Tailor your resume to one job ad, then pass the ATS check

Steps

1. 1Copy the full job ad (title, responsibilities, requirements) and the plain text of your current resume. Remove your address, ID number and date of birth before pasting anything into an AI tool.
2. 2Paste the prompt below into ChatGPT or Claude with both texts. Ask for the tailored resume plus a table of the ad’s keywords and where each one now appears in your resume.
3. 3Read every line. Delete or correct anything you did not actually do, any number you cannot back up and any tool you have not used. The model’s job is wording and order, not facts.
4. 4Open Teal or Kickresume (both have a free plan) and paste the text into a single-column template with standard headings: Summary, Experience, Education, Skills. No tables, text boxes, columns, icons or photos; ATS parsers skip them.
5. 5Run the check: in Teal, save the job in the job tracker and compare your resume to it to see which keywords are still missing; in Kickresume, run the resume checker. Fix real gaps only; do not stuff keywords for skills you lack.
6. 6Export as PDF unless the ad asks for Word, name it Firstname-Lastname-Role.pdf, and open it to check the text is selectable and the order survived.
7. 7Reuse the same chat for a 120-word cover letter and three likely interview questions from the ad; then save this resume version under the job’s name so each application has its own.

Prompt

Replace anything in { } with your details.

You are a careful resume editor. Tailor my resume to the job ad below. Language: {LANGUAGE}.
Hard rules:
- Use ONLY facts from my resume. Do not add skills, tools, employers, dates or numbers that are not there. If something important for the ad is missing, list it under "Gaps to address" instead of inventing it.
- Keep it to {1 or 2} page(s), single column, standard headings (Summary, Experience, Education, Skills), bullet points starting with a verb.
- Mirror the ad’s wording for skills I genuinely have (e.g. if the ad says "stakeholder management" and I did that, use those words).
Deliver:
1. The tailored resume as plain text.
2. A table: keyword from the ad | present in my resume? (yes/no) | where.
3. "Gaps to address": what the ad wants that I cannot truthfully claim.
Job ad:
{PASTE JOB AD}
My resume:
{PASTE RESUME}

Expected output

A one- or two-page resume that mirrors the ad’s language without new claims, a keyword table showing what matches, a list of honest gaps, and an ATS-safe PDF checked in Teal or Kickresume.

Gotchas

• ⚠ Teal’s and Kickresume’s scores are their own estimates, not the employer’s ATS; a high score is a hint, not a guarantee.
• ⚠ Write in the language of the ad; for Gulf employers who post in English, keep the resume in English even if the interview will be in Arabic.
• ⚠ Never paste your national ID, passport number, full address or your references’ phone numbers into an AI tool.
• ⚠ Free plans limit exports and templates (Kickresume’s free plan has 4 basic templates); check the PDF before you pay for anything.
• ⚠ Recruiters notice AI phrasing like “spearheaded” and “leveraged”; read it aloud and cut what you would not say.