Can AI Write a Great CV?

Becky Stock March 2025

In an age where AI appears to be taking over the world in so many areas, including promising to craft the perfect CV in seconds, many executives and senior professionals are wondering whether it really can deliver excellence.

After all, a CV is a potentially critical document that needs to achieve so much – including aptly demonstrating achievements and skills used, telling a coherent story, and essentially presenting the candidate as head and shoulders above the often 100s of other applicants. 

To set the scene, this article is written by Becky, a painfully human professional CV writer with an English degree (grammar focus), background in proofreading and copywriting, CV writing accreditation, and careers counselling diploma.

As a writer who is proud NOT to use AI, I am currently largely unaware of its positives, somewhat aware of its negatives, and 100% convinced of its inability to do what I do.

All will become clear why I am convinced of this later on in the text, however in the meantime it’s important I retain impartiality and open-mindedness while conducting some comparisons.

Let’s Compare

AI is clearly an excellent tool for writing, helping many people who are either short on time or lack innate writing skills to deliver a grammatically correct, concise sentence. For example, I’ll show you what it does with some of my statements above – an interesting exercise! We are going to discover together what AI can/can’t do.

1A) “In an age where AI appears to be taking over the world in so many areas, including promising to craft the perfect CV in seconds, many executives and senior professionals are wondering whether it really can deliver excellence.”

Becomes:

1B) “As AI advances, it raises questions among executives and professionals about its ability to create excellent CVs quickly.”

Do you prefer that? Personally I’m wondering, ‘Where’s the flair?!’ Also, I was taught, and have read, never to end a sentence with an adverb.  But overarchingly, I am surprised at how ineptly it has written that. I mean it’s concise (which is of course essential in CV writing) but that’s about all it has going for it. Let’s try another:

2A) “After all, a CV is a potentially critical document that needs to achieve so much – including aptly demonstrating achievements and skills used, telling a coherent story, and essentially presenting the candidate as head and shoulders above the often 100s of other applicants.” 

Becomes:

2B) “A CV is an important document that should effectively demonstrate achievements and skills, tell a coherent story, and present the candidate as a strong contender among many other applicants.” 

Something this re-write immediately shows me is that it has eliminated a potential ‘wow’ factor – the ‘100s’ of other applicants. And it says a CV is an ‘important document’. Well so are many documents – but the key message here was ‘critical’ – critical in getting someone a job, not just ‘important’! And ‘head and shoulders above’ is replaced by ‘strong contender’…

This to me is almost case closed. Do you see my point? Superlatives can be very useful – it’s my job as a writer to get the message across – why you want ‘this’ candidate and not Joe Bloggs down the road… further, just to drive home the point: I don’t want to say that my client is a ‘strong contender’, I want to say without saying it, that if you (the recruiter) don’t choose him/her (the applicant) you would sorely regret it – that this client is the very best in your pile of CVs.

However, let’s explore some CV profiles (introductory paragraphs at the top of CVs / resumes) I’ve written for senior professionals to see what AI does with those:

3A) “Dynamic, commercially focused Managing Director with extensive success in steering multinational asset portfolios within some of the world’s largest commercial real estate organisations – including both strategic positioning and operational directorship. Highly experienced in negotiating eight-figure deals, managing portfolio P&Ls, achieving ground-breaking profit, and increasing the value of some of Europe’s largest retail centres. Forward-facing and visionary, excels in crafting strategies around lucrative concepts. Embraces change, challenge and diversity, and prioritises team empowerment for a successful organisation.”

Becomes:

3B) “Managing Director with extensive experience in overseeing multinational asset portfolios within large commercial real estate organisations. Skilled in negotiating significant deals, managing portfolio P&Ls, and increasing the value of major retail centres. Focuses on developing strategies around profitable concepts, adapting to change, and promoting team empowerment for organisational success.”

Now, to me, this has simply, again, taken away the ‘wow’ factor. What do you think?

