Should Job Seekers Use AI?

This question continues to come up with clients. Should I use AI to help with my CV? Is it cheating? Will recruiters know?

Here is my honest answer as someone who has been on both sides of this process for nearly 20 years.

Yes, use it. But know exactly what it is for.

AI has a legitimate and genuinely useful role in the job search. Polishing your language, tailoring your CV to a specific role, drafting a cover letter, preparing for interview questions - these are all fair and sensible uses of the technology. It levels a playing field that has always favoured those with access to professional support. Not everyone can afford a career coach. AI changes that.

Where I draw a clear line is fabrication.

When candidates use AI to write skills and experience they do not have into their application, they are not optimising. They are lying. And the consequences fall entirely on them. A well-trained recruiter spots it within minutes of the interview. An ATS might let it through, but the hiring manager will not. What gets destroyed is not just the application. It is the candidate's professional reputation, which in most sectors is a much smaller, more connected world than people expect.

There is also a problem with volume. AI has made it very easy to send 200 applications with minimal effort. Volume is not a strategy. Twenty well-targeted, honest applications will outperform 200 generic ones almost every time. Mass applications flood recruiters with noise and make it harder for everyone, including you.

The question worth asking is not "how do I get past the ATS?" It is "am I actually a credible fit for this role?" AI can help you present your real experience more powerfully. It cannot create experience you do not have. That distinction matters to the company and to your own career over time.

The Tools Worth Using

Here is where AI genuinely helps, and the specific tools worth considering in 2026.

CV Review and Cover Letter Writing: Claude or ChatGPT

For most candidates, Claude and ChatGPT are the two best starting points, and both have free tiers.

Independent testing consistently finds Claude stronger for resume tailoring and cover letter writing specifically. It handles more context at once, meaning you can paste in your full CV, the job description, and some company research, and it holds all of it simultaneously. It also tends to produce writing that reads as more considered and less templated.

Where ChatGPT pulls ahead is on mobile and for candidates who find it easier to talk through their experience out loud, using its voice feature to brainstorm before they write. For creative industries where a less conventional cover letter opener helps, it also has an edge.

The practical approach: use whichever you find most natural. Both are tools. Both require you to bring the real content.

One important note: if you use either tool to draft your cover letter or tailor your CV, always read it aloud before you send it. AI-generated language has a particular cadence that experienced recruiters recognise. Edit it until it sounds like you.

ATS Compliance Checking: Resume Worded or a dedicated ATS scanner

ATS systems are used by the vast majority of companies to manage applications, but they work differently to how most candidates assume. They do not secretly bin your application. What they do is rank and sort resumes, flag keyword mismatches, and apply employer-set knockout filters such as work authorisation or minimum experience requirements. The real risk is a resume that fails to parse correctly - tables, columns, text boxes, and graphics cause parsing failures in roughly one in four cases. Keep your formatting clean and your language aligned with the specific job description.

Resume Worded is a solid free option for checking your CV against a specific job description. It surfaces keyword gaps and flags structural issues without requiring a paid subscription for the core functionality.

On Teal: it is widely recommended and has a genuinely strong job tracker, but independent reviews in 2026 flag that some of its resume templates can cause formatting issues with certain ATS systems, the specific problem you are trying to avoid. If you use Teal, check your exported PDF carefully before submitting anywhere and consider running it through an additional ATS checker as a second pass.

The most common formatting mistakes that trip up ATS scans: tables, text boxes, columns, headers and footers, graphics, and anything other than a standard clean font. Keep it simple. The ATS does not see your design. It sees whatever it can parse.

If you want a head start, my Resume Writing Guide includes a free ATS-compatible CV template designed to pass these checks cleanly. It is available here, on Amazon and free with Kindle Unlimited; the template alone is worth the download if your current CV has any of the formatting issues above.

Mock Interview Practice: The Interview Lab, Skillora or Pramp

This is where AI tools have genuinely changed what is accessible to candidates. Realistic interview practice with immediate feedback used to require a coach or a willing contact. It no longer does.

The Interview Lab is one of the strongest options available right now for realistic mock interview practice. It offers 10 role-specific AI specialists, covering Sales, Engineering, HR, Finance, Data Science, Operations and more, each built in collaboration with senior practitioners who have actually run hiring processes in their field. You speak directly with your specialist in a real voice session; they push back on vague answers the way a real interviewer would, and a detailed scored report lands in your inbox within minutes of the call ending. It includes a Hire or No-Hire verdict, scores across 11 dimensions, your strongest and weakest answers identified, and three specific coaching exercises to act on before your next interview. A free 7-minute preview session is available with no account or credit card required. A full 40-minute session costs $25.

Skillora is the best free starting point. It conducts voice-based mock interviews tailored to your actual resume and target role, asks dynamic follow-up questions the way a real interviewer would, and gives you instant scored feedback after every answer. It covers any role and industry, from entry-level to executive, and is free to start with no credit card required.

For candidates who want the pressure of a real human on the other side of the conversation, Pramp matches you with a peer for a live practice session. The social pressure of performing in front of another person is something AI simulations only partially replicate, and for many candidates it is that specific pressure where the work needs to be done.

One thing worth being clear about: general AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT are excellent for preparing and refining your answers before you practice. If you want a structured approach with ready-made AI prompts to guide your practice sessions, my Ultimate Interview Guide covers exactly this, including a full prompt library for preparing your STAR answers, anticipating likely questions, and stress-testing your responses before you engage with a dedicated mock interview tool or walk into the interview room.

Job Application Tracking

As your search progresses, keeping track of what you have sent, to whom, at what stage, and what follow-up is needed becomes more important than most people expect. A missed follow-up or a duplicate application is a small thing that leaves a disproportionately bad impression.

There are several free digital trackers available; Teal includes one, and a basic spreadsheet does the same job if you maintain it consistently.

If you purchase any of my career guides, a Job Application Tracker comes included as a free bonus. It covers the full application lifecycle in one place: recruiter contact details, which resume version you submitted, salary range, company portal login credentials, interview stages and interviewer details, feedback received, and post-offer decisions. There is also a withdrawal email prompt, which most people forget until it is too late. It is considerably more comprehensive than most free digital trackers and yours to keep and adapt. Details at elizabethlenihan.com/store.

The Bottom Line

Use the tools. Learn how they work. Understand what each one is actually for.

But bring yourself to the process. The language AI helps you polish needs to describe real experience. The CV it helps you tailor needs to reflect genuine alignment with the role. The answers you practise in a mock interview need to be grounded in things you have actually done.

The candidates getting hired are not those who have automated their application most efficiently. They are those who are clearest on what they offer, most specific about where they want to go, and most honest about the fit. AI can support all of that. It cannot replace any of it.

If you are not sure whether your CV is presenting you at your best, or you want to talk through your job search strategy, you can reach me at hello@elizabethlenihan.com.

Elizabeth Lenihan is an award-winning Career Strategist, Talent Consultant and Recruiter with nearly 20 years of experience. Winner of the 2022 EU Woman4IT Ambassador Award. elizabethlenihan.com