Remote Work Retirement

Should you use AI to write your resume?

• Camille Attell

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In episode 90 Camille asks the question, should you really use AI to write your resume? Well, the answer might surprise you. Find out why in this episode.

You're listening to the remote work retirement show. I'm your host, Camille Attell. And this is the only show that helps semi retirees figure out their remote work options.  I believe that remote work is the new retirement plan and that many retirees have both the ability and desire to work how they want so they can live how they want. Let's dig into today's episode.

Today's episode is brought to you by Camille's course One Hour Resume, your one-stop solution to creating and completing your remote work ready resume in one hour or less. You'll learn how to use AI to quickly create your first outline, how to make sure that your resume matches the jobs you're applying to, and finally actually finish your resume using one of Camille’s many predesigned templates.

Seriously, if you're overwhelmed by just thinking about writing or refreshing your resume, the One Hour Resume is for you. Go to camilleattell.com/onehourresume or click the link in the show notes.

Camille will be sharing an article that appeared in Forbes which speculates as to whether hiring managers are preferring and encouraging AI enhanced resumes. Listen as Camille highlights what she agrees and disagrees with in the article. Look for the link to the article at the end of this episode if you want to read the entire content.  

Once again, Camille brings AI into focus as it applies to the current job market and remote work.

 

Click here to check out One Hour Resume.

https://www.camilleattell.com/onehourresume

Click here to read the Forbes article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2024/01/26/study-says-hiring-managers-expect-and-prefer-ai-enhanced-resumes/amp/

 If you want to learn more about how to leverage your digital products or service visit:
www.camilleattell.com/remoteworkschool

You can also take her FREE training at:
www.camilleattell.com/remote-training

If you have suggestions for the show, you can contact Camille via Instagram: @camille.attell


 **DISCLAIMER: This podcast is not a substitute for professional consultation. For any retirement or income-related matters, it is best to work with a professional advisor.**
 
 Welcome to The Remote Work Retirement Show, the only show that is dedicated to remote work for semi-retirees, people leaving the workforce, and people working in retirement to help them have the peace of mind that they can live how they want without the fear of running out of money.

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Yeti Stereo Microphone-18:

In episode 90, we asked the question, should you really use AI to write your resume? Will the answer might surprise you, find out why in this episode?

You're listening to the remote work retirement show. I'm your host, Camille Attell. And this is the only show that helps semi retirees figure out the remote work options. I believe the remote work is the new retirement plan and that many retirees have both the ability and desire to work, how they want so they can live how they want. Let's dig into today's episode....

Yeti Stereo Microphone-19:

Today's episode is brought to you by one hour, resume one. Our resume is your one-stop solution to creating and completing your remote work, ready resume in one hour or less in one hour resume, you'll learn how to use AI to quickly create your first outline. How to make sure that your resume matches the jobs you're applying to. And finally actually finish your resume using one of our many predesigned templates. Seriously, if you're overwhelmed by just thinking about writing or refreshing your resume, the one hour resume is for you. Go to Camille Attell dot com slash one, our resume or click the link in the show notes.

Yeti Stereo Microphone-20:

