5 Ways of Telling That You Used AI on Your CV | Dice.com Career Advice

Posted on Author AIJobNexus

This post was originally published on this site.

Modern AIs based on Large Language Models (LLMs) are pretty amazing. You can use them as writing assistants to create or summarize documents, generate code in many languages (so long as they are trained on them), and so on (I’ve asked an AI to explain complex concepts in a programming language and it pretty much nailed the assignment). You can even ask an AI to write your resume or cover letter.

You’re probably aware that AI is trained on very large amounts of text (for example the Common crawl is text extracted from 50 billion web pages). Here are the five ways that give away that a document was created by an AI:

  1. AI Text tends to be monotonic.
  2. It uses words that humans don’t use that often.
  3. The text lacks colloquial language or slang.
  4. Sentences don’t vary in length so much, or in their layout.
  5. AI checkers compare texts against the texts they were trained on and look for similar patterns.

Let’s look at these in a bit more depth, especially in the context of your cover letter and resume. If your documents read too much like an AI wrote them, it may weaken your chances of landing an interview with a recruiter or hiring manager.

Breaking Down an AI’s Language Quirks

AI has been used in a variety of ways that allow people to save time or compensate for a lack of knowledge—for example, completing homework, writing books, or even filling out job applications. If you’ve read AI written texts (and at this point, you almost certainly have), it’s not difficult to recognize them as they tend to be a bit robotic and lack emotional content; a bit like reading dictionary entries.

AIs tend to use words and phrases like ‘Delve’ or ‘Delve into,’ ‘Tapestry,’ ‘in summary,’ ‘moreover’ and quite a few more—this thread on Reddit has lists of several words that people have noticed AI relies upon quite a bit. Stay aware that software used to detect AI writing may give false positives because you used a word on its “used by AI” word list. As far as CVs go, the overuse of buzzword phrases like’ team player,’ ‘results driven’ or ‘excellent communicator’ are a bit of a giveaway.

Other clues that you might be reading an AI created text is the lack of colloquial language, not to mention a deficit of personality or voice. If you’re reading something that seems too formal, particularly if it’s an email or text between two people, chances are good it’s AI-generated.

It’s very easy to believe that an AI actually understands what you are saying. I know I did—for a little while, at least. Back when I started programming, people were getting into a BASIC program called Eliza, a very early program that ‘understood’ natural language; it mostly repeated parts of your questions back to you. But some users took it very seriously.

It’s important to remember, though, that LLMs don’t really get the meaning of what you are asking.

How do I disguise that my CV was written by an AI?

There’s a simple answer to that question: by making your CV more “you.” When editing your cover letter and resume, a few simple tweaks can help you stand out from the tsunami of AI-generated application materials:

  • Inject Your Personality: AI is great at listing skills and experience, but it struggles to capture your unique voice. Read through the generated text and ask yourself: Does this sound like me? Replace generic phrases with your own words. For example, instead of, “Demonstrated strong leadership skills,” try, “Led a team of five developers in launching a new mobile app devoted to online shopping, resulting in a 20 percent increase in user engagement.”
  • Specifics are Key: Carefully analyze the job description and customize your resume and cover letter to highlight the skills and experiences most relevant to that specific role. Mirror the keywords used in the job posting, but do so naturally. This is also critical because many companies use automated resume screeners that will reject your application if you don’t include a selection of keywords from the job posting (such as skills) in your materials.
  • Be a STAR: Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to describe how you tackled challenges and achieved success. For instance, instead of “Proficient in Python,” write “Developed a Python script that automated data analysis, reducing processing time by 50%.”
  • Craft a Cool Narrative: Your cover letter is your chance to tell your story. Explain why you’re interested in the company and the specific role, how it ties into your past experience, and how your skills and experience align with their needs.
  • Tweak the Language: Go through your text and make it more readable, with emphasis on varying the sentence length. Try and get rid of the AI popular words as discussed on that Reddit thread. If you’re feeling especially perky, add in a bit of slang like “yak shaving” or equivalents in your specialization.

Conclusion

The main problem is not using AI to write your CV (honestly, a lot of folks these days are relying on AI for their first draft) but leaving in the obvious AI bits. Add a personal touch, with anecdotes about what you did including specific achievements that show you as ideally suited for the role you’re applying for. It’ll help convince the hiring managers and recruiters that you are, indeed, human.