How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Good Resume (ChatGPT Resume Guide)

You can use ChatGPT to create a resume. First, mention that you’re looking to write a resume for a particular role. Next, tell ChatGPT to ask you everything it needs to know to write a resume based on your professional background. Answer its questions. Mention previous job titles, skills, and qualifications. For accuracy, refine the output so that it reflects your actual work history. Afterward, copy and paste the company’s job description into ChatGPT and ask it to tailor your resume. Lastly, put everything into a resume builder for a professional format.

Knowing how to use ChatGPT to write a resume means entering the right prompts. 

Make it clear that you’re looking to write a resume for a certain role. Then, detail your professional background (and even send the company’s job description) first so that the language model can have some guidance on the type of resume to create. 

This guide walks you through how to use ChatGPT to write a resume from scratch. The first output will likely be far from perfect, but still, it’s a tool that can speed up the entire process. 

On the other hand, ChatGPT could end up being a double-edged sword since it’s all about coming up with your own prompts, refining them, and optimizing the format yourself. So even though ChatGPT can help with brainstorming, you might end up in a loop of analysis paralysis since it’ll still require multiple iterations. 

An AI resume tool like ours, Rezi AI, uses the same technology as ChatGPT except it’s dedicated to generating outputs based on the best resume practices. 

Complete your resume immediately with Rezi AI Resume Builder. Watch your resume write itself—tailor your resume to the job description automatically and get suggestions on the top skills to include. And the design and layout? It will always stay perfect. Just pick one of our 15+ free resume templates.

Why You Should (or Shouldn’t) Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume

Why you should use ChatGPT to write a resume: 

• Efficiency. ChatGPT can draft an entire resume for the role you’re applying for in seconds. 
• Tailoring. You can tailor your resume faster by sending ChatGPT the job description rather than manually reviewing the entire thing yourself. 
• Ideas. Overcome writer’s block by asking ChatGPT the type of responsibilities, duties, and achievements to highlight, as well as how to articulate them. 

Why you shouldn’t use ChatGPT to write a resume: 

• Not 100% accurate. AI may overstate qualifications. Double-check to ensure all information reflects your professional background. 
• Generic outputs. Without proper guidance or prompts, ChatGPT might draft a resume that anyone else in your field could use. 
• No formatting. ChatGPT can help with writing a resume, but not so much when it comes to formatting a resume. 

Use Rezi AI to create your resume and skip this guide

Imagine ChatGPT on steroids for writing a resume—that’s Rezi AI. 

Here’s how to not just write, but create a tailored ATS resume with our AI resume builder: 

• Complete the initial form by entering a few details such as the company’s job description, the field you’re applying for, and your experience level. This guides our AI writer to ensure its output aligns with your professional background.
• Fill out the provided fields for every resume section, like adding your full name in the contact details section.
• When writing bullet points describing a previous role in the work experience section or an additional section, enter the job title. Next, click “Generate Bullet” and our AI Bullet Point Writer will write sentences based on your background and resume best practices.
• For your resume summary, you can use our AI Resume Summary Generator. Enter the job position and skills you want to highlight, then click “AI Writer Ready.” 
• Finish up and preview your resume. Once you’re happy with everything, hit the download button. 

And you’re all done—no need to worry about formatting or what the best prompts are. 

Every one of our resume designs and layouts have been carefully created to meet ATS standards, meaning that they’ll always pass any company’s resume scanner. This is something you can’t be sure of when making a resume on your own on a Word document or when using other run-of-the-mill resume builders that are too heavy on visuals. 

With Rezi, all you have to do is click a button to generate outputs that match your background and follow the best practices. 

You can get started with Rezi for free. 

If you’re still dead set on using ChatGPT, and you’re determined to enter the prompts yourself, keep reading.

How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume From Scratch

‍This is how to use ChatGPT to write a resume: 

• State you’re looking for help to write a resume for a particular job position. Then, tell ChatGPT to ask you the most relevant questions about your career. This way, the tool will be able to draft a resume that’s more personalized to you and your background.
• Answer ChatGPT’s questions as best as you can. If you’re unsure about anything, you can ask for clarification in the same thread. 
• Refine every single section generated by ChatGPT. Get ChatGPT’s assistance with this by using specific prompts such as, “rewrite the bullet points for the [Job Title] entry and emphasize XYZ achievements.”
• Copy and paste the company’s job description into ChatGPT. Next, ask ChatGPT to tailor your resume to the job description. 
• Read through all information to make sure everything accurately reflects your employment background. 
• Put everything into a resume builder like Rezi for a professional ATS format.
• Or, format your resume yourself using MS Word, Google Docs, or other word processing software of your choice. Make sure the layout is clean and elegant.
• Save your resume as a PDF, unless the job description explicitly requires another file format.