Well, hello there. And if you haven't guessed by now, today's episode is actually sponsored by my course, the one hour resume. I gave you a little tidbit about that before the episode started. And I'll give you another tidbit about that at the end of the episode. So it should be no surprise to you that the answer to the question for today's episode, should you use AI to write a resume is a resounding yes. But I want to talk about why that is by sharing an article with you that I recently stumbled across. I would like to read the article to you. It's pretty short. And then I want to go back through the article and share my reactions with you. So, you know how I'm thinking about it. So this article is written in Forbes, January 26th, 2024. I'll link to it in the show notes. The title of this article is study says, hiring managers expect. And prefer AI enhanced resumes. Now, of course, this title caught my attention because this is a question on everyone's mind. What should you use AI for? Should you use it to do things like write your resume or is that cheating? I actually had a client way back last year. Really? About a year ago, February or March of 2023. Who said to me, well, it feels like cheating when I use AI to write my resume. And then I demonstrated to him how to use AI to write his resume. He didn't think it was cheating anymore because there's a right way to use it. So certainly I'm interested in this subject and I think other people will have their reactions to. You know the question, should you use AI to write a resume or a cover letter, or even to help you prepare for an interview? So when I saw this article pop up in my newsfeed, I had to read it. Like right then and there, because I of course have this question. And then I thought it was so interesting that it would be really good to just read the article to you because it's chock full of stats and data. And then I want to go back through it and, uh, go, go a little bit line by line. Maybe not line by line, maybe paragraph by paragraph, because I think it's really important for you to have all the information before you either write or update your resume. Now, let me pause here and talk about who this, this episode is for. It is for you. If you know, you need to update your resume, if you're feeling like your resume is out of date, or it's a little bit old and by the way, a little bit old, believe it or not is over six months. If you have not updated your resume in six months, it's a really good time to dust it off. And maybe use some of the tips in today's episode. To just refresh it. Also, if you don't have what I call a remote ready, resume, meaning your resume. Isn't exactly updated to include that you can work remotely or have been working remotely or want to work remotely. Then that's a little bit of an outdated resume as well. Lastly, this episode is for you. If you just want to check your resume, run it through some kind of a system to see if it's going to get through those pesky little robots. So. If you fit in any of these camps, then today's episode is for you. Now, if you're truly retired. You have no plans of going back into the workforce? You maybe you don't want to have a resume because you're planning to go into business for yourself. Although I still think you should have a resume, then maybe you sit this one out, but chances are you're here because this topic attracts you and you know, you need this. So maybe listen with an open mind and then decide at the end, how you want to proceed. Okay. So let me get into the article. In a powerful new survey conducted by Canva a multi-purpose digital suite and Sargo, a quantitative research firm. Nearly half of all job seekers today are using artificial intelligence tools to improve their resumes. As reported in Yahoo news, the survey included 5,000 hiring managers and 5,000 job seekers from the us, UK, India, Germany, Spain, France, Mexico, and Brazil. According to the results 45. 5% of job seekers have used generative AI to build, update, or improve their resumes. But the really surprising statistic hiring managers are encouraging the use of AI for the creation of job search documents. Not surprisingly in 2023 canvas AI powered magic right tool for resume templates was used 5 million times. Grammarly has attracted 30 million users to its AI resume skills generator. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Okay. I know I said I was going to read the whole article to you first, but honestly, let's just, let's just pause here and break down this one paragraph. The rest of the, I feel like the rest of the article isn't as juicy as this top paragraph. So I want to talk about just a couple of things. Number one, this article was written by Canva someone at canvas. So of course it has an agenda because they want you to use their Canva, uh, AI powered magic right tool. Now I have an opinion about that. And I'm going to share that here in a little bit. So keep that in mind that this article is, is it's telling you that yes, all these job seekers are using AI and even hiring managers want you to use AI, but keep in mind that there is an agenda in this article. That doesn't mean I disagree with it. I just want you to have all the information. Now I will say that the sample size is pretty huge. So 5,000 hiring managers and 5,000 job seekers and globally in many countries, I should note by the way. At many of these countries are the same countries that I talked about in last week's episode who are recruiting US-based workers. So in last week's episode, I talked about the hot job market, the report that came out in January. And then I pivoted halfway through the episode to talk about that. We're going to see a shift in hiring that's coming outside of the U S because all of these companies are asking people to come back into the office and. So all of these other companies that are in other countries, Are recognizing that there's talent right here in the U