Recruiting pro: Use AI as a career coach, not a résumé rewrite

Trent Cotton, head of talent-acquisition insights at iCIMS, says asking AI to rewrite your résumé often backfires: those automated rewrites tend to sound the same for many applicants, which makes you blend in rather than stand out. He recommends treating AI like an expert career coach instead.

Have it analyze your résumé, ask probing questions to build out your experience profile, and suggest roles you might qualify for—with explanations of what those jobs actually involve. Cotton reviews millions of data points each month and noticed an uptick in application volume in manufacturing last year.

He says AI can help you explore sectors you wouldn’t normally consider by identifying companies hiring tech talent and the specific positions they seek. For interview prep, plug job descriptions into your AI agent and run mock interviews with strong personas.

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