This process of using AI tools, whether they’re focused specifically on resumes like Rezi AI or capable of performing general writing tasks like ChatGPT, can feel liberating. One of our Reddit users in our community even mentioned that: 

“The AI tools are amazing. The AI bullet point suggestions and AI Summary writer are lifesavers. My resume is leaps and bounds improved now.” 

While all sounds promising, don’t be surprised if you’re not fully satisfied with the first few outputs. It may take a few times before you get something that you feel happy enough to use as a foundation. 

If at any point you’re not pleased with the results as you’re following this guide, hit the generate button again. 

1. Describe Your Current Situation to ChatGPT

ChatGPT is revolutionizing writing, but it can’t read minds. It needs a little direction. 

Describing your current situation helps ChatGPT create not just any random resume, but a resume that aligns more with your background. 

Now, don’t get me wrong—the first draft won’t be perfect. You’ll have to double-check and replace certain details to ensure that they’re an accurate representation of your particular skills and experiences (more on that later).

Here’s how to describe your situation to ChatGPT: 

• Start by mentioning that you need help writing a resume for a particular job title. 
• Specify the job title you’re applying for. 
• Tell ChatGPT to ask you the top 3–5 questions for it to be able to draft a resume based on your background and the position you’re applying to (this way, the first draft won’t be too far off). 

In the screenshot below, you’ll see an example of this for a content manager position:

2. Answer ChatGPT’s Questions

After sending the first prompt, ChatGPT will reply with a few questions like this: 

Now, the next step is to answer each of these questions as best as you can. 

If you’re unsure, you could always ask ChatGPT within the same (or a new) thread for further clarification to help you answer any of the questions. For example, if you don’t know what your main achievements were in a previous role, ask ChatGPT for a list of the most common types of resume achievements for said position. 

Going off on what ChatGPT has asked me, here are my example answers: 

Work experience:

• Previous roles include: content manager at company ABC (2020–2023), senior content writer at company DEF (2018–2020), and content writer at company XYZ (2017–2018). 
• As a content manager, my main responsibility was overseeing the planning, creation, and distribution of content across various platforms. As senior content writer, my main responsibility was to create engaging content aligned with the content strategy and mentor junior writers. As a content writer, my main duty was to research, write, and edit content (articles, blog posts, website copy) following a brand voice and style guide.
• Content manager achievements include increasing website traffic, lead generation, and conversion rates. Content writer and senior content writer achievements include writing content that increased traffic and helping the company get featured on reputable publications like Forbes and getting lots of social shares. 

Skills and expertise:

• Content management, SEO, copywriting, project management, email marketing, social media
• Ahrefs, ClickUp, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Data Studio, HubSpot, 

Education and certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in English literature, obtained from Harvard University
• I have a Google Analytics certification

Key projects and results:

• I once led a content strategy that boosted website traffic and the number of leads. I had created a content strategy and managed a content marketing budget of $10,000/mo budget, and also was responsible for hiring freelance writers to go from creating 4 articles per month to 12 articles per month.
• Metrics include doubling organic traffic, achieving page 1 rankings on Google, and seeing a 72% increase in leads. ‍

Professional development and affiliations:

• Apart from the certifications mentioned above, I don’t have any formal affiliations with content management or content writing organizations.

After answering, hit enter. 

3. Refine Every Resume Section 

At this point, you should have a first draft of your resume by ChatGPT. Following on from our example, here’s what that might look like: 

Although it’s not perfect, I’m pretty impressed with the output. 

Once you have this, the next step is to fill in the blanks and refine every resume section to ensure that all details are accurate. 

Whenever there’s anything you want to add or remove, but you’re not sure how, you can always ask ChatGPT within the same thread. An example of this could be, “During my time as [Job Title] at [Company] in [Dates of Employment], I actually did [Specify any tasks, duties, or accomplishments]. Could you please add this in?”

Below, I’ll share what to look out for when going through each of these sections. If you want inspiration as you’re following through this, check out our library of resume examples here. 

And if you want an easier way to improve your bullet points, use our AI Bullet Point Editor—here’s how it works: 

• Highlight the bullet point that you want to refine. 
• Hit the “Rewrite Bullet” button.
• You’ll receive up to three suggestions—select the one you like the most. 

Boom, that’s it! 

Otherwise, continue reading for how to use ChatGPT to edit your resume. 

Work experience section

The work history section should present your career timeline and growth, as well as the impact you had in previous companies.

• Consider whether any results mentioned can be specified using numbers.
• Include timeframes to further specify duties or results. 
• Edit certain details to reflect your actual experience. 
• Use alternative action verbs that provide a more vivid description of your contributions. 
• Add any extra bullet points for other relevant responsibilities. 

