How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume: Simple, Fast, Effective

Everyone on the internet seems to be talking about artificial intelligence (AI) lately—and especially a tool called ChatGPT.

But what's ChatGPT exactly? And how do you access it? Here's everything you need to know about how the platform works, and how you can leverage it for your resume or CV.

What is ChatGPT and how does it work?

You may be more familiar with artificial intelligence than you think.

If you've ever used AI-enabled assistants like Siri and Alexa, where you can ask questions and get an immediate response in return, you've experienced firsthand how artificial intelligence can integrate with your day-to-day life to provide real-time answers.

Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer—ChatGPT for short—is a powerful new artificial intelligence tool developed by OpenAI, one of the world’s most ambitious AI labs, that uses natural language processing (NLP) technology to help people communicate with computers more naturally and intuitively.

Can I use ChatGPT to write my resume?

Now that you’ve gained some insight into ChatGPT let’s talk about using AI tools like ChatGPT to write your resume. So … can you?

Yes, of course, you can. And you should. (But only if you follow the process below!)

Creating a resume requires a lot of effort; AI tools like ChatGPT make this easier by…

• Saving time: Quickly generate the content of your resume based on the prompts and information you provide.
• Customizing your resume: Match the details to the job you're applying for.
• Identifying strengths: Suggest skills or experiences that you may have overlooked but are relevant to the job.
• Increasing your chances of success: Create a well-written, accurate, and amazing resume that showcases your skills and experience in the best light.

So, let's get started by going over how you can start using ChatGPT to not only write your resume, but also to update, enhance, and review your resume to help you hit your career goals.

How to use ChatGPT for resume writing

So you've decided to try out artificial intelligence to help speed up your process. When it comes to AI and ChatGPT, the use cases are seemingly endless, but here are four ways to start to leverage ChatGPT for your resume.

1. Use ChatGPT to write resume achievements and tailor your resume to a job description

You've heard it's important to tailor your resume to the job description to show that you're a qualified candidate for the role—but how can you ensure your bullet points reflect that? In addition to using the free Achievement Assistant tool within the AI Resume Builder, try leveraging ChatGPT for this part of the process:

1. Log into Teal and go to "Matching Mode" in your Resume Builder, then select one of the jobs from your Job Application Tracker to focus on.
2. Go to the "Job Description" tab and scroll to the "Responsibilities" section.
3. Copy the responsibilities and paste them into ChatGPT. Enter this prompt: "Write resume achievements with metrics based on these job responsibilities."
4. Watch the magic happen!
5. Copy the output from ChatGPT and, one at a time, paste them into your Teal Resume Builder as achievements.
6. Make sure to carefully proofread and edit the bullet point achievement, tweaking it as needed using the Achievement Assistant tool. Remember: AI tools are intelligent, but they're not foolproof. You want to ensure you actually have the experience that AI says you do, and you want to double-check for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity.
7. Turn on and off the achievements that make sense for the job you're applying to.

Use Teal's new AI functionality to create faster

Alternatively, you can skip these steps and just use Teal's AI functionality to create custom resume achievements.

Not only will these assets be created quickly and easily to speed up your resume workflow, but they’ll also be crafted using your previous work experience and the job description of the target role, to make your achievements increasingly relevant.

Create a high-quality, tailored resume that you can feel confident submitting.

Sign up for a free Teal account to try it yourself.

2. Use ChatGPT to write a professional summary

Professional summaries are another hot topic. Some recruiters and hiring managers say they're helpful as they speak to a candidate's career in aggregate and highlight their key accomplishments. Others argue it's a waste of space and job seekers should dive right into their skills and achievements.

We're fans of the professional summary, especially if you have multiple years of work experience or are pivoting to a new career or industry.

Here's how to use ChatGPT to write a professional summary for your resume:

1. Once you've tailored your resume in the Teal AI Resume Builder, copy the text.
2. For the ChatGPT prompt, say: "Write a professional summary using my resume."
3. Press "Shift" + "Enter."
4. Paste your resume into ChatGPT.
5. When you get your result, click "try again" to generate two more versions.
6. Pull your favorite phrases from each option and create a cohesive, reflective, customized, and eye-catching resume summary.
7. Paste the final summary into the tailored resume you plan to use.

Again, you can use Teal's AI functionality to do all this work for you and create professional summaries in seconds. And with the combo of Teal's Resume Builder and Job Application Tracker, it's easy to save all your job search assets in one place. This eliminates the need to keep multiple documents and go back and forth between ChatGPT, job descriptions, and your resume. 

Sign up for a free Teal account to access all of the latest tools and features.

3. Use ChatGPT to write a cover letter

And now, the most controversial topic: cover letters.

Spend five minutes on LinkedIn or TikTok and you'll see heated debates over the value and importance of cover letters, whether recruiters and hiring managers even read them, and whether they're an outdated part of the job search in 2023.

But still, many jobs you apply for may request a customized cover letter that speaks specifically to the company and position.

Much like tailored resumes, cover letters should highlight what you’ve accomplished relevant to the role while persuading those hiring that you’re the best fit for the job. It might sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be—ChatGPT can help you write your cover letter seamlessly.

How to do it:

1. Once you've used "Matching Mode" to create a resume tailored to a particular role in your Teal Job Application Tracker, go ahead and copy the text from that resume and paste it into ChatGPT.
2. Head back to your Job Application Tracker and go to the job description for this role. Copy and paste the requirements and responsibilities into ChatGPT alongside your resume.
3. For the prompt, write, "Write a cover letter using my resume and a job description."
4. Edit your new cover letter in Google Docs as needed before saving and sending it.

