There’s all kinds of tips and tricks for job seekers to grab the attention of potential employers through their résumé. Be concise, highlight specific skills — and perhaps run your CV through a résumé-writing algorithm that uses predictive technology to spot errors, avoid weak language and maximize appeal.
Job seekers using the algorithms — which detected spelling errors, offered advice on phrasing and word use — had 8% more job offers versus a control group that did not have the extra help, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. The health of the job market and the ongoing labor shortage are burning questions for job seekers, and so is the use and the limit of artificial intelligence. The working paper, released Monday, offers insight into how the two topics might intersect. Even though job seekers with an algorithm-assisted résumé did not send out more job applications than those who did not use AI, they received nearly 8% more job offers and hourly wages that were 8.4% higher. The treatment and control group were each compromised of approximately 97,000 people, all looking for employment in the spring and summer of 2021 while the job market roared in the rebound from the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy added another 517,000 jobs in January. That rocketed past most economists’ expectations, but questions remain about how healthy the labor market will be this year, particularly with tens of thousands of layoffs in the tech sector so …