S if you're listening from the U S. And they're starting to recruit, so we're going to see more, more placements happen outside of the us. So I think it's really notable that many of those same countries participated in this. In the survey, just, I don't know. Just something of interest to me. So let's talk about the next statistic here. 45% of job seekers. Have you already use generative AI to build, update, or improve their resumes? So again, if you're someone who knows you need to build, update, or improve a resume, then if you're not in this 45%, this is just giving you an open door. It's saying, look, people are doing it. It's starting to become common practice and don't be afraid to do it too. Now let's get to the part about the really surprising statistic. And that is that hiring managers are encouraging the use of AI. Okay. Really? I want to read on, because that does surprise me. And I want to know the numbers around that, which hiring managers, how many of them, what percentage. And of course, why. So let's get into the next part of the article and then I'll pause and break it down. So the next part of the article has a title that says, does HR prefer AI generated resumes? So it goes on to say for hiring managers, 90% say that it's acceptable to use gender, to have AI and application materials. Nearly half 44% say that it's okay to use AI to create any content related to the interview process. And a majority of hiring managers, 67% believe that they can tell when they are reading an AI modified resume. Now, the writer goes on to have a funny Quip. Uh, she says, but that lasts, that sorta feels like the number of people who feel like they are good drivers. Notice the difference there is how you feel about your driving. And then there's the experience on the freeway. And so maybe this stat is a little overstated. Now I'm one of those people. Actually, I, I feel like I can spot AI in a resume. In fact, when we're doing the coaching circles in remote work school, when someone presents a resume to me that has AI in it, I always ask, I say, Hmm, was this written with AI? Was this part written with AI? And often someone will sheepishly say, well, yeah, that paragraph was. And the reason why I can spot that is because AI often doesn't sound like how a normal human talks. Yes, it is. It has natural language, but often it uses words that we humans don't use an every day. In our everyday lives. And so that jumps off the page with me. And so I typically will say to someone, okay, you can use AI to write some of your resume or even all of it, but you have to inject your own voice into the resume. We have to still see your personality come through and the way that you talk, come through on your resume, because we're hiring a human, we're not hiring a bot. So I feel like I'm good at it, but apparently 67 of 67%. Of hiring managers also feel like they're good at it. So I don't know. Maybe I'm not special who knows. So let's talk about this, this last chunk or the second chunk of the article. So 90% of these hiring managers say that it's acceptable to use AI in application materials. Well, I want to know what that means. Application materials. I mean, that could range from the application itself. I guess it could range to the resume. It probably spans to the cover letter. I would just like a little more information around this because 90% does feel really high to me and I'm not sure what's driving. That stat. Um, the next statistic says half or 44% say that it's okay to use AI to create any content related to the interview process. Well, what the heck does that mean content related to the interview process? This one I'm like really scratching my head because I don't, I don't create content related to the interview process. I mean, Are those questions that I, that I use AI to, to tell me how to like, what questions I need to ask in the interview. I just don't get this one. So I think there's, I want to actually maybe email this person and maybe invite her to come on the show because I'd really like to dig into this. I feel like this. This is a little vague, honestly, this part of the, um, of the article. I just don't know what it's saying, if I'm being honest, but here's what I'll say. As someone who looks at resumes every day, I literally look at in a, in, in a one month time, I probably look at no less than. 50 to 70 resumes in a month, so, and I'm going through them. And so here's what I could say from my own personal experience about why I think this is okay. An AI generated resume is simply better. It's easier to read. It's more succinct. It's more clear, especially if the person is injecting their own voice with AI. And I'll give you an example. I worked with a woman this, this earlier this week, we're going to call her Cher. And Sharon wanted to work with me. One-on-one I do that every now and again. I don't do it a lot because I do feel like the group work inside of remote work school is actually more valuable than just one-on-one work, but listen, I'll do it every now and again, this person really was in a hurry. And so we got on a call. It was 90 minutes and we did a deep dive into her resume. The first version of the resume that she presented to me, I wouldn't have even read. If I were a hiring manager. It was just too much. I mean, it was pages long. It didn't say it didn't have a summary at the top. It, I couldn't find her skills. I had to really read everything to really even understand what she was good at and what her jobs were. It's just the kind of resume that if it landed in my inbox, I just would've deleted. I hate to say it, but. You know, you have to put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter or a hiring manager. Who's getting hundreds and hundreds of, of these resumes. And when one of those comes up, uh, sadly, if this person was really, uh, a good fit for the job, I would never know because I would just skip over. It was too hard read by the