AI and Resume FAQs: Screening, Opting Out and Privacy
Using ChatGPT and other AI tools on your resume and cover letter, whether employers can tell, privacy, and how AI screening works.
Whether ChatGPT can write your resume, prompts that improve one, whether employers can tell, how AI resume screening works and whether to opt out, and how to use AI safely on your resume and cover letter. See all eight topics in our Resume & Career FAQs.
AI and resume questions
Can ChatGPT write a resume?
ChatGPT can help you word a resume, but in our view it isn't ready to write one for you: it knows only what you tell it about your work and can fill gaps with details that sound right but aren't. Give it your real experience and the job posting, then check every claim before you use it.
What is the best prompt for improving a resume?
A good prompt gives the assistant the job posting, the one section you want to improve and your real duties and results, and tells it not to add anything you didn't provide. Start from a few prompt patterns, ask for short, specific revisions, then check each one against the facts.
Can employers detect an AI-written resume?
AI detectors aren't a dependable test of who wrote a resume. In our view, the bigger risk is wording that sounds like everyone else's, or a claim that falls apart when an interviewer asks about it.
Is it okay to use AI for a resume?
In our view, yes, if you use AI for a resume as a drafting and editing tool and everything on the page is true. Keep private details out of the chat, and follow any instructions an employer gives about using AI.
Will AI replace resume writers?
Not yet, in our view: AI can speed up drafting and editing, but it can't check what you did, and without your specifics it can sound like everyone else. That's where AI falls short on a resume, so the checking is still left to you or whoever writes it with you.
What is AI resume screening?
AI resume screening is software that compares applications with a job and helps employers decide whom to look at first. For example, it may score how closely your skills match the posting, rank applicants or summarize each resume for a recruiter. It often runs inside an applicant tracking system (ATS) or a tool connected to one, so you may not see it as a separate step. Employers and vendors call it different things, such as AI screening, automated screening or candidate matching, and some job notices call it an automated employment decision tool.
Should I opt out of AI resume screening?
In our view, opting out makes most sense when a person will review your application instead and your background is easy for software to misread, such as a career change or job titles that differ from the posting's. Check the opt-out notice for who reviews your application if you opt out, whether that takes longer and whether the choice affects your application. If it doesn't say, ask the recruiter before you decide.
How do I get my resume past AI screening?
In our view, the basics that help with any applicant tracking system help here too: a layout software can read, and real experience that clearly matches the job. Our guide shows how to keep your resume readable for applicant tracking software. Don't hide keywords or instructions to the AI in white or tiny text: hidden text can show up when your resume is read as plain text, and it looks like an attempt to game the screen.
Can AI tailor my resume to a job description?
AI can help you spot what to change in your resume, but the changes should be yours. Paste the job posting and your resume without your contact details, and ask it to list the job's main requirements and mark which ones your resume already shows. Use that list to decide what to move up or make clearer, and ignore any skill it suggests that you don't have. Our guide covers tailoring a resume, with good and bad examples.
Can I use AI to update an old resume?
Yes. In our view it's one of the better uses of AI, because the facts are already yours. Paste your resume without contact details, add notes on what's new, such as your latest role, results and skills, and ask where each item fits and which older bullet points could be shortened to make room. Then check every date, title and employer name, because AI can change details while it rewrites.
Is it safe to upload my resume to ChatGPT or another AI tool?
Uploading your resume to ChatGPT can be safe once you take out what you wouldn't want stored: your phone number, email, home address and your references' details. Leave out confidential work information too, such as client names or internal figures. Before you upload or paste anything, check the tool's privacy or data settings, including whether your chats can be used to train its models.
How do I write a cover letter with AI?
Give the AI the job posting and two or three real examples you want to highlight, and ask for a short first draft that uses only those. Then rewrite it in your own words: cut anything generic, check every claim and add why you want this job in particular. Our career-change guide answers whether you should use AI tools on a cover letter.
Related guides
Build your resume with our resume builder
Tell us how much experience you have, pick a template, then build a resume one section at a time.