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AI prompts for resumes and cover letters

An AI assistant is a useful editor for a job application. It can tighten your wording, point out what a recruiter would miss, and help you fit your experience to one advertisement. It should never be the author of your experience. Everything in the application must be true, because you will be asked about it in the interview.

So these prompts start from your real details and tell the assistant not to invent.

The prompts

Turn my duties into strong bullet points

Rewrite my work experience below as resume bullet points.

Rules:
- Start each bullet with an action verb.
- Keep each bullet to one line.
- Use only the facts I give. Do not invent numbers, tools or achievements.
- Where a number would help and I have not given one, write [NUMBER?] so that I can fill it in.

Job title and employer type: [FOR EXAMPLE ACCOUNTS ASSISTANT AT A STEEL TRADER]
What I actually did: [DESCRIBE YOUR WORK IN YOUR OWN WORDS]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Match my resume to one advertisement

Below are a job advertisement and my resume. Do three things:
1. List the five requirements the employer seems to care about most.
2. For each, say whether my resume shows it clearly, shows it weakly or does not show it.
3. Suggest which of my existing points to move up or reword. Do not add experience I do not have.

Advertisement:
[PASTE THE ADVERTISEMENT]

My resume:
[PASTE YOUR RESUME WITHOUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER AND ADDRESS]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Write a cover letter for this job

Write a cover letter of about 200 words for the job below.

Job: [TITLE AND EMPLOYER TYPE]
Three true things about me that fit it: [LIST THEM]
Why I want this job in particular: [YOUR REASON]

Plain, confident English. No clichés such as "I am a hard-working team player". Do not claim skills I have not listed. End with a simple line offering to discuss further.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

A short profile summary

Write a three line profile summary for the top of my resume.

My field: [FIELD]
Years of experience: [NUMBER, OR "FRESHER"]
What I am best at: [TWO OR THREE THINGS]
The kind of role I want: [ROLE]

Give me three versions in slightly different styles. Use only what I have told you.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Explain a gap or a change

I need one or two honest sentences for my resume or interview to explain this: [THE GAP, JOB CHANGE OR CAREER SWITCH AND ITS REAL REASON].

Keep it truthful, brief and forward-looking. Do not make excuses and do not hide the fact. Give me two versions.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Review my resume like a recruiter

Act as a recruiter who has thirty seconds for each resume, hiring for [ROLE]. Read mine and tell me:
1. What you remember after thirty seconds.
2. The three weakest lines and why.
3. Anything missing that you would expect for this role.
4. Spelling, grammar or formatting problems you can see in the text.
Be direct. Do not rewrite the resume.

[PASTE YOUR RESUME WITHOUT CONTACT DETAILS]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

How to adapt these prompts

Give real detail. "Handled accounts" produces a vague bullet. "Entered about forty purchase bills a day and matched them with the supplier statements each month" produces a strong one.
One job at a time. Run the matching prompt again for each advertisement. A resume shaped for one role reads better than a general one.
Fill the [NUMBER?] gaps yourself, and only with figures you can defend. If you do not know the number, delete the placeholder.
Freshers: replace work experience with projects, internships, college events and part-time work. Tell the assistant you are a fresher so that it does not write as if you had years behind you.
Ask for plain formatting. Many employers read resumes through software, and simple headings and bullets survive it best.

Before you apply

Read every line and ask yourself: could I talk about this for two minutes if asked? If not, change it or remove it. Check dates, job titles and the employer's name letter by letter. Put your contact details back in.

Leave your phone number, address, date of birth and identity numbers out of anything you paste into an assistant. It does not need them to improve your wording.

Related tasks

This is an independent site. It is not connected with any company that makes AI assistants. The prompts are plain text and can be used in any AI chat assistant. An AI assistant can give wrong or made-up answers: check anything important before you rely on it, and do not paste private details into a prompt.