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AI technology has a lot of great uses. However, it can also create a lot of problems as well.
One of the major ways that AI is disrupting the economy is with the job search process. One survey found that 65% of recruiters use AI. Many job seekers use it as well.
While there are a number of benefits of using AI to search for a job, it isn't a good idea to rely on it too much. A number of hiring managers have started using AI detection tools to see if job seekers used AI to write their resumes or cover letters. You may have your application thrown out if they think you are using AI instead of creating a more authentic application.
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Unfortunately, it is possible that your resume, cover letter or other materials will get flagged by an AI Detector even if you wrote them yourself. Therefore, it is a good idea to use your own AI detector before submitting your application.
How do AI detectors work?
This article is going to get into the reasons why you may want to use an AI detector to check your resume and cover letter. But first, you need to understand what an AI detector is and how it works.
AI detectors are complex software applications that are trained on a number of website articles, whitepapers and other written documents. Some of the documents in their databases are made with AI, while others are made by humans. They spend thousands of hours looking at these documents to see how content made by AI is different than that made by people.
AI detectors have learned to notice a number of significant differences between AI-generated and human-written content. Some of the key differences include the following:
Content made by AI frequently uses words that are uncommon in everyday speech. They include words like “elevate,” “leverage” and “explore.”
AI content has almost no grammatical or spelling errors.
AI tends to have very bland content that doesn’t convey any emotions.
AI text usually follows a lot of similar patterns. For example, sentences tend to be of similar lengths. A lot of words in the same sentence start with the same letter and start secondary clauses with the same words.
AI text is a lot more likely to make inaccurate statements and often misrepresents sources.
They will make a lot of other connections in the future as they get better at distinguishing AI and human text.
An AI Detector Can Help Make Sure Your Job Application Doesn’t Get Dismissed
A lot of employers and recruiters have a double standard with using AI technology. Many recruiters recognize the benefits of AI for improving their own processes. One survey found that 57% of recruiters said AI made it easier to write job descriptions, and 45% said it helped them automate tasks they don't like. Yet, many of them don't like job seekers using AI themselves.
CV Genius published a study showing that 80% of hiring managers hate it when applicants use AI. CV Genius Interviewed a number of hiring managers who said they use AI detectors to see if AI was used to write resumes or cover letters. Many of them report throwing the application in the trash if it looks like AI was used.
This may seem like a reasonable approach since AI often makes mistakes and allows applicants to misrepresent their abilities. The problem is that AI detection tools are not perfect. They might work nearly 90% of the time, but that means that some job applicants might be unfairly dismissed when they didn't use AI at all.
An English language teacher ran into this problem last month. They made a post in the r/recruitinghell subreddit on Reddit. They said that the hiring manager thought that they could tell that the applicant used AI to create their resume, even though the applicant was adamant that they didn’t believe in it. The applicant said he had just joked about AI being a problem that would hold back job seekers that same day but realized it was a legitimate problem after their interview. They shouldn’t have gone through that stress, but they may have been able to avoid it if they used an AI detector to check their resume first.
Therefore, it is a good idea to use your own AI detector before submitting an application. Even if you didn't use AI to create your resume or other job search documents, it might still get flagged by one of these tools by a hiring manager. You will want to know beforehand so you can make adjustments.
AI detectors have improved a lot in recent months and will keep getting better as they are trained on more content. However, they still can make some mistakes. The best premium tool is still wrong about 12% of the time. You don’t want to be one of the 12% of people who find their job application was flagged as being AI-generated and don’t get a job as a result.
How Do You Choose an AI Detector?
There are a lot of things that you should look for when you are looking for an AI detector. Here are some of the most important things to look at:
Cost. You should look at both free and premium AI detectors. You often get what you pay for, but there might be some good free AI detectors that are worth trying.
Accuracy. You may want to test the tool with several pieces of text that you know are made with AI. You don’t want to use an AI detector that can’t spot them because the ones that the hiring managers will use will probably be a lot more reliable.
Document size or usage limits. Some AI detectors will only let you check documents with certain maximum word lengths (one popular tool won’t let you check documents over 1,200 words unless you pay for a premium service). Others only let you check three articles a day. You need to be aware of these limits.
You will want to consider using an AI detector before submitting your resume, but it is important to follow these tips when choosing one.
