Why Using AI To Write Your CV Is Quietly Costing You Interviews

Amina had eight years in marketing. She had launched digital marketing campaigns that actually moved numbers, managed budgets that would make some managers nervous, and built a brand presence for a mid-sized company in Nairobi from almost nothing into something people recognised and respected.

She was good. She knew she was good.

So why did nobody call her back?

For six months, she sent out applications. She kept tailoring her cover letter, double-checked the email before hitting send and then waited. Most of the communications she was getting were mostly silence. Occasionally, a polite automated rejection, which told her nothing.

She started questioning everything. Was it her industry? Her salary expectations? Was she applying for the wrong roles? Did she even have enough experience or skills?

It was none of those things. It was her CV.

She came to my offices feeling defeated and depressed. She told me about her career journey, about her stories and the impact she had on her previous company. I was genuinely impressed by the numbers.

The problem with a CV that sounds like everybody else’s

She had used AI to write it. Pasted in her experience, asked for a professional summary, cleaned it up a little, and called it done.

A recruiter reading ten CVs in a row can spot an AI-written one by the third line. Not because it is badly written. Because it is written like no real person actually works.

A CV should be more than a list of duties; it is supposed to be an argument. It should speak for you when you are not in the room; that’s why it needs to be specific, not shallow, not generic. AI cannot give you that. Only you can give you that.

What changed for Amina

Three weeks after the rewrite, she had four interview invitations. She went to two. She received one offer and was still undecided about the second.

If you have been sending out applications and hearing nothing back, read your CV again. Slowly. Ask yourself honestly, does this sound like me, or does it sound like a template?

If someone who knows you well read it, would they recognise you in it?

Finally

A strong CV is not the most polished one. It is the most honest one, a document that is specific, clear, written in a voice that sounds like a real person who has done real work and knows exactly what that work was worth.

If your CV is not getting the response your experience deserves, our CV writing services can help you build one that actually sounds like you, and gets you in the room