In this mini-episode of Promoted, Merit America Career Coach Patricia Harris explains why so many people freeze when they sit down to write a resume, and how to use AI to find the right language without letting it write your story.
Maybe you spent years raising a family, running a household, or being the person everyone calls when the Wi-Fi goes down. None of that came with a job title, so it’s easy to feel like you’re starting from zero. Patricia’s message? You’re not. You’re just missing the translation.
Key Takeaways
Your experience counts, even when it doesn’t come with a job title. The trick is learning to describe it.
In this episode, Patricia shares:
- Why 70% of employers now report using skills-based hiring, up from 65% the year before
- Why what you’ve actually done increasingly matters more than a title or a straight-line resume
- How to use AI like a “scavenger hunt partner,” not an author
- Why you should start with a plain document of everything you’ve done, not a template
- Why you need to check everything AI gives you against the truth
- How to avoid resumes that sound like a bot wrote it
As Patricia puts it: Use AI to describe what you’ve already done, not to invent what you haven’t.
Tune in to learn:
- Why “you’re not missing experience, you’re just missing the translation”
- How to turn life skills into professional language
- What to put in an AI prompt to get useful, specific results
- How to practice explaining a gap or a pivot before you get to the interview
- How a career coach can help you update a resume and make it sound like you
Check out the full episode!
Join Patricia Harris for a quick, practical guide to translating your skills with AI while keeping your voice, your story, and the final edit in your hands.
Podcast Transcript
Patricia: Welcome back to Promoted, the podcast about leaving low-wage work for good. I’m Patricia, a Merit America career coach.
When it comes to résumés, many people start to write or update their resume and freeze. Not because they haven’t done anything, but because none of it looks like it actually counts. Maybe you were raising a family, running a household, or being the person everyone in your circle calls when the Wi-Fi goes down. It doesn’t come with a job title, so it’s easy to feel like you’re starting from zero. I’m here to say you’re not.
Today’s episode isn’t about reinventing yourself. It’s about learning the language to talk about what you’ve already done, with AI to help you find the language, not write your story for you.
Why translating your skills matters
According to a recent survey, 70% of employers are now reporting using skills-based hiring, and that’s up from 65% the year before. That means that what you’ve actually done and the skills you’ve built increasingly matter more to employers than a title or a straight-line resume ever did. Here’s another way to think about your job search: You’re not missing experience, you’re just missing the translation.
The worry I hear most is: “If I use AI to help translate my experience, won’t it just make me sound better than I actually am?” And honestly, it can, if you let it. AI will happily tell you that you did 100% of something and got it 100% right every time. But your role in creating your resume doesn’t disappear with AI. It actually gets more important. AI can help you find the language, but it doesn’t replace your own storytelling. A good rule of thumb: If you can’t back it up in an interview, then it doesn’t belong on the page.
Owning your presence and your brand
Creating your resume means starting from your whole story, not a template. Before you even touch a resume format, get everything down: the jobs, but also the life skills. Do not underestimate your life skills, and let AI help you see where they fit.
Think of AI as a low-stakes practice partner, a place to work through how you want to introduce yourself, or how you would explain a gap or a pivot, before you’re doing it in the room that actually counts.
As you go through this process, watch for over-optimization. A resume that is too perfectly fine-tuned to a job posting can look and sound like a bot wrote it, and application tracking systems and interviewers will notice that. The goal isn’t a perfect score against some algorithm. It’s to sound like a human.
How to translate skills without losing your voice
Start with a plain document. Don’t start with a template. Write everything down: your jobs, but also the things that never had a title attached. That’s your raw material.
Feed it to AI and ask it to help translate. Tell it what industry or field you’re heading into. Ask it to help you find the professional language for what you’ve already done, with your future goals in mind. Treat AI almost like a scavenger hunt partner, not an author. Give it strong, specific prompts. I always say the power is in the prompt: “This is my story. This is where I’m going. Help me find the connections.” And let it surface things you may not have thought to include.
Edit with your own eyes. Go back through everything AI gives you and check it against the truth. If it inflated something, pull it back. If it made something up, cut it completely. You want your resume to tell the story you actually want to tell, one that’s a reflection of your experience and skills. Think about the gaps, the pivots, and the why behind your path, and then decide how you want that story to read, rather than letting AI decide for you. It’s only a tool.
To recap
You are not starting from zero. You have more skills and experience than you think, so you’re translating. Use AI to find the language for what you’ve already done, not to invent what you haven’t. Don’t over-optimize past the point of sounding like a real person. Authenticity is what’s actually going to land. Then keep the final edit and the final story yours. It belongs to you.
At Merit America, we know that updating your resume can feel overwhelming. That’s why our program includes personalized coaching from career coaches like me, in combination with teaching you how to use AI effectively to update professional collateral like your resume. We’re here to help you use AI as a tool, not a replacement for your own voice.
As a coach, we can offer you personalized guidance and strategies to help you build a career you love. We’ll help you use AI to support your strengths and advocate for yourself, especially when it feels difficult. We’ll help you set clear and achievable goals based on your overall career aspirations, and help you follow through on your plan. Because career success isn’t just about getting a job, it’s about building the career that you really deserve.
Thank you for tuning in. I hope this helps you see everything you’ve already done as something to carry forward, not leave behind. If you’re ready to take your next step, Merit America can help. Visit our website at www.meritamerica.org to learn more.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.