For me, it says the ‘right’ things, but it sounds flat, boring even, and without personality. To put a finer point on it, nowhere does it state that this candidate has already ACHIEVED – specifically in terms of steering the portfolios and achieving groundbreaking profit.

Further, this profile does not set the stall out as having ALREADY worked for some of the world’s largest organisations. Missing a few tricks, I feel. Further, ‘visionary’ and ‘forward-facing’ – gone. Is that a good thing? Finally, something key it has done to achieve an instant ‘fail’ is delete the very important buzzword in today’s world: ‘diversity’. However, I did write this one around a year ago and already my critical side has kicked in. This next one is very recent:

4A) “Corporate Partnerships & Business Development Executive at X University, diligently working to bridge the gap between research and industry to create impactful solutions for global challenges. Proven in spearheading lucrative partnerships between top academics, investors and business such as [*confidential*, major global players], as well as in the direct development and establishment of successful start-ups. Leverages 14+ years in Life Sciences research, 10 peer-reviewed publications and an international public speaking record.”

Becomes:

4B: “Corporate Partnerships & Business Development Executive at X University, bridging research and industry for global solutions. Experienced in forming partnerships between academics, investors, and businesses, and developing successful start-ups. Leverages 14+ years in Life Sciences research, 10 peer-reviewed publications, and international public speaking experience.”

Hmm. Well, this candidate has dropped from being ‘proven in… lucrative partnerships’ to just ‘experienced in… partnerships’. Further, gone are ‘global major players’ (admittedly these were written out in full in the original version – redacted for this article) and the term ‘impactful’. Finally, to just have ‘experience in something is not the same as having a ‘record’ of doing something, which alludes to consistency, not just a one-off.

A few points to note throughout all these, both positive and negative:

AI largely knows grammar but uses the Oxford comma – an commonly used Americanism which I personally feel is surplus to requirements, incorrect for English texts, and messy to read.

AI does know how to be concise – a real plus when writing CVs. However, a common theme with AI is these ‘stop-start’ sentences with little flair and almost zero impact – proven in these texts.

AI does not seem to know how to ‘sell’ a candidate, or I suspect, anything.

Ultimately though, one of the most important points to make is that AI cannot drag information out of people!

Winning CVs holds in-depth consultations with clients prior to writing their CVs. These are about, amongst other things:

– Identifying themes (of experiences, successes, character traits and skills).

– Pulling out ways in which people have made a difference. Often people are not thinking in this way, and need the benefits of what they do extracting, then also quantifying – to demonstrate what they’ve done and therefore can do for other companies.

Commonly people are not already aware that there are ways to use figures on their CVs.

For example, I ask, “So did that save the company time?” Answer: “Oh yes definitely.” Me: “So thinking about it, even if it was just between you and me, is there a percentage that definitely was reduced in time taken, after you implemented X?” Client: “Hmmm good question, yes I think definitely that saved at least X% in time, and £XXXs in costs”.

To understand a person’s people (and delivery) skills:

I ask about a role from 15 years ago that isn’t detailed much on the CV: “So tell me a typical day [and/or] how did you get X, Y and Z’s engagement [and/or] solve that complex problem?” Client: “I got all the right people together in one room, I held workshops, and we brainstormed”. “Working with HR, I designed communications and ensured personnel were kept abreast of changes” or “I brought them along in the change journey so they were part of it, instead of ‘it’ being ‘done to them’.”

Many people undersell themselves – for example, ‘John’ states on his CV that he launched or managed a programme. What he didn’t say, which is far more leadership-focused, is that he CONCEIVED the programme, achieved buy-in into it, then led it. That right there takes the CV from Senior Manager to Director. Do you see?

Finally, and by no means least, these consultations are consistently proven in building people’s confidence, pride and sense of self, plus in developing increased awareness of where they currently are, and where they want to go next.

Now tell me AI can do that.

For your CV to be taken to the next level, contact Becky on: 07928 525882 or at: becky@winningcvs.com