How AI Can Improve Your CV
If you are writing a CV at the moment, how often did you start and dropped? How often did you change the paragraphs or maybe had a fear of missing something important? It can be very overwhelming! Between trying to remember all your achievements, choosing the right words and tailoring each version to a job, it is very easy to miss details or lose confidence in the final draft.
That’s where AI can help.
When used wisely, it is not a shortcut, but a tool to strengthen your CV and clarify your message. Here are the most common and less so use cases.
1. Help You Structure Your Thoughts
Before you even begin writing, AI can help you organise your ideas. It can work both ways:
- By asking targeted questions: “What accomplishments are you most proud of?” or “What measurable outcomes did you achieve in your last role?”), it can guide your thinking and help you prioritise what matters most.
- By sending just a text to AI of everything you are doing now and have done before (does not matter if you the timeline is not correct or everything looks a bit messy)
This is especially helpful if you’ve had a long or complex career path and you’re not sure where to start.
2. Coach You Through the Process
AI can act as a personal coach -guiding, prompting and encouraging you throughout the writing process.
- Self-reflection: AI can prompt you with questions that uncover accomplishments you might have forgotten. For example “Can you ask me questions to help identify my top 3 achievements from my last role as [job title]? I want to include results and impact, but I’m not sure what stands out.”
- Feedback: It can offer suggestions to improve tone, word choice or structure. For example “Here’s a draft of a bullet point from my CV: ‘Responsible for managing team projects.’ Can you suggest a clearer, stronger version with measurable results?”
- Motivation: When you are stuck, AI can help you by suggesting a first step or rephrasing tricky sections. For example: “I’m feeling stuck writing the summary section of my CV. Can you help me draft a starting version based on this info: [insert 2–3 key career highlights or strengths]?”
3. Spot Mistakes You have Overlooked
Typos and formatting inconsistencies are easy to miss especially after multiple revisions. AI can help catch spelling errors, inconsistent punctuation, repetitive phrasing, passive voice that weakens your impact.
4. Tailor Your CV to the Job
One of the best uses of AI is matching your CV to a job description. AI can help:
- Highlight keywords from the job posting
- Suggest areas to emphasise or add
- Improve alignment between your experience and the employer’s needs
Important: this doesn’t mean copying the job description, but it helps you speak the employer’s language.
5. Improve Clarity and Impact
AI writing assistants can help reword unclear or generic phrases. For example:
Before: “Managed a team and completed tasks.”
After: “Led a cross-functional team of 5, delivering 10+ projects in tight deadline of 6 months within the budget.”
6. Organise Content More Effectively
If you are unsure about how to structure your CV, AI can suggest layouts based on your industry or career level. For example:
- Keep important information “above the fold”
- Guide the reader’s eye to your strengths
- Balance design and readability for ATS
7. Provide Career Insights
Some advanced AI tools like CVista can also give feedback on:
- Whether your CV is too long or too short
- Which roles or industries you’re best aligned with
- How competitive your CV is for certain job types
- How competitive your CV is among the others in your field
A Word of Caution: AI is a Tool, Not a Replacement
While AI can speed up and improve the writing process, your CV still needs your voice. It’s your career story, not just a list of tasks or buzzwords. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Always review AI-generated content for accuracy and tone
- Avoid overusing jargon or clichés the tool might suggest
- Ask a human for feedback - a mentor, peer or recruiter will spot things AI won’t
AI can help upgrade your CV (it sure does on the CVista platform — go check it out, go-go-go!).
But what about the good old cover letter? Does it still matter? And if yes, what the hell do you even write in it?
Find out here: [What to Write in a Cover Letter in 2025 ]