When writing an introductory text for a CV, the tone of voice is crucial. It determines the first impression that a potential client gets of the candidate. The right tone of voice can help convey the personality and qualifications of the candidate clearly and attractively to the client.
Below you will find a number of issues that often occur when writing a Tone of Voice and prompts in general. For each issue, we also describe an appropriate solution and provide an example of how to incorporate this into the prompt.
The tone of voice consists of two parts: the instructions and one to three examples. The instructions are used as a guideline to generate the introduction text, and the examples serve as examples of the writing style.
5 common problems in prompts
Shallowness:
Often, the AI tends to remain superficial when proposing candidates. You can prevent this by forcing the AI to delve deeper into certain aspects. Here is an example:
Focus especially on the skills that a candidate has used and learned during their previous experiences rather than just the job titles.
Incorrect interpretation due to spelling errors:
Sounds simple, but it's important. The prompts will be followed better by the AI if the instructions are written in correct Dutch. This way, the AI will understand it better and can execute the given instructions more accurately.
The text is not the correct length:
Often you want to give an introductory text a certain length. Explicitly stating the number of words in an introductory text works well. Even better is to explicitly state the number of paragraphs and how many words you want these paragraphs to contain. Here is an example:
Write an introductory text of 3 paragraphs. In the first paragraph, you give a personal introduction about the candidate of 30 words, the second paragraph addresses the candidate's work experience of 40 words, and finally, you write a paragraph of 30 words that shows why the candidate fits the given vacancy.
Or a general approach:
Maximum 100 words.
Clearly AI-written text:
LLMs are primarily trained on English (American) text. This means you quickly get exaggerated, American-style writing, which immediately reveals to the informed reader that a text is AI-generated. This can cause the reader to lose interest. Recently, the 'em dash' - a dash in the middle of the sentence - has gone viral because of how much ChatGPT uses it. To get the AI to write less like ChatGPT and in a less American style, you can append the following sentence at the end of the ToV:
Write in an objective, argumentative manner and avoid adjectives.
The AI makes mistakes or writes untruths:
The AI can become confused if there is too much unnecessary information present, such as a candidate's name or a company name in an example text or in the instructions. Try to remove these names and replace them with: {‘name’}. This is much clearer for the AI and will lead to more accurate generation. Here is an example:
An active, positive, and hard-working professional. {‘name’} is a very fast worker...
Example tone of voice
Instruction (500 characters)
Start with a strong opening sentence that names the key qualities of the candidate. Use active language and concrete examples to illustrate the skills and achievements. Keep the text concise and relevant, and adjust the tone to fit the company culture and position. Conclude with a sentence that emphasizes the candidate's enthusiasm for the role and the company. The text may be a maximum of 100 words.
Examples (600 characters)
An enthusiastic and results-oriented professional, that is {‘name’}. With a background in marketing and strong analytical skills, she knows how to develop strategies that really work. {‘name’} is creative, driven and always looking for ways to further develop herself. Her ability to work both independently and as part of a team makes her a valuable addition to any project. {‘name’}’s passion for innovation and her proactive attitude align perfectly with the dynamic environment of {‘CompanyName’}.
{‘name’} is a disciplined and innovative IT specialist with a passion for problem-solving. With a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and five years of experience in software development, he brings a wealth of technical knowledge. {‘name’} excels at working under pressure and has a proven track record of delivering high-quality solutions. His communication skills and team spirit make him the ideal candidate for the role of {‘JobTitle’} at {‘CompanyName’}.
