidable errors. Relying on AI to write a CV for you means you’re running the risk it will make a factual error or misinterpret information, which a hiring manager could challenge you on.

#5 AI detection tools

Earlier we mentioned ATS software, which many employers use to screen out lots of CVs before a hiring manager reviews the remaining ones.

Now you can add AI detectors to the list, such as Quillbot. These also automatically reject many CVs, based on the different tell-tale signs of AI usage.

Aside from the odd choice of words we mentioned earlier, there are other surefire ways of detecting AI generated text – e.g. overuse of the passive tense.

These detectors are quite sensitive and if in doubt, they often label text as artificially produced, so don’t risk using AI generated text in your CV at all.

Final thoughts: Why an AI CV writer could harm your job search

AI can be useful for information gathering – when it’s not hallucinating – and some inspiration when you have writer’s block.

And if you are using generative AI for some of these tasks, learn how to ‘prompt’ them effectively for the most accurate and highest quality results. Here is a guide to AI prompts from Harvard University.

But otherwise, our advice is not to waste time searching for the best AI for CV writing… Or an AI CV review tool and so on.

These tools lack common sense, personalisation and context – key things when you’re trying to make your CV one of the few out of hundreds to stand out for hiring managers.

For similar reasons, we also don’t recommend using AI to write your cover letter. By all means try using AI to get some inspiration or a well-researched answer to a specific query you may have, but it won’t create an authentic-looking cover letter for you.

We hope you found this guide useful. For other informative articles, check out our blog including this CV checklist, with everything you need to do before hitting the send button.

Recently we covered how to write an audit CV and social work CV. Plus we answer a common query – what qualifications do I need to be a teaching assistant?

We have also taken a look at another trending topic and CV trick that’s a bad idea, called white fonting.

Our team of professional writers have a proven track record of creating outstanding, personalised CVs. They know how to highlight your most relevant strengths and tailor a CV to the job advert you’re applying to.

To find out more about our CV writing service or for any queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.