How I Use ChatGPT to Write Student Resumes
- Chris Scherting
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Lately, I’ve been helping young adults build their first resume. High school seniors, Job Corps graduates, and students earning their high school equivalency.
They all come with different experiences, often in jobs I’m not personally familiar with.
A big reason I started this blog is to help more people who don’t have their own Aunt Chris! Especially Pell Grant-eligible students. If my tips help someone find a full-time job with benefits, well, that is the whole point. So more people can have a nice life.
Full disclosure: I’m not an AI expert, but I am making it work for me! Use your own judgment and take what’s helpful.
Gather Background Information
My first step is to interview each person to talk through anything that might be resume-worthy. I have a downloadable worksheet in a related blog: 12 High School Student Resume Tips.
I ask about all of these topics:
Education
Expected graduation or completion date
Work in a business (Pizza Hut, IHOP, etc.)
Side work (babysitting, lawn mowing, house cleaning)
Languages (first-generation students have the advantage here!)
Church or place of worship activities
Awards, honors, recognition
Charity/volunteer work
Clubs and activities
Athletics
Note, not everything discovered in this conversation will make it on the resume. It’s better to have too much information, so you can choose the best items that future employers may value.
Explore the Job Responsibilities
I typically prioritize work experience over sports, clubs, or activities on a student's resume. I ask about everything to get to know the person and to be sure I have enough details to create the resume.
I spend a lot of time trying to understand all of the work tasks, both big and small. High school students can be shy when explaining their part-time jobs. It helps to ask specific, probing questions. Most students think their job was “just a job.” My job is to help them see it as experience.
My questions cover a variety of topics:
Brand: Companies like Target and Pizza Hut offer branded or proprietary training content on their unique approach to service.
Cash Management: Did they handle cash, make change, or process credit card orders? Can they make change?
Cleaning: Did they perform janitorial work, including cleaning work stations, mopping floors, trash removal, etc?
Customer Service: Were they customer-facing? I ask about customer service skills. Did they handle complaints or fix customer issues?
Leadership: Were they a shift or team lead? Did they have decision-making authority? Did they create the schedule, order supplies or inventory, or did they handle training?
Technology: Did the business utilize a common POS or software tool?
Timeliness: Do they have a proven track record of showing up on time?
Work Skills Training: Did the company offer safety training on dangerous chemicals in a kitchen, food handling safety, customer service, etc?
Understand the Personality
I ask each student to give me some adjectives that describe them. Or I ask how their friends, family, or teachers would describe them.
I like to begin each resume with a “Summary” statement that describes the student as a potential job candidate.
I have ChatGPT help me write these statements based on the responses and targeting the type of job the student wants to pursue. Here are a couple of examples:
Motivated student with leadership experience as a shift leader and crew chief in the restaurant industry. Proven ability to efficiently oversee operations, manage peers, and ensure customer satisfaction in fast-paced settings.
Independent high school student with a reputation for reliability, kindness, and a strong work ethic. Trusted by peers and adults alike for demonstrating a positive attitude, respect, and genuine care for others.
Responsible, self-sufficient, and kind individual with a strong work ethic and a caring attitude. Known for being a good listener who follows directions, rules, and instructions with attention to detail. Independent and respectful, especially when interacting with elders. Demonstrates reliability, maturity, and a genuine desire to do quality work and help others.
Find the Official Job Description
After my first introductory conversation with the student, I search online for a sample job posting or a related job on a site like Indeed. This will help identify the actual job title and potential tasks to include in resume bullets.
For example, one youth told me she was a server in the kitchen of a nursing home, but I found that the actual title on the company website was “Dining Service Associate.”
Another student said he was a shoe shiner at Hair Saloon but I found the official title of “Shoe Caddy” on their website.
Ask ChatGPT
Now, I have everything I need to prompt ChatGPT. I explain that I am working on a resume for a future high school graduate, and I provide the personality adjectives. For context, I explain the type of job they want to apply for, so the resume bullets will be written with this in mind.
I don’t ask ChatGPT to write the full resume. I tackle one section at a time.
Summary: In addition to the personality adjectives, I provide sample summary statements and a target character length. I ask the AI to write a few examples in the voice of an 18-year-old.
Work Experience: I upload the company’s job description along with my notes on the student’s specific responsibilities and ask the AI to write new resume bullets. Sometimes I go one bullet at a time. It depends on how familiar I am with the role.
Always Personalize Your Prompts
It would be easy to give ChatGPT a basic prompt and get a decent resume. And honestly, “decent” will work for some people.
But if you want a resume that actually helps someone get hired, you have to do the work first. You have to ask better questions, pull out real details, and understand who that person is.
ChatGPT does not replace that part. The better your input, the better the output. But you always have to verify the output.
And when you get it right, you are not just creating a resume. You are helping someone see their own value, sometimes for the first time.
