Prompts to Write Your Resume From Scratch

Interview Me Before You Write a Single Line

You are staring at an empty page and want the AI to pull the material out of you before it drafts anything

You are helping me build the first draft of my resume. Do not write any resume content yet.

Here is everything I have so far:
[PASTE YOUR NOTES, OLD RESUME TEXT, OR A FEW SENTENCES ABOUT EACH JOB]

Step 1: Read it back to me in plain language — what you actually know about my work history: employers, titles, dates, and what I did.

Step 2: List what is missing or too vague to put on a resume.

Step 3: Ask me up to 7 questions, one at a time, about those gaps. Focus on what I did, who it affected, and what changed because of it. Wait for my answer before asking the next one.

Do not write bullets, a summary, or a skills list until I say "write it". When I do, build it only from my answers and output Markdown, using `##` for sections and `###` for each role.

Rules — these override everything above:
- Use only the experience I give you. Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, degrees, certifications, skills, or metrics.
- If a number would strengthen a line and I have not given you one, write a placeholder like [X%] or [$X] for me to fill in. Do not estimate it.
- Do not add a tool, skill, or credential I did not list, however standard it is in my field.
- Rewrite, reorder, tighten and re-emphasize what is already there. Where I have given you too little to work with, ask me for it or leave [add detail].

Turn a Brain Dump Into Resume Sections

You have 20 minutes of messy notes about your career and need them shaped into resume sections

Below is an unstructured brain dump about my career. It is out of order, it repeats itself, and it mixes big things with small ones.

[PASTE YOUR BRAIN DUMP]

Organize it — do not extend it.

Your output:
1. A Markdown resume skeleton. `##` for sections (Experience, Education, Skills, Projects — include a section only if my dump has material for it) and `###` for each role, written as `### [Title] — [Employer]` with the dates on the next line.
2. Every line I wrote, placed under the right role and tightened to a single sentence, in my words.
3. A "Leftovers" list of anything that did not fit a section, so I can decide where it goes.
4. A "Missing" list: dates, employers, or outcomes my dump does not contain. Ask me for those rather than guessing.

Rules — these override everything above:
- Use only the experience I give you. Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, degrees, certifications, skills, or metrics.
- If a number would strengthen a line and I have not given you one, write a placeholder like [X%] or [$X] for me to fill in. Do not estimate it.
- Do not add a tool, skill, or credential I did not list, however standard it is in my field.
- Rewrite, reorder, tighten and re-emphasize what is already there. Where I have given you too little to work with, ask me for it or leave [add detail].

ChatGPT: Dictating a brain dump is usually faster than typing one — ChatGPT's voice input gives you a transcript you can paste straight into this prompt.

Convert Your LinkedIn Profile Into a Resume

Your LinkedIn profile is current but you have no resume file to send

I am converting my LinkedIn profile into a resume. LinkedIn writing is first person and promotional. A resume is neither.

My About section:
[PASTE ABOUT]

My Experience section, all roles:
[PASTE EXPERIENCE]

Convert it:
- Drop first person. No "I", no "my".
- Start every bullet with a verb — past tense for past roles, present tense for the one I hold now.
- Cut the profile filler: "passionate about", "results-driven", "proven track record".
- Keep 3 to 5 bullets per role, with the most recent role longest.
- Turn my About paragraph into a 3-line professional summary built only from claims that also appear in my Experience.
- Output Markdown: `##` for sections, `###` for each role.

Then list every line in my profile that makes a claim with no supporting detail behind it, so I can add the detail or cut the line.

Rules — these override everything above:
- Use only the experience I give you. Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, degrees, certifications, skills, or metrics.
- If a number would strengthen a line and I have not given you one, write a placeholder like [X%] or [$X] for me to fill in. Do not estimate it.
- Do not add a tool, skill, or credential I did not list, however standard it is in my field.
- Rewrite, reorder, tighten and re-emphasize what is already there. Where I have given you too little to work with, ask me for it or leave [add detail].

Claude: Claude takes a long paste in one message, so you can drop every role in at once instead of splitting the profile across several turns.

Build Experience Bullets From a Performance Review

You have a performance review or self-assessment and it is the best surviving record of what you actually did

I am building the Experience entry for one job out of my own performance review. A review is written for my manager, who already knows the context. A resume is written for a stranger who does not.

Role: [TITLE] at [EMPLOYER], [START DATE] to [END DATE]
Review and self-assessment text:
[PASTE]

Do this:
1. Pull out every concrete thing the text says I did or delivered. Ignore ratings, competency labels and development goals — none of that belongs on a resume.
2. Group what you pulled into 4 to 6 themes.
3. Write 1 bullet per theme: past tense, verb first, under 2 lines.
4. Where the review states a number, keep it exactly as written. Where a number is clearly implied but never stated, write [X] and tell me what to look up.
5. Output the Markdown section under `### [TITLE] — [EMPLOYER]`, then an evidence table with two columns: the bullet, and the sentence from my review it came from.

