Can ChatGPT Make A Resume That Doesn’t Suck?

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Both job seekers and recruiters are ruthlessly using AI tools to succeed. But neither party is actually succeeding. AI resumes create two issues:

Both foster mistrust.

AI-generated resumes give you the illusion of progress. It’s true – you can churn one out using ChatGPT or Claude AI.

But AI was trained on millions of resumes.

So AI is replicating what was terrible. It’s giving you the average of mediocre. 

Moreover, if every candidate is using the same commoditised AI tools, how can you expect to differentiate your application?

Don’t Succumb To The Temptation To Lie.

You may be tempted to embellish your resume using AI.

Don’t.

AI-inflated applications reveal their true colours during short-listing and interviews.

Or, worse, once you get the job.

Underperformance will show up fast, creating a cascade of unfortunate events – you losing your job, hurting your reputation and being back to square one.

How Recruiters Are Using ChatGPT To Cut Corners.

Unfilled roles equal lost productivity. That’s why automating candidate application and screening processes has been a long-held recruiter goal.

AI is making their dreams come true (but creating new nightmares for job seekers).

Research from consulting firm BCG finds that of the companies experimenting with AI, 70% are using it for talent acquisition — and it’s noticeably increasing their admin productivity.

This helps reduce costs while keeping hiring timeframes short.

A 2025 survey of over 1,200 HR professionals in Australia and New Zealand showed that:

AI automation is seen as driving those kind of efficiencies — as evidenced by over 30% of Aussie HR pros describing the tech as “transformative” and 57% saying they were increasing their budget for AI tools. 

Recruiters want to ditch more of the ‘busy work’ by using AI for writing job ads and candidate emails, long-listing massive amounts of applications, scheduling interviews, and even conducting first-round interviews — as big brands like Woolworths and Bunnings have embraced.

That’s supposed to give them time to focus on high-value human work. Like assessing short-listed candidates.

But getting on that shortlist is tough.

Here are some grim facts facing job seekers right now:

Fewer openings, more competition, and automated screening means you’ll need both luck and timing when applying via traditional routes.

Applicant Tracking Systems and other AI-powered recruiting platforms can assess applications almost immediately after you’ve hit ‘submit’.

On top of unknowable criteria and algorithms potentially ruling you out — you can be perfectly qualified for a role, but arrive too late.

Understandable then, that if you’re job hunting, AI can seems like the best way to speed up your application process.

You can use AI to create and tailor resumes, find and quickly apply to multiple jobs, do mock interviews, and even generate interview responses if you get that far.

But using AI to save your time and energy in this way represents a false economy.

Getting in first doesn’t matter if your resume sucks. A professional-sounding, error free resume churned out by a bot is not the same as a resume that:

AI Is Dragging Down The Quality Of Job Applications. 

Despite a faster hiring process, employers are still desperate for quality, especially in mid-tier professional and executive-level roles.

There’s a huge trust and credibility chasm emerging because AI is capable of making every resume sound competent and professional, in the same cliched or over-the-top fashion.

That’s creating four key risks for job seekers using AI to grow their careers:

Firstly, AI resumes that all sound alike (because AI models learn by copying) make it hard for recruiters to differentiate between similar candidates. That leads to second-guessing whether you’ve got the abilities you claim.

Your chances of being shortlisted are starting to plummet if there’s a whiff of AI-style embellishment, which many recruiters can spot easily. Not because you chose to use a tool for writing help, but because they can’t believe what your resume says. 

Over 80% of Aussie employers said they’d noticed inaccurate information in AI-generated resumes, and a notable increase in under-qualified applicants (54%), according to a 2025 survey of over 500 firms.

Australian recruitment expert Michelle Rubinstein, a former Recruitment, Consulting & Staffing Association (RCSA) Recruiter of the Year, recently said she favours communicating with candidates by phone for this very reason.

She recalls the case of having to reject a candidate who, on paper, appeared to be an “absolute slam dunk,” because when she called them they:

Rubinstein said that after some digging, the truth came out that an AI-tool had auto-applied on the candidate’s behalf and rewritten their CV for the job.

Let’s say an AI-inflated resume does land you a job. 

You’ll be taking a huge gamble if your performance doesn’t hold up.

One recent hiring manager survey found than more than a third of employers had terminated multiple employees due to their actual skills falling short of their AI-generated resume promises.

Over 70% of hiring managers said they now consider referrals more reliable than resumes.

How Do You Avoid AI Traps In Your Job Hunt?

Is honing your skills with AI tools — to game AI screening tools — ever worth your time?

You might decide so if you’re vying for low-skilled or entry-level roles that requires cold applying at scale to a broad selection of advertised jobs via recruitment systems.

As HR consultant Jessica D. Winder highlights, AI can help tighten your stories, but it can’t replace your lived experience.

If you really want to take back some control, a more proactive job search is possible. But it’s not easy. You need to do all the things, and do them consistently and well.

The core pillars include:

You don’t have to reach ‘influencer’ levels of visibility. You just have to get known within the circles of people with influence over hiring in your desired companies or sectors.

You want to initiate conversations with the hiring managers whose day-to-day problems you’ll actually be solving.

Unlike in-house recruiters whose job it is to sort through the AI slop applications, hiring managers are the leaders who make the case for a new hire, and make the final hiring decisions.

HR teams act as the gatekeeper, partly in an attempt to keep recruitment consistent and fair.

But let’s be honest — you need an unfair advantage.

Career coach Lucy Gilmour calls it “boss hunting”. She suggests you:

Bypassing an ATS or AI resume screening tool isn’t a panacea for getting noticed. You may still be ignored. But catch a hiring manager on the right day, with the right pitch — and your foot is firmly in the door.

AI Resumes Have Eroded Trust. Take A Different Path.

AI misgivings are pervading every step of the recruitment process.

Sydney-based recruiter Chloe Cashman said she knows hiring managers running virtual interviews now have doubts about whether they’re assessing real capability or “well prompted answers” derived from AI.

With the way AI resumes and AI-assisted answers have muddied the waters, we’ll likely see some HR teams revert to more traditional methods to engage with candidates for important roles, even if it adds time and costs — in the interests of improving hiring quality.

Become the kind of candidate who shows up in the right places to get noticed. Don’t be afraid of looking desperate or pushy.

Do be afraid of missing an opportunity — and let that fear motivate you to invest your efforts into selling yourself with authenticity and dignity.

Jody