AI vs AI in Recruitment: Who Really Wins? Frequently Asked Questions About AI and Resume Writing

September 28, 2025

This week, we’ve explored the promise and peril of using AI in resumes and LinkedIn profiles. We’ve looked at why prompts matter, how to spot the “AI tells,” and we’ve answered the biggest questions candidates have about AI in their job search.

But today, we’re pulling everything together. Because the truth is, when you use AI to write your resume, and employers use AI to filter applications, you’re setting up an AI vs AI battle.

The question is: who wins?

Spoiler: usually, not the candidate.

This isn’t about being anti-AI. Far from it. AI is an incredible tool when used wisely. But if you’re relying on it blindly, without understanding how recruiters, ATS systems, and hiring managers are also deploying AI, you could be locking yourself out of opportunities without ever knowing why.

The Rise of AI in Recruitment

📊 98% of Fortune 500 companies now use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter resumes (Jobscan). These systems rely on algorithms, AI, to parse resumes, match keywords, and score candidates before a recruiter even looks at them.

📊 A LinkedIn survey in 2024 found that 75% of recruiters use AI in some part of their hiring process, from resume screening to interview scheduling.

📊 Gartner reports that by 2025, 60% of large organizations will use AI to support candidate sourcing and screening.

In other words: recruiters aren’t reading your resume first. Machines are.

And this is where the paradox begins: candidates are using AI to write resumes at the same time recruiters are using AI to filter them.

Where AI Helps Candidates

Let’s give credit where it’s due. AI has real benefits for jobseekers.

✅ Speed: AI can produce a draft resume or LinkedIn summary in seconds. That’s a massive time-saver compared to staring at a blank page

✅ Overcoming writer’s block: For executives who haven’t updated their resume in years, AI can provide a starting point

✅ Structure: AI can help organize experience into clean bullet points and logical sections

✅ Accessibility: For non-native English speakers, AI can improve grammar, polish phrasing, and suggest vocabulary

These are real advantages, which is why so many candidates are experimenting with tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, and free AI resume builders.

But here’s the danger: AI gives the illusion of competence. A resume may look polished, but under the surface, it can be riddled with problems.

👉 Call to Action: Our Professional Resume Review Service benchmarks your resume against ATS filters and live job descriptions, then gives you a clear score and actionable fixes, so you know exactly where you stand before you hit “send.”

Where AI Hurts Candidates

The problems we’ve seen this week fall into five big categories:

1. Generic Language

AI defaults to clichés: results-driven professional, proven track record, dynamic leader. Recruiters see hundreds of these phrases every week.

🟣 Recruiter quote:

“We can tell within the first two lines if a resume is AI-written. The language is slick but soulless. It doesn’t sound like a real person”

2. Awkward Phrasing

AI often produces lines no human would write: “Leveraged synergies to maximize efficiencies.” These scream “AI”, undermine credibility and are meaningless

3. Lack of Storytelling

AI can’t see the golden thread of your career. It flattens everything into beige wallpaper. The difference between “Improved sales” and “Increased sales 23% YoY across EMEA, adding $18M revenue” is the difference between blending in and standing out

4. Formatting Issues

Many AI resume builders use templates with graphics, tables, or text boxes. These look good to humans but break in ATS. If ATS can’t parse your resume, you’re rejected before a recruiter ever sees it

📊 SHRM estimates that 75% of qualified candidates are rejected by ATS due to formatting issues or keyword mismatches.

5. Keyword Spamming

AI knows keywords matter, but often overdoes it. Keyword stuffing doesn’t just look fake to recruiters; some ATS systems now penalize it.

📊 A SHRM study found that 43% of recruiters say keyword stuffing makes candidates look dishonest.

The AI vs AI Battle: Candidate vs Recruiter

So, what happens when AI-written resumes meet AI-driven ATS?

Candidate’s AI: Produces a resume with generic buzzwords, odd phrasing, and formatting glitches
Recruiter’s AI: Scans for keywords, rejects resumes with broken formatting, and flags suspicious patterns

Result? The recruiter’s AI almost always wins.

This means highly qualified candidates; executives with millions of dollars of results behind them are being filtered out because their AI-written resume didn’t play nicely with the employer’s AI filter.

🔶 Anecdote: One client told us, “I’d been sending out my AI-generated resume for months and hearing nothing. When I finally invested in a professional rewrite, I had interviews within two weeks. The difference wasn’t me, it was the resume.”

What Recruiters Really Think

Recruiters are not anti-AI. In fact, many use it daily. But they’re deeply sceptical of AI-written resumes.

📊 Resume Builder (2023) found that 90% of hiring managers could spot an AI resume and half viewed it negatively.

