Say Goodbye to Rejection Emails: Learn How to Use ChatGPT to Customize Your Resume for Every Job
It is crucial to align your resume with the job description when applying for a position.
A well-crafted resume that speaks directly to the job requirements can make all the difference in being sorted into the “worth an interview” pile by the applicant tracking system (ATS) algorithms and catching the hiring manager’s attention.
ChatGPT can help adapt a resume to a job description by analyzing the job requirements and the candidate’s resume and providing suggestions to align them.
It can identify key skills and experiences required for the job, suggest ways to emphasize those in the resume, and recommend changes to the summary, experience, and skills sections to make them more relevant to the job description.
With its ability to understand natural language and generate human-like responses, ChatGPT can provide valuable insights and guidance to job seekers looking to tailor their resumes for specific job opportunities.
Here are some prompts to try while using ChatGPT to adapt your resume to different job descriptions:
Prompt 1.
I am going to give you a job description. I want you to pretend you’re a hiring manager recruiting for this role. I want you to answer every question from the perspective of a hiring manager recruiting for this role. Answer with only “OK” if you understand me.
(When it says, “OK,” paste in the job description and click the send button.)
You’ll notice I was specific and repetitive in my instructions to ensure ChatGPT understood what I wanted it to do.
Prompt 2.
What keywords would you use to set up an ATS for this role? Give me a list of the keywords you would use for the ATS with one on each line. Answer every question from the perspective of a hiring manager recruiting for this role.
Again, I repeated how I wanted ChatGPT to answer the question to remove ambiguity.
Prompt 3:
What soft skills would you want the perfect candidate to have?
Prompt 4:
What technical skills would you want the perfect candidate to have?
Prompt 5:
Here is my resume. What changes should I make to this resume to show I am the perfect candidate for this job?
Prompt 6:
What information should I omit from this resume because it is irrelevant to the job description?
Prompt 7:
Using the information you know about me from my resume and the job description, revise the title, summary and skills sections to better align me with the job description. You can rewrite, omit, combine, transform, or change sentences, but do not fabricate information. Use only the information in my resume that aligns with the job description. Synonyms are fine. Omit irrelevant information.
Here, again, I was particular about what ChatGPT should and shouldn’t do. Sometimes, AI “hallucinates” or makes up fake information because it “thinks” it knows what you want. By increasing your specificity, you can limit exposure to this risk.
Prompt 8:
Using the information you know about me from my resume and the job description, revise the Experience section to better align me with the job description. You can rewrite, omit, combine, transform, or change sentences, but do not fabricate information. Use only the information in my resume that aligns with the job description. Synonyms are fine. Omit irrelevant information.
Prompt 9:
Are there any questions you want to ask me to elicit more information to help me better align my resume with the job description?
This question is critical to aligning your resume with a job description because otherwise, ChatGPT will just use the information you provided. It does not automatically know to prompt you for more information.
Prompt 10:
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not at all aligned and 10 being exactly aligned, from the perspective of a hiring manager hiring for this job description, how aligned is this new resume?
Prompt 11:
What would make it a 10 out of 10?
This is another beneficial question to get ChatGPT to reveal what further information would enhance your resume for the job description.
Prompt 12:
Please reanalyze this resume. I’ve made some updates. What would you now rate it on a scale of 1–10?
And, Voila!
By now, your resume should be as aligned with the job description as possible. As career professionals, we tend to encourage clients to apply for jobs if they meet at least 75% of the requirements. Of course, it’s best to get your resume as close to a 10 out of 10 as possible, but if you can get yourself to at least 7.5, I say go for it!
WARNING!
While ChatGPT can generate text based on the input it receives, it may not always provide the most accurate or appropriate response. Therefore, you should carefully review and edit any text generated by ChatGPT to ensure it aligns with your experience and qualifications.
Also, it’s important to have a good base resume to start with.