time we were done with her resume. And we used AI heavily. I mean, we used AI to do research. We, we used AI to reverse engineer, job descriptions. We used AI to rewrite the resume. We used AI to parse out her skills. By the time we were done this. Was the kind of candidate that if her, her resume landed in my inbox, I would call her immediately. And it wasn't like we replaced her with AI. We simply used it as a tool to bring out the best of who she is. We made her shine. I liken this to a lump of coal that you shine up into a diamond. That is how we used AI for this person's resume. This was a lump of coal that landed in my inbox. It really needed heavy polishing. And now we've turned it into a really beautiful and shiny diamond. That is what AI can do when you know how to use it properly. That's the kind of work that is really fun for me. And it's the kind of work we do a lot in the coaching circles in remote work school. As well, as I will mention inside of my program, one hour resume, which I talked about at the beginning of this episode. And again, I'll talk about it at the end. Uh, even though I don't coach inside of that program. I walk you through a very specific process. To get you almost the same result as if I'm sitting with you. And so that's a nice alternative to remote work school because remote work school, some people simply cannot afford, or maybe it's not a good fit for them, or they don't want to a whole 90 day program. They just want to get in, get out and get a resume. Well, take a look at one, our resume, because that may be a really good fit for you. If you're on a budget or you're, you need to move quickly. All right. So that was that part of the, uh, the, the article. Let's take a look at the last chunk of the article and then we'll just end it there. The next part of the article I actually disagree with, but I am going to, I'm going to watch this and it says that there's a new trend emerging for 2024. And that is the use of visual components and by visual components, what we mean here is maybe you have some, some sort of pretty. Um, design on your resume for some people that might be a little logo on the resume, or maybe even a photo on the resume of yourself. Now, this article, doesn't go on to say which visual elements. So again, because this person it comes from Canva and Canva is a design tool. I think there could be a reason they wrote this in here. Now it goes on to say that 60% of hiring managers prefer CVS, which stands for curriculum. Vetay that's another way to say resume. With visual elements and that 71% of respondents say that purely text-based resumes will be obsolete in five years. Okay. Let's talk about this. So, because they don't say which visual components they want on the resume. That's the first reason I disagree with it. The second reason I disagree with this is because. Well, I may like a visual element and 60% of hiring managers may like a visual element. The robots do not. The algorithms I E the robots don't understand graphics on a resume. It, they can't read it. They don't know what it is. And so you risk your resume, getting kicked out of the system, if you have pretty graphics or swirlies or logos or colors or, or images. So I would not recommend that you do that today. I do agree with the last part of this paragraph, which says that 71% of respondents say that purely text-based resumes will be obsolete in five years. I agree with that. I do think we will see the standard resume go by the wayside. And the reason why I believe that is because. A standard resume, which is just a white page, resume resume with some boring text on it is not keeping up with the times. The times are that we are now using social media more than ever. We're using AI more than ever. We're using, uh, platforms like LinkedIn and other tools where there's a little bit more of a, what I'll call a three-dimensional experience of a person. If I can go to a person's LinkedIn profile and see their picture. And see their work. Maybe they have a portfolio where I can see what they've produced. Why would I not use that? Why would I look at some boring resume? If I could go really see what this person's actual work is. But we're not there yet. I think that over time, the resume will be replaced with things like more visual components and graphics and pictures and things like that, but we're not there yet. And so I wouldn't say that you should adopt that practice just yet. And so that is the gist of this article. It talks about how you can use AI and that most many people, almost half I'll say are already using AI that hiring managers expect you to use AI and even prefer it. Uh, on your resume and I gave you an example of why I personally prefer it. And then I actually disagree with certain aspects of this article. So now you have all the information, at least from this one article, and then you have my perspective. You can certainly do your own research and come to your own conclusions. But I do want to end today with, if you know, you need help with her resume. I want to encourage you one more time to click the link in the show notes, or go to Camille Attell dot com slash one-hour resume. Hey, check it out. If you feel like it's a good fit for you, you can join. You can get your resume started and even completed today. Get it off your plate and get yourself, get yourself listed on these different platforms. You know, get your resume out there. Just get, start knocking on those virtual doors. If this is the year for you to switch jobs or get a different job, or finally get the remote job that you really want. Now next week, I think what I'll do is I'll talk about other aspects in this article, including what the heck is the Canva AI. Uh, writing tool. Should you use it? And I even want to explore the Grammarly, AI resume skills generator. I think that sounds really interesting. So I'll explore those two things in the coming weeks. Thanks so much for listening.