Since it became available to the general public in 2022, ChatGPT has become the poster child for AI. With its ability to write everything from essays, to poetry, to code, ChatGPT has made an impact on every area of our lives, allowing everyone from school children to industry specialists to change how they approach tasks related to writing, research, and automation.
While there is no doubt that there is a time and a place for AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot, the increasing prevalence of AI-generated work is forcing society to start looking at how it should be used, and when it shouldn’t. Schools and universities, for example, are having to rethink the way they assess pupils and students – not only to ensure AI is not being used as a “cheat”, but also to be able to incorporate AI tools into the teaching and evaluation process.
Education is perhaps the most high-profile sector grappling with the question of what AI tools can and cannot do and how best to use them, but this is a problem being faced by every other industry and sector. As people become more comfortable using AI, they tend to rely on it to perform more and more tasks, leading to new challenges for business leaders.
AI is not like spell check
The best use of AI is to create efficiencies. Since many companies have started using AI to write job postings, screen applicants, identify candidates, assist with interviews and make hiring decisions, it should be expected that the people applying for those jobs should be able to use AI to make their application process more efficient. Unfortunately, too many people have delegated the writing of their CV or responses to CV-related questions entirely to AI tools, resulting in formulaic, generic (and in some cases, completely erroneous) submissions.
Some have argued that using AI is like using spell check or Google when putting a CV together, but that’s disingenuous. AI can help applicants incorporate a job posting’s keywords into their application, or check for inaccuracies, but most people don’t stop there. Instead, they rely on the AI to put the entire CV together. They end up with a CV that repeats words, uses dry or robotic language, and lacks details or personality. We have even seen some examples where people have forgotten to take the square brackets out while they were copying and pasting!
Another argument for using AI to put a CV together is that it provides the same kind of assistance that a friend or family member would when asked to provide tips or input. However, bouncing ideas off someone is very different to using AI prompts. Human beings are able to provide personalised advice or recommendations, but AI is limited to responses based on patterns it has learned. This means it is incapable of providing personalised answers, and can also struggle with in-depth information or explanations, not to mention that the AI’s responses may be incomplete, inaccurate, or irrelevant. Some people have even gone so far as to camouflage the fact that they don’t have the skills for a job by using AI tools to make it seem like they do, which only sets them up to fail during the interview process.
You can’t beat the human touch
While it might seem like a smart move to get AI to write a CV, all it does is remove the opportunity to make a job application unforgettable by highlighting an individual’s unique strengths and capabilities. AI might be able to tidy your CV up or inspire new phrasing, but to let your chances of a job interview ride on your ability to write effective CV prompts, and AI’s ability to understand them accurately, is reckless. During a phone call or in-person interview with a candidate, HR teams can easily tell if the applicant’s communication style, experience or skills match what’s on their CV.
A CV is more than just a bulleted list of previous job roles and associated descriptions. A CV should tell a person’s career story. AI can’t help enhance or showcase core skills, can’t delve into the details of your career journey that are relevant to the role you are applying for, and certainly can’t tie your CV into your overall personal brand image. In other words, AI fails to deliver the one thing a CV is supposed to produce: A unique insight into the person behind the CV, including their passion for a role or their fit for organisational culture.
- Richard Firth, CEO, MIP Holdings
