AI-written executive resumes can be problematic in a number of ways.
Basically, when you turn your resume over to AI and let it write it entirely, you will most likely end up with something that does very little to differentiate you from other candidates like you.
And that is the main mission of any resume.
Let’s look at the details, which apply to resumes, LinkedIn profiles, biographies, cover letters and any other job search materials.
Reasons you may opt for an AI-written executive resume
Have you decided to use AI, or have you already done so, because of these things?
- You don’t have the time or inclination to write it yourself.
- You don’t know how to write it. You hear that AI has greatly advanced and the writing quality is very good. Certainly it must be better than what you can write.
- Someone just asked you to send them your resume and you haven’t updated yours in a while. You need something fast!
Those are all reasonable thoughts and it’s perfectly understandable that you think you’ve found the best solution by using AI.
You may even think AI will do a better job than turning to a professional resume writer, even though the best ones thoroughly understand today’s executive job search and resume writing strategy.
What you may not know, or fully grasp, about AI-written executive resumes
AI can be very helpful for some aspects of resume development, including creating your list of target employers and then researching each one to identify what makes you a good hiring choice for them.
That information will help you to some extent know what things to put in your resume, and what things to leave out.
AI can also be good for correcting spelling and grammatical errors.
I’ve written more extensively about this in my post, How to Safely Use ChatGPT and Other AI for Your Executive Resume and Job Search.
The main problem: AI typically writes generic content so there’s every chance that much of what it tells you to put in your resume, it’s telling many other candidates like you to also do.
AI has been around for a few years now. Maybe at the beginning, when very few job seekers were using it for resume writing, the content was unique.
But now, a great percentage of job seekers are using AI to write their resumes.
That means the same generic keyword phrases and overall content are typically showing up in the resumes landing in front of hiring professionals.
It all becomes AI slop to them.
As Rachel Gogos, CEO of the digital marketing firm brandiD, put it:
AI is good at putting words together, but what builds connection is not just good wording.
It is the story behind it, the example that makes it believable, the lived experience that gives it weight, the framework that only you see, and the beliefs that shape how you do the work.
Those are the things AI cannot generate for you.
Resumes with boring, duplicative content found verbatim in others competing for the same jobs does nothing to make any one of those candidates stand out in the best way.
Instead, they may all be lumped together as people who didn’t care enough about landing the job to write original and interesting content.
AI may perform okay with resume content if the prompts are loaded with highly specific information about the candidate’s strengths, accomplishments and personal attributes.
But it’s doubtful that most job seekers are doing this, mostly because they don’t fully grasp the complexity of resume writing strategy.
They don’t understand how all of this plays into creating a differentiating, interview-generating resume.
And do you really want a resume that’s just “okay”?
My popular worksheets for personal branding and executive job search will help you navigate using AI wisely and safely.
Also, AI is particularly miserable at personal branding
AI can’t define anyone’s personal brand, because that would require information about the person that AI doesn’t have, and the human touch that AI doesn’t replicate well.
Personal branding guru William Arruda described what’s been happening with AI:
“Not long ago, the dominant narrative was that AI would replace vast numbers of jobs, automate most knowledge work, and make many human skills less relevant. It sparked a lot of anxiety and fear!
We’re seeing growing resistance to AI-generated content (SLOP), AI overload, and the increasing sense that technology is making many interactions feel less real. LinkedIn, for example, is working hard to prioritize content that was created by humans to make our feeds more valuable.
The result is a fascinating shift.
The more AI advances, the more valuable human qualities become:
- Original thinking.
- Authenticity.
- Judgment.
- Creativity.
- Empathy.
- Trust.”
AI doesn’t have the specific information about your personality and attributes that drive what your personal brand is all about.
Only you can uncover these things, by yourself or with guidance from someone who knows how.
Thankfully, AI can’t touch being human the way only humans can.
All of this means that AI can’t truly differentiate the unique value you offer the employers you want to work for.
Plus, hiring managers typically don’t like AI-written executive resumes
And then there’s the problem of how recruiters and other hiring professionals view AI-written resumes.
Here are two ways human resources manager Swati Gupta says recruiters can spot AI-written resumes in 10 seconds:
1. The “AI Thesaurus”
LLMs have a very specific, recognizable vocabulary. If your resume relies heavily on these words, recruiters immediately know an AI wrote it:
- Spearheaded
- Orchestrated
- Fostered
- Synergized
- Delved
- “A testament to…”
Humans don’t talk like this. Keep it simple: Led, managed, built, grew.
2. The Symmetrical Bullet Points
AI loves perfect symmetry. It will write 5 bullet points for a job, and every single one will be exactly 1.5 lines long, following the exact same rhythm.
Human careers are messy. Your biggest achievements should take up more space than your minor daily tasks. Break the symmetry. Make it look organic.
According to Marie Zimenoff, CEO of Career Thought Leaders:
AI may improve:
- semantic alignment
- phrasing
- structure
- readability
- keyword optimization
- machine interpretation
But recruiters still look for:
- measurable accomplishments
- operational detail
- business context
- specificity
- credibility
- authentic voice
Recruiters are not necessarily frustrated that candidates are using AI.
They are frustrated that AI is producing:
- repetitive executive summaries
- inflated positioning language
- keyword-heavy applications
- vague accomplishments
- and increasingly interchangeable candidates on paper
They’re not necessarily judging, “Did the candidate use AI?” (which they don’t need any special software to determine).
They’re wondering, “Can I trust what I’m reading?”
What does all this tell you about AI-written executive resumes?
Go ahead and use AI as part of your information mining on targeting and then researching each target employer.
It’s best to stop right around there and do the actual writing yourself or work with a professional.
One more thing about AI.
Be very careful what you feed it.
Anonymize any personal information you put in AI prompts. Don’t give it anything sensitive that you wouldn’t want to show up online. We just don’t know how these systems will use what we feed it.