If you remember specific achievements or duties that haven’t been included, ask ChatGPT to add these in and refine them from there. 

Education section

The education section is where you list all formal academic qualifications. 

• Confirm if all details here such as the degree title, location, and year of graduation are correct.
• Add any further information, like your GPA (only add it if higher than 3.5 and only if you’ve graduated less than 5 years ago).
• If you don’t have much work experience, mention any relevant minors, honors, academic achievements, or relevant coursework.
• If you’re an established professional, only listing your degree, school name, and graduation date will do. 

Skills section

Prioritize the most relevant competencies in the skills section. Never lie and include anything that you can’t prove you’re adept in.  

• Put skills in categories (such as “soft” and “technical” skills) for readability. 
• Optionally, include your proficiency level in brackets for certain skills for clarification. 
• Add other relevant skills that haven’t been mentioned. 
• Remove skills listed by ChatGPT that you’re not actually confident in. 
• Mention any industry tools or software you’re capable of using. 

Additional sections

Use extra resume sections to reinforce your credibility. Tell ChatGPT about any significant side projects, qualifications, or experience that you’d like to showcase. 

• If an additional section has been included, go through all the details and make sure the bullet points accurately depict what you did. 
• If there are no additional sections in the original draft, consider adding one (or a few). Extra sections help you further highlight your areas of expertise and skills. Examples of other sections include certifications, projects, awards, and more. 

Summary section

The first resume summary that ChatGPT generates might not be the best representation of your strengths. In this case, clarify your career highlights and expertise, and then ask ChatGPT to refine your intro based on this. 

• Make sure the areas of expertise highlighted are a genuine reflection of your professional strengths. 
• Emphasize how you can uniquely contribute and how your work background is compatible with the job requirements. 
• Ensure your summary is concise and only up to three or four sentences long. 

Have little to no work experience or changing career fields? Go for a resume objective statement instead of a summary. 

4. Ask ChatGPT to Tailor Your Resume to the Company’s Job Description

A generic resume will get overlooked. Tailoring your resume means highlighting skills and experiences that directly align with the job description. It shows you've taken the time to understand the company’s needs and how you can contribute. This means you’re way more likely to get an interview callback.

Companies don’t want to receive a resume that’s meant for anyone. They only look at resumes meant for them. 

If your resume comes across as an application that can be used for any other organization, you won’t make it past the applicant tracking systems (ATS). 

Now, the reason I suggest using ChatGPT to tailor your resume after you refined everything and not earlier on is so that you have a general resume for a particular job title. 

Here’s what you need to do to make sure it’s built not just for a certain job title, but also for a certain company:

• Use resume keywords. 
• Prioritize showcasing achievements that prove you’re capable of fulfilling the role. 
• Emphasize tasks and responsibilities related to the primary job requirements. 
• List skills, tools, and frameworks that employers expect you to be proficient in. 

With a general resume, you can now easily tailor it for different companies you’re applying to by using ChatGPT. 

Here’s exactly how to tailor your resume using ChatGPT: 

• Copy and paste the job ad into ChatGPT. Then, ask ChatGPT to provide you with a list of keywords, skills, achievements, and responsibilities that employers want to see in your resume. 
• Ask ChatGPT to add some of the top keywords into your resume naturally. 
• Make ChatGPT adjust your summary section and focus on your most relevant strengths based on the job description. (You may also ask ChatGPT if it has any questions for you to clarify so that it can provide you with an accurate output.)
• Request ChatGPT to emphasize certain skills, tasks, and achievements for different resume sections. 
• Tell ChatGPT to reorganize your bullet points and prioritize sentences that align most to the company’s hiring expectations.
• Request ChatGPT to reorganize your skills section based on the job description. 
• Ask ChatGPT if there are any particular experiences or additional sections worth considering to further tailor your application.  

Alternatively, use a resume keyword scanner to know what keywords from the job description are of highest priority. Then, copy and paste this into ChatGPT and ask it to embed these keywords into your resume.

5. Double-Check Everything

Typos and inconsistencies can ruin your resume. 

Here’s your checklist to make sure your resume is good to go: 

• Verify all information. Since ChatGPT generated a bulk of your resume (and even though you refined everything), be sure that all details are factually accurate. This includes contact information, employment details, and so forth. 
• Proofread everything. Ensure no grammar and spelling mistakes. Read it to yourself aloud to catch any awkward phrasing. 
• Review all the keywords you’ve added and see if where you put them fit in naturally. 

Another tip is to get feedback from either a career coach or a resume checker. I’m more fond of the latter, considering the costs of a career expert. 

6. Put Everything Into a Resume Builder for a Professional ATS Resume Format

Even after having the perfect resume written using ChatGPT, you’ll still need a professional format. 

