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.