THE AI tailored CV might come off as too good to be true. It’s polished with the “Queen’s English” and has ATS (Applicant Tracking System) keywords. Those which are like music to a Recruiter’s eyes. But the applicant behind this almost perfectly compiled CV is someone with very limited or no experience. Ding, ding, ding! Any good Recruitment Consultant will immediately raise an eyebrow.
Questioning the authenticity of a curriculum vitae is a critical component of any Recruiter’s job. With AI tools now being used to put CVs together – being a so-called “AI Detective” – is the new hat worn by human Recruiters. The aim of which is to ensure candidates present a true and realistic version of their CV.
The scenario of the inexperienced candidates AI engineered CV is of course a more obvious example. When trying to detect an AI-generated CV it’s not always as blatant as you’d think. That’s why the human Recruiters expertise has become even more critical. Offering clients their experience of perusing thousands of CVs – to spot the red flags.
It’s debatable whether AI should even be used as a tool to write up your CV. Some employers are open to its use. Many companies, however, explicitly prohibit the submission of AI-generated CVs.
Jobseekers utilizing this revolutionary tool argue that if employers are using AI to screen candidates – they should be allowed to use it too for their CVs. Therefore, believing it might strengthen their chances to make the shortlist.
According to smart screening platform, Willo, applicants are turning to AI for a variety of reasons. This ranges from attempting to “scale the job search” so it eases the process of applying to countless jobs to improving grammar and sentence structure.
“Many candidates must apply to dozens—sometimes hundreds—of roles before landing a single interview. Writing a customized resume for each application is time-consuming and emotionally draining.
“Writing a strong resume requires a level of skill that many applicants simply haven’t developed. This challenge is often compounded by factors like limited work experience or language proficiency.
Take, for example, an early-career applicant who isn’t familiar with industry-specific terminology. Framing their experience effectively for a hiring manager becomes significantly more difficult,” stated the site.
But the article warned that there is also a “trade-off” for applicants with limited proficiency utilizing AI to write their CVs. It puts them further at risk of not being considered by Recruiters.
“…their AI-assisted resumes often end up over-polished and keyword-stuffed—raising red flags for recruiters and potentially masking genuine skill gaps,” explained the site.
Some candidates try to “outsmart” AI screening by trying to pass its detection. Willow stated that they use AI to not only compile their CV but then design prompts to help revise and make it pass as “human-written content”.
The site provided examples of these prompts which include –
“Act as a recruiter. Score my resume against this job description. Then, make it stronger.”
“Here are my accomplishments at work. Use them to create a resume for X role based on this job description.”
Whether we support it or not, AI is here to stay. Therefore, in an ever-changing tech-driven world, one cannot blame candidates for using the software to try and enhance their profiles. Ultimately the onus is on the applicant to ensure their CV is not “overselling”. Or misrepresenting the type of employee they want to be perceived as.
Like many Recruitment Agencies, Datafin has adopted the use of AI as an aid in the hiring process. But the key ingredient to successful placements is still our human instinct and connections built by speaking and meeting our candidates and clients.
We are matching people (non-AI generated ones of course) – to careers. Workplaces where personalities and culture fit matter. Where your ability to thrive in a team or if you have the willingness to commit to the business mission are traits Recruiters can promote and help you articulate to potential employers – and ultimately land you that job.