If you’ve been using a Word document, the format can look tacky once downloaded as a PDF.

Now, you have two options. You can either: 

• Make all formatting changes manually yourself (I suggest going through our resume format guide in this case)
• Put everything into a resume builder like Rezi where everything is done for you, so then you’ll have a resume that you can immediately submit. 

Here’s how to put everything into Rezi AI: 

• Choose one of our ATS-compliant templates here.
• Copy and paste your ChatGPT resume into the provided fields per section. 
• Head over to the “finish up & preview” tab to see how your resume looks.
• Make any micro adjustments if necessary, such as increasing font size.
• Download your polished resume in the file type you need, e.g., as a PDF.
• Edit the file name using your first and last name, such as “Astley-Cervania-Resume.pdf.” 

The Best ChatGPT Prompts to Write a Resume

Here’s a compilation of some of the best ChatGPT resume prompts: 

• “I'm building a resume for a [Job Title] position. My previous job positions were [Job Title], [Job Title], and [Job Title]. My areas of expertise are in [Skill] and [Skill]. Can you please help me write a resume for [Job Title] position and highlight my strengths?”
• “Here’s a draft of my resume for [Job Title]: [copy and paste your resume]. Can you tell me how I can make it more impactful and tailored to the position I’m applying for?” 
• “Here’s a draft of my resume for [Job Title]: [copy and paste your resume]. Could you tailor it to this job description: [copy and paste the job description]? I also want you to tell me what changes you made and how those changes improve the success rate of my resume.” 
• “Can you please write powerful resume bullet points for my previous job position as [Job Title] and emphasize my skills in XYZ and achievements in ABC?”
• “I don’t have many quantifiable accomplishments in my work experience. Can you please suggest ways to reframe certain bullet points to clarify the value and impact I made in previous roles?”
• "I held a [Job Title] position at [Company] but it wasn’t directly related to the [Job Title] role I'm currently applying for. Can you please help me tailor my experience to highlight transferable skills relevant to this position?"
• “Based on my work experience and the job description, can you suggest what skills I should list in the skills section of my resume?”
• "I’m struggling to write a concise and impactful resume summary. Can you help me write one that highlights my track record, strengths, career highlights, and unique value proposition for a [Job Title] position?"

Summary 

Let’s recap everything discussed on how to use ChatGPT to write a resume: 

• State that you’re trying to write a resume for a specific job position, and then tell ChatGPT to ask you questions about your background, so the output isn’t entirely random. 
• Answer all questions provided by ChatGPT to the best of your knowledge. If you’re unsure about any particular question, you can ask ChatGPT in the same thread for clarification. 
• Edit the entire resume by sections, starting with the work experience.
• Ask ChatGPT to tailor your resume to the company’s job description—copy and paste the job ad into ChatGPT.
• Double-check everything, making sure all details are factually correct.
• Put everything into Rezi for a professional ATS resume format. 

And there you have it! 

AI tools can make your life easier when it comes to writing a resume. Although ChatGPT is an option, you’re better off using an AI tool (like Rezi) that’s specifically designed to help you build the perfect resume.

FAQ

How do you improve your resume with ChatGPT?

Copy and paste the company’s job description into ChatGPT. Then, ask ChatGPT how to improve your resume based on not only the best practices, but also based on the job description. For a more targeted and detailed approach, have ChatGPT review your resume by sections, starting with your work experience. 

How do you update your resume with ChatGPT?

Describe your current situation. Tell ChatGPT that you’re looking to update your resume for a particular job position. Next, copy and paste your resume into ChatGPT and then tell it to ask you the top questions it has for it to update your resume. After answering the questions ChatGPT gives you, it’ll come back to you with an updated version of your resume. At this point, double-check everything is factually correct. You can also ask ChatGPT to give you suggestions on how to further improve your resume for a stronger application. 

Can ChatGPT write a resume?

Yes, ChatGPT can write a resume. It’s all about giving it the correct prompts. However, don’t solely rely on ChatGPT. You’ll still need to check and edit everything, but it can speed up the process. 

How to get access to ChatGPT?

Head over to this website and sign up for an account to get access to ChatGPT. 

How to upload a resume to ChatGPT?

Click the attach file icon and upload your resume. However, this only works when you have access to the premium version of ChatGPT. If you’re using ChatGPT-3, you’ll have to copy and paste your resume into the prompt instead. 

Can ChatGPT rewrite my resume?

Yes, ChatGPT can rewrite your resume and help you make it more impactful. Simply enter the prompt, “Can you rewrite my resume and make it more impactful for a [Job Title] position?” From there, verify all the details generated and make sure everything is an accurate reflection of your professional background.