Cover letters are another area where the AI Resume Builder can help you skip the middle man, quickly generating a cover letter relevant to the role you're applying for and your work history. 

4. Use ChatGPT to update and improve your existing resume

In addition to using ChatGPT to create or write your resume from scratch, another powerful use case is leveraging it to make key revisions to your existing resume. Here are four examples of how you can utilize ChatGPT to make improvements:

1. Rewriting your work experience with more impactful language: One effective way you can enhance your resume with ChatGPT is by asking it to help you incorporate fresh language, power words into your work experience to better articulate your successes and make your achievements stand out.
2. Personalize your professional summary for a specific job: It can't be understated how crucial it is to align your resume with the particular role that you're applying for. Use ChatGPT to modify your existing summary so that it's more aligned with the responsibilities and requirements of the position. For every new job you apply for, ChatGPT can help you make the necessary adjustments to your resume to ensure you position yourself as an ideal fit.
3. Provide relevant content ideas for your skills, experiences, and achievements: When you're hitting a wall on a resume refresh, ChatGPT can be an excellent resource to replace or revamp the existing information included in your work experience or skills sections. To ensure you get the best recommendations from ChatGPT, be sure to share both the text from your resume, and from the job description to help ChatGPT identify gaps or improvements.
4. Review your resume for punctuation and grammar errors: Another recommended use of ChatGPT is to have it review your current resume for any grammar mistakes, typos, or awkward sentences you might miss in your proofreading. Think of it like a second pair of eyes available 24/7 and never tired.

‍Looking for more inspiration for your resume? Check out 1,200+ resume examples for various job titles, experience levels, and get cover letter templates for each role.

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The best ChatGPT resume prompts for job seekers

Since we’ve been using ChatGPT for resume writing, cover letters, LinkedIn content, and more, we’ve come across some tips that we’d love to share—and we've rounded up a list of over 20 ChatGPT resume prompts for your resume here.

First, we suggest including a tone or style of writing. This could be “conversational,” but it could also be a framework like Storybrand. This will allow ChatGPT to write in a way that feels natural and close to your style.

Additionally, we suggest including a word or page count and asking ChatGPT to review additional materials that are pasted below the prompt. 

The prompts below follow this specific structure. 

1. Write four resume achievements with metrics based on the job responsibilities below.
2. Draft five persuasive resume achievements based on my resume below.
3. Create a compelling professional summary for a job application using my resume and the job description below as a reference in 150 words or less. 
4. Write an executive-level professional summary using my resume and the job description below as a reference in 150 words or less. 
5. Using the resume and job description below, please showcase eight relevant skills I should highlight.

With Teal's AI Resume Builder, all of this information will be stored in your account, which makes AI resume creation effective.

Here's what happened when we asked ChatGPT to write us a resume—and what we needed to fix before we'd submit it.

5 best practices on using ChatGPT for resumes

Can ChatGPT really help with your resume? Yes, it absolutely can. However, successfully using ChatGPT requires more than a simple command, you'll need to use your best judgement and be thoughtful about the inputs that you provide, to ensure a quality output.

To help you leverage it most effectively, here are five best practices to keep in mind:

1. Be specific and provide detailed prompts to ChatGPT. Some may argue that the AI space is oversaturated and that everyone will get the same outputs if they enter the same inputs. Although your AI-generated response may not be 100% unique, it can be modified once the foundation's in place. Writing effective prompts is the key to getting the most out of ChatGPT's capabilities.
2. Provide relevant assets to help ensure personalization. In each section above, we asked ChatGPT to review a specific job role, and/or a resume to help it craft a more personalized answer. We highly suggest when using ChatGPT that you provide it with all the resources it needs to create an answer that's crafted specifically for you.
3. Review and edit the output from ChatGPT to ensure it's accurate and professional. Again, we don't condone lying about your experience (with our without AI!) Use in this capacity is meant to assist job seekers, not to fabricate career histories that can't be backed up with truthful examples.
4. Proofread and double-check for errors before sending any materials generated by ChatGPT. Though artificial intelligence is sophisticated, it's not always 100% spot-on. (And neither are we as humans.) We always like to recommend a tool like Grammarly for a grammar and spell check.
5. Ask for human feedback before submitting. Whether you ask a mentor, friend, or career coach for input before submitting, it's a good idea to get a second set of eyes on your resume before submitting it to keep a human eye out for any potential problems.

Start Leveraging ChatGPT to Write a More Effective Resume

Your resume is more than just a list of your qualifications and experiences; it's the ticket to your dream job. With the help of tools like ChatGPT, a job seeker like you can create a well-written, targeted, and accurate resume that showcases your strengths and experience in the best possible light.

Using the steps above, you can leverage the power of AI to take your resume to the next level, but Teal can streamline this process even further, helping you work smarter and more efficiently.

Teal's AI functionality is already integrated with ChatGPT, offering a range of tools to optimize your resume, including summary and achievement generation, cover letter composition, and more—without toggling between screens and programs. Say goodbye to tedious manual work and hello to quick and easy resume building.

Ready to take control of your career?

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More ChatGPT resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn tips:

• 21 Great ChatGPT Prompts for Your Resume
• How to Use ChatGPT to Write Your Cover Letter
• The Ultimate Guide to Using AI & ChatGPT for Job Applications‍
• 4 Ways to Use ChatGPT to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile (with Prompts)
• 7 Ways to Use ChatGPT to Prepare for a Job Interview