When AI Writes the Resume: What Should Recruiters Actually Evaluate?

AI is taking off more and more written work from our hands, as it has mastered the art of organized, moderate-quality writing. These days, more people are getting their resumes written by AI, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the actual number is staggering.

With over 50% of candidates using AI at some point in their resume-writing process, it raises one alarming question: when AI is writing the resume, what should recruiters actually evaluate when assessing a candidate?

One issue with AI-written resumes is that a recent study showed that AI screening tools are biased towards AI responses. This means that recruiters can’t rely on AI to help them and need to have better strategies to ensure they evaluate candidates accurately.

Let’s explore what recruiters must evaluate to ensure they pick the right candidate, especially when AI is writing the resume.

Looking Beyond the Polished Words

If a resume is being examined by the recruiter, the first step should be running it through an AI text checker to see if it was completely generated by AI. Once you determine that the resume was automated, the recruiter needs to discern if it is a good representation of a candidate.

When AI prepares the resume, even if the information is accurate, it can sound too polished. That is why recruiters shouldn’t get dazzled by the words and focus on the actual content.

Pay attention when the language sounds impressive but is vague. You need to look for particulars of every project or event they have handled.

AI is very good at using words to make the work sound impressive, so when you read something like “navigated numerous challenges to drive strategic outcomes,” you need to understand that is using many words but telling you almost nothing. The challenges need to be explained, and you need to know exactly what the outcomes were.

Fancy language sounds great on paper, but you need to evaluate what the words actually meant in application. Another thing you need to notice is how inauthentic a resume can sound.

AI can make the resume sound like marketing copy, so if a person’s resume sounds very mechanical with no personal voice, this should be a red flag.

Sometimes, if the candidate is pasting bits in after generating from AI, they forget to fix the formatting. This doesn’t just show sloppy work; it also reflects a lack of sincerity, which should be taken as a negative sign.

Factual Credibility

Most people add the job description, their existing CV, and then make the AI generate a version that matches the requirements.

So, even if the experience is real, AI curates the resume according to what the specific posting is asking for. Not only does it make every candidate sound the same, but it also makes it difficult to understand whether the information is accurate.

You can start by checking if the resume tells a believable professional story.

Notice if the job titles match the candidate’s level of responsibility, and whether the responsibilities seem appropriate to the candidate’s seniority and position. The employment dates should be consistent, and the career progression should make sense.

The skills should make sense in the context of actual work, and every claim on the resume must align with their portfolio, LinkedIn profile, references, application information, and later, with the responses in the interview. If the claim seems unsupported by actual experience, take that as a red flag.

Evidence of Results

A strong resume should be able to connect job roles, projects, and actions to actual outcomes. Recruiters should look actively for evidence of the outcomes that prove their skill and experience.

Whether their contribution helped generate revenue or reduce costs for the business they worked with. Check for improvement in sales, conversion, retention, or engagement. See if they could help save time or create a workflow that helped automate processes.

There needs to be evidence of projects being delivered on time or within the set budget. Any action they said they took, or any project they contributed to, should lead to some team, customer, or operations-related outcomes.

If there is a sign that their specific contribution helped achieve a shared result, that is also a good sign. If they could manage a preexisting defect, error, or complaint, this can also be a positive impact they have made.

Even if metrics are not required for every job, having a quantifiable way to know whether a candidate could actually play a crucial role helps in making a hiring decision.

Relevance of Candidate’s Skill or Experience to the Role

AI will create a resume that matches the job description, but it may also add extra skills, or the candidate may have some skills that look good on the resume but are not relevant to the actual role he is applying for.

A recruiter should notice which skills are merely listed but have no application to create their job experience and which were used in a real work context. They should also notice which skills could solve problems and which were being applied successfully as required by the level of their role.

If there are skills listed that match your job description but were never used in the actual experiences the candidates had, there is a high chance it was simply added to pump up the resume and are there to ensure that it passes any AI screening that uses keyword matching to shortlist candidates.

Referrals, Live Tests, and Interviews

Polished writing in a resume is not an indicator of whether the person is right for the role. Since it’s becoming more difficult to evaluate the written word, recruiters are now relying more on things like referrals, live tests, and interviews.

Referrals work great as evidence of quality and skill, as it provides context from a colleague or a former manager who can vouch for the candidate’s reliability, work quality, and capacity for teamwork.

Live tests are also becoming increasingly common. These are short, realistic job-related tasks like coding challenges, case analyzes, or role-play scenarios that push candidates to demonstrate the skills they are claiming to have, their problem-solving approach, speed, and judgement under pressure.

Structured interviews are great for probing into the resume further, so that candidates can explain the various projects, challenges, decisions, and outcomes from their academic life or work experience. These are a great way to truly understand whether the candidate should be hired or not, and it can be the last step before a decision is made.

Final Thoughts

AI resumes may sound nice, but they are not great for deciphering a candidate’s true potential. This is why recruiters need to be especially careful when hiring someone, because they can’t take the resume at face value.

Recruiters must look into a candidate’s resume and find actual evidence of the skills and experience they are trying to reflect. They need to go beyond the decorated words and evaluate the content. They must ensure that it is factually relevant and shows evidence of successful work outcomes.

Finally, they should also rely on things beyond the resume, like referrals, live tests, and interviews. Interviews can work as a great way to discern whether the candidate has been accurate on their resume and can be the final step before the recruiters make the decision to hire someone.