How to Leverage ChatGPT to Build your Resume (Crypto)

By Sukanya Singh (blockstar.tech)

Setting a record for the fastest-growing user base for any app by acquiring over a million followers within 5 days of the public launch, ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) has taken the tech world by storm. Keeping up with its breakthrough adoption, the Artificial Intelligence chatbot currently boasts over 100 million active users (as of January 2023).

But What is ChatGPT?

Well here’s the introduction by ChatGPT itself, “I am ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI based on the GPT-3.5 architecture. I am trained on a vast amount of natural language data and can generate human-like responses to a wide range of prompts and questions. My purpose is to assist users in generating human-like text, answering questions, completing tasks, and engaging in conversations.”

In simple language, ChatGPT, presently, is dubbed to be the most powerful AI-powered chatbot with the potential to replace one of the omnipresent phrases of modern-day lives, from “Google it” to “Ask ChatGPT” for a healthy variety of queries. The functionalities of ChatGPT are widespread, it’s like having a teacher, a Reddit nerd, YouTube, or simply free of cost personal assistant, all at your disposal, simultaneously, at a click.

But How Can you Leverage ChatGPT to Build your Resume?

Whether you are just a fresh-out-of-college graduate commencing your job hunt or a professional hoping to make that career switch, all can agree that resume writing/updating is one challenging task. While the former may have a hard time not knowing where to start, the latter might find it hard to direct a limited amount of free leisure time to tailor a resume as per the specific job requirements. This is where ChatGPT comes in as your personal resume assistant. Not only can it provide you with a format, to begin with, but can also help you craft your resume according to the specific demands with its vast capabilities.

However, remember, ChatGPT can be your assistant and not your substitute. Another point to remember is that just like you are employing AI to design your custom CV, so is your competitor. Eventually, you’ll have to put your own creativity to the test in order to stand out.

How to Create a Resume with ChatGPT from Scratch?

To pen down thoughts on paper is not an easy job. There’s even a word defining this phase of a creative slump for authors, called “Writer’s block”. Now, imagine if the authors whose forte is putting pen to paper can suffer from such a block, what happens when ordinary individuals are overwhelmed with a similar task while being already burdened with numerous other errands? A resume is your professional summary to let the hiring manager know you are what they have been looking for. And since telepathy is not an everyday thing existing between every two individuals, the job is left to be completed by your resume. But what can you do when there’s a lack of creative stimulation in your mind? Here comes ChatGPT to the rescue. It’s always easier to build on the preexisting material than to craft something completely new. ChatGPT manages to provide an excellently tailored base to build on. However, the quality of output will widely depend on the quality of input. The chatbot can get only as specific as the input is provided to it.

Hence, before initiating the chat of drafting the resume, make sure to spend some time briefly drawing up your career summary. Sketch together all the necessary points, metrics, and achievements you’ll like to mention in your resume. The rest of the work will be done by the AI by weaving it together professionally.

Step-by-Step Example of Building a Resume with ChatGPT

Here’s an example of building a resume from scratch. Supposedly, Alice is a Rust engineer with 7+ years of experience and wants a refined CV now to apply for the position of Senior Rust Engineer. Below is how ChatGPT can get the work done with the basic prompts.

Prompt: Create a resume for myself who has 7+ years experience in rust engineering with an expertise in blockchain and solidity smart contracts.

Result: The AI bot successfully provided us with a well-crafted resume template with keywords oriented Summary and Skills section, Action-verbs oriented Experience column, along with well-formatted columns of Education, Certifications, Professional Memberships, and Projects. It is to be noted that all the information presented in the resume has been completely made up by ChatGPT, since the prompt didn’t provide any input regarding the work experience, education background, skill-set or any other sort of data.

Let’s Customize the Resume Further:

Prompt: Using the same template, but please customize the job experience for me using the following information: From January 2016 to December 2019, I was working as a Freelance Rust engineer for a startup called BlockchainHub in Berlin, Germany, and since January 2020, I have been working as a Senior Rust engineer for SolidityHub in Berlin, Germany.

Result: The experience section has been customised as per the specific prompt in the same template. The bullet points accurately represent the work profile of a Blockchain Engineer with expertise in Rust and Solidity Smart Contracts. Now, you need to customise the points according to your experience.

Further Modification:

Going ahead with tailoring the resume further, we now asked the AI bot to include the distinct career details for the work profile at SolidityHub. The instructions have to be very clear this time.

Prompt: Using the same update resume, please add the following data points as job experience for the company SolidityHub: Developed Ethereum Dapps, worked on Actix web framework for Rust to develop Backend services, worked on SolidityHub blockchain wallet integration, worked on NFT marketplace.

Result: As seen in the pictures below, the points have been added to the SolidityHub experience column. However, the points have been elaborated only after the Work Experience column. You can take what pertains to you and leave the rest.

Asking ChatGPT to Update Skills in the Resume:

Just like any other section of the profile, you can update the skill section according to your own aptitude. Below is an example for the same.

Prompt: Using this newly updated template, please customise the skills section with the following skills: I am highly experienced in solidity, Open Zeppelin, hardhat, infura and etherjs. I am also good with Nodejs, javascript, mysql.

Result: The skill section has been updated as per the instructions.

How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Cover Letter?

Cover letters might as well be the most dreaded but essential part of a job application. A well-written cover letter has the potential to help you outshine other potential candidates. It allows you to express your genuine interest in the company and the role by conveying specific details. ChatGPT has the ability to provide you with a well-articulated sample to play around with. Just provide your new personal assistant with your resume and the job description of the profile you are applying for.

For instance, continuing with the same resume, we went ahead to ask for a cover letter. Here’s the prompt for the same: I am applying for a Senior Rust Engineer position at RustHub. I want you to write me a short cover letter using this newly updated resume and the following job description: (We inserted a Core Blockchain / Rust Engineer job description from BlockchainJobsEurope here)

Result: The outcome again fulfilled our expectations. Within seconds, we obtained a lot of material to work with.

Tip: General Prompt for a Cover Letter could look like this: I am applying for [Position/Title] at [Company Name]. I want you to write me a short cover letter utilizing the information from the resume and the job description. Here is my resume: [Insert Text Resume here] and here is the job description: [Paste Text Job Description here]

Some General Tips for Writing a Resume with ChatGPT:

Now, let’s take a look at various general prompts for writing different sections of a resume. We will now ask the AI to help us write a Career Summary and Objective for a brief piece of information.

Prompt: Can you please write me a career summary for the following information: I am a senior blockchain engineer who has been working for a renowned blockchain infrastructure development company, WonsenSys, for five years. I have contributed to the development of a popular decentralized exchange, CryptoSwap. I have expertise in C++. I also have a thorough knowledge of the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space.

Career Summary:

Prompt: Can you please write a Career Objective for the same information?

Career Objective:

ChatGPT quickly provided us with a polished professional career summary and objective for the few lines provided as input. Similarly, you can even ask ChatGPT to summarise your skill sets, work experience, achievements and other relevant information. The more details you will provide, the more personalised the outcome you will get.

Conclusion

ChatGPT is unarguably a game changer. The impact it will have on various spheres of life is yet to be fully absorbed. But for now, it does seem to have a net positive effect for job applicants. From assisting one in generating resumes to helping prepare for the hiring process, ChatGPT is proving to be one great source. However, as mentioned already, it can only assist you, not substitute you. Let your creativity be the difference maker in the end.