Recruiters want candidates to sound credible, human, and authentic. A resume that looks “too AI” raises red flags:

Did the candidate exaggerate achievements?
Can they back this up in an interview?
If they blindly outsourced their career story to a machine, what does that say about their leadership?

The Human Factor: Why Humans Still Decide

At the end of the process, it’s still a human making the hiring decision.

And humans care about more than bullet points. They care about:

Fit with organizational culture
Leadership style and personality
The consistency of your career story
Whether they believe you can deliver under pressure

AI can’t capture those things. But the right human storytelling can.

Best Practices: How to Use AI Without Losing Yourself

So, what’s the right balance? Use AI wisely, but carefully.

✅ Use AI to brainstorm: Get ideas flowing, then rewrite with your own detail
✅ Feed AI specific inputs: Numbers, scope, metrics, and context
✅ Edit heavily: Never send the first draft. Or even the second
✅ Check ATS compliance: Avoid graphics, tables, icons, and odd formatting
✅ Sound human: Read it out loud; if it sounds robotic, recruiters will notice
✅ Get an outside perspective: A professional review can stress-test your document

Case Studies: AI in Action

🔶Anne – The VP of Sales

Anne used AI to draft her resume. The result: bland phrases like “Improved sales across the region.” Recruiters ignored it.

When she reworked her prompts with real data (23% YoY sales growth, $18M revenue), her phone started ringing. Within a month, she secured multiple interviews.

🔶David – The Operations Executive

David sent out AI-polished resumes for three years with no results. His summary was filled with filler: “Results-driven leader with a proven track record.”

When he replaced it with specifics — “Reduced logistics costs by 17% while managing a $150M budget and leading 120 staff.” He had more recruiter interest within a month than in the previous three years.

🔶Ahmed – The Redundant IT Director

Ahmed, recently made redundant, turned to AI for speed. It produced a competent resume, but one that looked like everyone else’s. After investing in a professionally written CTO-level resume, he had his first interview within 12 days and an offer within 32 days, at a firm with flexible working that fit his family life.

Research and Evidence

📊 7.4 seconds — the average recruiter scan time for a resume (The Ladders)

📊 78% — the percentage of our clients who secure interviews for ideal roles within 30 days of working with us (Resume Pilots client data)

📊 90% — the percentage of hiring managers who can spot AI-written resumes (Resume Builder, 2023)

📊 75% — the percentage of qualified candidates filtered out by ATS before a human ever sees them (Jobscan)

📊 43% — the percentage of recruiters who view keyword stuffing as dishonest (SHRM)

👉 Looking to write your own story? Our Instant Download Executive Resume Templates give you ATS-friendly structures, storytelling frameworks, and metrics trackers to help you build a resume that stands out, even if you choose to use AI as a co-pilot.

The Bottom Line: AI Won’t Win the Battle for You

AI is here to stay. It’s transforming recruitment on both sides of the hiring table. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you rely on AI to write your resume, you’re entering a battle where the recruiter’s AI is stronger, stricter, and less forgiving.

The result? Lost opportunities. Silent rejections. Months of frustration.

The winners in this new AI vs AI world will be the candidates who learn how to use AI wisely, and who know when to bring in human expertise to refine, polish, and tell their story.

Because at the executive level, your reputation is too important to outsource to a machine.

Searching Questions for You

🔍 Is your AI-written resume helping you stand out — or making you blend in?
🔍 Can your resume survive ATS filters and a recruiter’s 7-second scan?
🔍 Would you trust your leadership brand to a machine? Or is it time to invest in a strategy that works?

To read our full collection of blogs around using AI in resume writing, use these links:

Final Call to Action

Don’t let AI hold you back.

At Resume Pilots, we help executives create resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and cover letters that cut through the noise; documents that pass ATS filters, impress recruiters, and secure interviews.

🟢 Try our Professional Resume Review Service. We’ll give you an ATS score, benchmark your resume against real job descriptions, and provide clear, actionable fixes. We offer a LinkedIn Review Service too.

🟢 Or, if you’re ready for a full transformation, explore our Executive Resume Writing Packages. With 78% of clients securing interviews within 30 days, the results speak for themselves.

🟢 Want a DIY option? Our Instant Download Executive Resume Templates give you ATS-friendly structures, storytelling frameworks, and metrics trackers to help you build a resume that stands out, even if you choose to use AI as a co-pilot.

Because in today’s job market, it’s not AI vs AI. It’s AI plus you vs the competition. And that’s how you win.

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AI vs AI in Recruitment: Who Really Wins? Frequently Asked Questions About AI and Resume Writing