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As of 13 August 2026, AI can convert your old CV into a modern CV.
Most people should do this themselves; the prompt is on this page.
Can you do it?
5 minutesto a draft.
30 minutesto something you’d act on.
Cost, all in£0
Skill needednone
Who has to check ityou
What the alternative costsA purpose-built alternative is Resume.io, which offers AI-assisted CVs and cover letters with ATS checks.
If this goes wrong: the CV contains an invented detail or uses a generic design, and you can correct it before applying.
What to actually do
Do it yourself
The route this page recommends
A chat interface, no skill needed, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.
How to actually do it
- Open the old CV and copy its complete text, including employment dates, qualifications, skills and contact details, into a working document.
- Remove unnecessary sensitive details from the copy, such as your full home address, date of birth and marital status, while keeping the facts needed for the application.
- Find the job advert for the role you want and copy its duties, essential criteria and wording into the prompt's target-role section.
- Paste the completed prompt and the old CV into an AI chat, then save the finished CV, the factual-change list and the [CHECK] list it returns.
- Compare every job title, employer, date, qualification, skill and achievement in the draft against the old CV and your own records, replacing or deleting anything that is wrong or marked [CHECK].
- Read the profile and bullets against the job advert, then add only specific evidence from your own experience that answers the advert's requirements.
- Paste the corrected CV into a simple document, check that headings and bullet points render consistently, and send the final file in the format requested by the employer.
Prompt
Convert the old CV below into a modern UK CV tailored to [TARGET ROLE OR JOB ADVERT]. Preserve every fact exactly and invent nothing. Do not add achievements, qualifications, software, responsibilities, dates or performance figures that are not in the source material. Remove outdated wording, repetition and irrelevant detail, but do not remove information that could matter for the target role without listing it under items to confirm. Use clear, plain British English and an ATS-friendly structure with standard headings: Profile, Key skills, Employment history, Education and Professional development. Put the strongest evidence near the top, use concise achievement-focused bullet points where the source supports them, and mark any claim that needs my confirmation as [CHECK]. Do not include a photo, date of birth, marital status, full home address or other unnecessary personal information. Return: (1) the finished CV in plain text, (2) a short list of every factual change or omission, (3) a list of [CHECK] items, and (4) three specific suggestions for improving the CV using information only I can provide. Old CV: [PASTE OLD CV HERE]. Job advert or target role: [PASTE JOB ADVERT OR DESCRIBE TARGET ROLE HERE].
Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.
Use a tool built for this
Second choiceHand it to a person
The distant thirdA person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.
What it gets wrong
- AI cannot know which parts of an older role best support the job you want unless you provide that context.
- It turns vague duties into polished claims without proving that the claims are accurate or persuasive.
- It cannot choose your personal tone or decide which career change explanation will sound credible to a particular employer.
- It may produce a visually modern layout that performs poorly in an employer's application system, so the final format still needs checking.
Even on a YES, the friction has a name: taste and context depth.
How we scored this
Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.
| Axis | Score (0–2) |
|---|---|
| Output | 2 |
| Inputs | 2 |
| Verification | 2 |
| Liability | 2 |
| Effort delta | 2 |
| Total | 10 / 10 |
The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.
FAQ
- Can ChatGPT update my old CV?
- Yes. Give it the complete old CV and, ideally, the job advert, then ask it to preserve facts, remove repetition and flag anything it cannot verify. Check every date, title, qualification and achievement before sending the result.
- How do I make my old CV look modern?
- Use a simple ATS-friendly structure, clear headings, concise bullets and evidence linked to the role. Remove outdated personal details and decorative elements, but do not let a new layout hide missing or weak evidence.
- Can AI tailor my CV to a job description?
- Yes, if you paste the job description alongside your CV. It can identify relevant wording and reorder existing evidence, but you must supply any genuine examples that are missing and reject claims you cannot defend.
- Will an AI-made CV get past ATS software?
- No tool can guarantee that an employer's screening system will accept a CV. Use standard headings, readable text and wording supported by the job advert, then check the final file for layout errors before submitting it.
Nearby answers
Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.
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