AI is changing how we get hired. Here are tips to get your resume beyond the bots

There are almost 80,000 job openings in Connecticut, according to the state Department of Labor.

But we’ve heard from job seekers who say landing a position isn’t easy—artificial intelligence might be part of the challenge. 

“Research is showing that more than 80% of all US companies are using some form of AI in their hiring process,” said Amanda Augustine, resident career expert at TopResume, a company helping job seekers stand out.

The certified professional career coach and resume writer said only one out of four resumes get past AI into the hands of a hiring manager.

Tips to beat the bots:

So how can you stand out?

Augstine said the key is to make your resume AI-compatible.

Her tips to make your resume AI-friendly:

• Avoid images, colors, or unique fonts
• Use simple formatting
• Tailor each resume with key words from the job description
• Avoid buzzwords

“This is not the time to say that you're a ‘marketing ninja’ or you're a ‘B2B pipeline whisperer.’ That doesn't compute with technology,” Augustine said.

Augustine’s advice resonates with soon-to-be college graduate, Mo Kothawala.

The 20-year-old said he’s applied for 50 to 100 jobs.

Augustine said it’s a very competitive job market.

“There has been an influx of talent. We see a lot of very talented individuals looking for work right now," Augustine said.

She said the ease of applying to jobs online adds to the influx of applications, and therefore competition.

Kothawala has been using AI to polish his resume and cover letters before applying to jobs.

“Why not use it when the companies that are hiring you are using it?” he said.

He’ll copy and paste his resume into an AI tool—then ask: How can I make this better for a specific job?

The AI gives suggestions and highlights his skills.

“Not that the AI is writing it for you or doing it for you, it’s just emphasizing on certain things,” he said.

Augustine suggests job seekers take job descriptions and put them into a word cloud generator or AI tool to see what words are most commonly used.

Then, she says, to emphasize those words in your resume or cover letter, if you have those skills.

If all this AI feels overwhelming, don’t sweat.

Organizations like The Workplace are here to help.

“It's not just the case of being prepared for the job, it's that you've got to look at technology, you've got to look at AI, and you can't be afraid of it,” said Joseph Carbone, CEO of The Workplace, a nonprofit offering free training to job seekers to stay competitive as job requirements evolve.

“No employer is going to be a year from now what they are today, and they're going to keep on elevating the requirements of their job, and it's all going to stem from technology,” Carbone said.

Brett Sandman has been taking trainings on topics like cybersecurity through The Workplace to beef up his resume.

The 50-year-old Navy veteran is a seasoned logistics operations expert who’s looking for his next best chapter.

“One of the most common things that I see in my ongoing search for my next career move is that overqualified word,” said Sandman, who has been looking for a job for more than a year now.

He said this was “honestly unexpected.”

A company recently interviewed Sandman using AI.

“It's honestly distracting and maybe even a little disconcerting to be interviewed by this, you know, AI face, right? And so, you know, it took a little practice,” Sandman said.

“You have amazing experience. You served our country. Are you frustrated that it's been taking you a year?” NBC CT Responds consumer reporter Caitlin Burchill asked.

“Sometimes it's frustrating but then, you know, I have to kind of take that step back and take that fresh perspective. I mean, to me, these emerging technologies are changing the world so much,” Sandman said.

While AI and evolving technologies add new challenges, Carbone doesn’t want job seekers to get frustrated.

He’s seen the job market change a lot in his almost three decades as The WorkPlace’s CEO, and he said he’s seen it a lot worse, like during the great recession.

“There's far more jobs posted right now in Connecticut than there are people unemployed, so I'm finding employers are being extremely accommodating and offering good wages, good benefits and extended opportunities, just to both retain and to attract people to come to work for them,” Carbone said.

Some hope as Kothawala, Sandman and others continue the job hunt.

Job Search Resources:

Other than The WorkPlace and LinkedIn, Sandman likes doing research on ONet. The free online database contains job descriptions and allows users to browse the outlook of entering into certain career fields.

Kothawala has his profile to “Open to Work” on LinkedIn and gets job alerts for postings in careers he’s interested in entering.

He also uses Handshake, a career social network built for Gen Z. It connects students with employers who are actively recruiting from their school.

He uses AI tools like Microsoft copilot, Google Gemini, DeepSeek and ChatGPT.