If a theme has no sentence behind it, do not write the bullet.

Rules — these override everything above:
- Use only the experience I give you. Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, degrees, certifications, skills, or metrics.
- If a number would strengthen a line and I have not given you one, write a placeholder like [X%] or [$X] for me to fill in. Do not estimate it.
- Do not add a tool, skill, or credential I did not list, however standard it is in my field.
- Rewrite, reorder, tighten and re-emphasize what is already there. Where I have given you too little to work with, ask me for it or leave [add detail].

First Resume From Coursework and Part-Time Work

You are applying for your first internship or graduate role and your material is coursework, projects and part-time jobs

I am a student with no full-time professional experience. Build my first resume from the material below, and only from that material.

- Degree, school, expected graduation, GPA if I give one: [FILL IN]
- Courses where I built or analyzed something: [LIST]
- Class or personal projects — what it was, what I made, which tools: [LIST]
- Part-time, campus, volunteer or family-business work — employer, dates, what I actually did: [LIST]
- Clubs, teams or roles that carried responsibility: [LIST]

Requirements:
- Order the sections for a student: Education, Projects, Experience, Skills.
- Treat retail, food service, tutoring and campus jobs as real work and write them with the same seriousness as an internship.
- Skills section: only the tools and languages I named above, grouped by type.
- Total length: 1 page.
- Where a number would make a line land, write [X] and ask me for it.
- Output Markdown, `##` for sections, `###` for each entry.

Rules — these override everything above:
- Use only the experience I give you. Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, degrees, certifications, skills, or metrics.
- If a number would strengthen a line and I have not given you one, write a placeholder like [X%] or [$X] for me to fill in. Do not estimate it.
- Do not add a tool, skill, or credential I did not list, however standard it is in my field.
- Rewrite, reorder, tighten and re-emphasize what is already there. Where I have given you too little to work with, ask me for it or leave [add detail].

Rebuild a Resume After Time Away

You are coming back after a career break and need a first draft that handles the gap without hiding it

I am returning to work after a break and rebuilding my resume from nothing. I want it to lead with capability rather than apologize for chronology.

What I did before the break — roles, employers, dates, and what the work involved:
[PASTE]

The break: [START AND END DATES, PLUS ONE LINE ON WHAT IT WAS — caregiving, health, study, relocation]

Anything during it that involved responsibility, tools or other people, paid or not: [LIST, OR WRITE "NOTHING"]

What I am aiming for now: [TARGET ROLE]

Requirements:
- Open with a 3-line summary of what I can do, drawn from what I listed above.
- Show the break once, as a plain dated line. No apology, no euphemism, and never padded into a job that did not exist.
- Keep my prior roles reverse-chronological, 3 to 4 bullets each.
- Tell me which of my prior skills I should confirm are still current, and ask me instead of assuming.
- Output Markdown.

Rules — these override everything above:
- Use only the experience I give you. Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, degrees, certifications, skills, or metrics.
- If a number would strengthen a line and I have not given you one, write a placeholder like [X%] or [$X] for me to fill in. Do not estimate it.
- Do not add a tool, skill, or credential I did not list, however standard it is in my field.
- Rewrite, reorder, tighten and re-emphasize what is already there. Where I have given you too little to work with, ask me for it or leave [add detail].

Use an Old Job Description as a Memory Jog

You cannot remember the detail of an older role but you still have the job description you worked under

I am rebuilding the Experience entry for one role using the job description I worked under. That document says what the job was meant to be. Only I know what the job turned out to be.

Job description:
[PASTE]

My own notes on what I really spent time on, what I changed, and what I owned end to end:
[PASTE — one line per item is fine]

Do this:
1. Reduce the job description to a plain checklist of duties.
2. In a single message, ask me which of those I genuinely owned, which I only touched, and which never happened in practice. Then stop and wait for my reply.
3. After my reply, write 4 to 6 bullets from the duties I claimed plus my own notes. Nothing I did not claim goes in.
4. Keep my phrasing rather than the job description's — that document is written in HR language.
5. Output Markdown under `### [TITLE] — [EMPLOYER]`, dates on the next line.

Rules — these override everything above:
- Use only the experience I give you. Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, degrees, certifications, skills, or metrics.
- If a number would strengthen a line and I have not given you one, write a placeholder like [X%] or [$X] for me to fill in. Do not estimate it.
- Do not add a tool, skill, or credential I did not list, however standard it is in my field.
- Rewrite, reorder, tighten and re-emphasize what is already there. Where I have given you too little to work with, ask me for it or leave [add detail].