ResumeBuilder, a provider of professional resume templates and career advice, has published a recent survey report that investigates why job seekers are utilizing AI chatbot ChatGPT for resumes and cover letters. The report also shares insight into the potential consequences of using ChatGPT for application materials. The study generated feedback from 1,000 current and recent job seekers who have used ChatGPT during the job application process.
ChatGPT is a chatbot application developed by OpenAI. ChatGPT made headlines this month after being released to the public and demonstrating its human-like speech modeling.
The study shows that almost 1 in 2 current and recent job seekers have used the chat bot to write their resumes and/or cover letters. Of the 1,000 respondents who admitted to using the popular AI chatbot for their application materials, 72 percent say they used the tool to write cover letters, and 51 percent say they used it to write resumes. Most respondents were satisfied with the results from ChatGPT, as 76 percent of respondents say the quality of application materials written as “high” or “very high.” Additionally, 28 percent say they did little to no editing to resumes and cover letters written by ChatGPT.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents also say they noticed a higher response rate from companies when they applied using the chat bot-generated resume and cover letter. Likewise, 78 percent of job seekers scored an interview and 59 percent received a job offer using a resume and cover letter written by the chat bot.
Forty percent of respondents say, to the best of their knowledge, that their interviewer was not aware they used ChatGPT to write their resume and cover letter. Conversely, 40 percent say their interviewer was aware they used ChatGPT, while 20 percent say they were not sure if the interviewer knew or not. Of the group of respondents who say their interviewer was aware they used ChatGPT, 35 percent say they were denied a job and 58 percent say they were not denied a job. Despite the risks associated with using ChatGPT, 88 percent of respondents say they are ‘somewhat’ or ‘highly’ likely to continue using the tool in the future to write their job application materials.
This survey was commissioned by ResumeBuilder and conducted online by survey platform Pollfish on February 7, 2023. In total, 1,000 current and recent job seekers in the United States completed the full survey. All participants passed through demographic filters to ensure they were currently employed for wages or out of work and looking for work. Participants went through a primary screening to include only current job seekers and those who had engaged in a job search within the past two months, and a secondary screening to include only those who wrote their resume and/or cover letter using ChatGPT during their job search within the past two months.
