Ken Chase 
Would you get your resume written by an AI resume builder?
Given the rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), no-one should be surprised to learn that it's already having an impact on many different areas of society. From banking to manufacturing and quality control, AI algorithms are being used to improve efficiency and other important business metrics. Companies are even beginning to incorporate this technology into their hiring processes. But what about the job search process? Well, AI is helping to shape the resume builder landscape too.
AI resume builders becoming more common
Online resume builders have been around for some time. Until recently, using them was as simple as choosing a template and then filling in the required details to create your basic resume. In short, the resume builder site provides a pre-existing resume and you customize it by adding your own information. You can still find these types of resume builders online, of course.
As tools like ChatGPT introduced more people to practical artificial intelligence, it was only natural that some job seekers would experiment with using it to craft resumes. Meanwhile, some resume companies began to incorporate the technology into their services – sites like Zety, Jobscan, and ResumeLab, for example.
Are AI resume builders worth it?
Of course, the first question that anyone should be asking about these AI resume builders is whether they are effective. Most job seekers would probably judge that effectiveness based on how well the finished product addresses a few simple and straightforward concerns:
Will you save money using an AI resume builder?
Most experts seem to agree that using an AI resume builder can help you save money. Many of the sites using these builders offer a free option, as well as various paid offerings.
Does the resume perform well in an applicant tracking system screening process?
Since AI should be more familiar with the machine-speak that ATSs rely on, the natural assumption is that artificial intelligence should be able to ensure that your resume performs well in an automated screening. However, that's likely to depend on whether you input the right information. For example, if an ATS is looking for certain keywords from the job description and you fail to input that data, your completed resume may not be ATS-ready.
Is the completed resume good enough to help you land an interview?
This question does not have an easy answer. Sure, AI-generated resumes are likely to be grammatically correct with few errors. But, as anyone who has experimented with ChatGPT understands, AI content often comes off as robotic – because machines wrote it.
Arguments against relying on AI-generated resumes
The extent to which AI resume builders can reshape that industry's landscape may well depend on how well the technology advances in the coming years. Currently, there are some significant disadvantages to AI-generated resumes that may give many job seekers pause. For example:
AI resumes lack human personality
Artificial intelligence may do a good job of constructing sentences, paragraphs, and entire documents, but the finished product typically lacks anything resembling the human touch. That may be fine if you're just using AI for research purposes, but a dry, personality-free resume may struggle to capture a hiring manager's attention.
AI content is prone to plagiarism or inaccuracies
In these early days of AI resume generation, the repeated use of similar sentences and paragraphs may not be a serious problem. As the technology enjoys wider use, however, the issue of perceived plagiarism could become a real issue for job seekers. Add to that the potential for inaccurate or irrelevant information to find its way into your resume and it's easy to see why this option may not be ready for prime time.
AI still requires your help
Make no mistake: there is no AI resume builder out there that can do everything for you. They all require you to enter specific information to meet their data requirements. Moreover, many will require you to do even more work once the resume is generated – to check for inaccuracies, misaligned skills, and other potential issues that could undermine your candidacy.
The bottom line
While there are some cost savings and other potential benefits to using an AI resume builder, the technology still has many obstacles to overcome before it can truly replace human resume writers. And for those job seekers whose career paths require resumes that deliver targeted messages that highlight skills, achievements, and personality, the broader resume services industry may remain resistant to AI change for many years to come.
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