It takes hours for some people to craft a résumé and cover letter, listing past experience and accomplishments on a sheet of paper—details your interviewer is likely to ask you to explain face-to-face anyway. That redundant, time-consuming process has forced many to ditch the career materials, and Elon Musk is leading the charge.
“AI is killing the résumé and the résumé has been bad for a long time, but AI makes it so much worse,” hiring expert Dr. John Sullivan, dubbed the “Michael Jordan of hiring” by Fast Company, told Fortune. “When every résumé is perfect, has no spelling errors, flaws of any kind, imagine how many you have to sort in order to determine who you’re going to interview.” Sullivan said AI allows applicants to perfect their résumé, adding keywords that bypass ATS résumé checkers and check for spelling and grammar errors which otherwise tend to disqualify candidates.
“Top-tier employees are often so busy performing high-level work that they don’t have the time or the need to look for a job or update their career materials,” Sullivan said.
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on Feb. 20, 2026.
