Landing a freelance or full-time health writing role can feel competitive. Whether you’re applying for a patient education position, a medical communications role or your first freelance health writing project, your CV is often the first thing a prospective employer or client sees.
A strong CV does more than list your qualifications and experience. It shows that you understand the role, highlights your most relevant skills and demonstrates why you’re a good fit. The challenge is that every opportunity is slightly different, which means a one-size-fits-all CV is rarely the best approach.
Fortunately, AI tools such as ChatGPT can help you customise your CV quickly and efficiently.
Why tailored CVs matter in health writing
Health writing is a broad field with many specialisations. A company hiring a patient education writer may value plain language skills and consumer health experience. A medical communications agency might be looking for scientific writing expertise, familiarity with clinical research and experience working with healthcare professionals.
When you submit the same generic CV for every application, you risk burying the most relevant parts of your experience. Tailoring your CV helps you emphasise the skills, achievements and qualifications that matter most for a particular role.
It can also improve your chances of passing applicant tracking systems (ATS), which many organisations use to screen applications before they reach a human reviewer.
Step 1: Gather your materials
Before using ChatGPT, collect the information you’ll need:
- Your current CV
- The job description or freelance project brief
- Any portfolio samples relevant to the role
- Notes about recent projects or achievements you may want to include
The more specific information you provide, the more useful the AI-generated suggestions will be.
Step 2: Ask ChatGPT for targeted recommendations
Copy and paste your CV along with the job description into ChatGPT. Then provide a clear prompt explaining what you want to achieve.
For example:
“Help me tailor my CV for a freelance medical writing role focused on patient education materials. Identify skills and experiences I should emphasise and suggest improvements to my professional summary and work experience sections.”
ChatGPT can help you:
- Rewrite bullet points to highlight relevant experience
- Strengthen your professional summary
- Identify transferable skills
- Suggest areas where you may be underselling your experience
- Improve clarity and readability
This can save significant time compared with manually rewriting sections for every application.
Step 3: Review and personalise the output
While ChatGPT can generate useful suggestions, it doesn’t know your full career history or achievements. That’s why human review is essential.
Read through every suggestion carefully. Remove anything that sounds generic, exaggerated or inaccurate. Replace broad statements with specific examples whenever possible.
For example, instead of saying you have “excellent communication skills”, consider mentioning that you developed patient education resources for a hospital department or wrote evidence-based health content for a government organisation.
Your goal is to ensure the final CV still sounds like you.
Step 4: Incorporate keywords strategically
Many employers use ATS software to search for specific skills and qualifications. ChatGPT can help identify important keywords from a job description and suggest natural ways to include them in your CV.
Examples might include:
- Patient education
- Health literacy
- Evidence-based writing
- Medical communications
- Scientific publications
- Regulatory writing
- Clinical research
Avoid keyword stuffing. The terms should fit naturally within your descriptions of experience and achievements.
Step 5: Proofread before submitting
AI can improve your CV, but it can also introduce errors or awkward phrasing. Before sending any application, carefully proofread the document.
Check for:
- Grammar and spelling mistakes
- Inconsistent formatting
- Repeated information
- Factual inaccuracies
- Overly generic language
In health writing, accuracy and attention to detail are critical. Your CV should demonstrate both.
Why this approach works
Using ChatGPT to tailor your CV allows you to create more targeted applications in less time. Instead of starting from scratch for every role, you can quickly identify the experiences and skills that are most relevant to a particular opportunity.
The result is often a stronger, more focused application that speaks directly to the needs of employers and clients.
However, remember that AI is a tool, not a substitute for professional judgement. Your expertise, experience and unique perspective are what ultimately make you a compelling candidate.
Bonus tips
- Create separate CV versions for different health writing niches, such as patient education, medical journalism, medical communications or pharmaceutical copywriting.
- Update your CV regularly with new projects, certifications and achievements.
- Use ChatGPT to help tailor cover letters as well as CVs.
- Keep a master document containing all your experience so you can easily adapt it for different opportunities.
Frequently asked questions
Will AI write my CV for me?
AI can help improve wording, structure and relevance, but you should always review and personalise the final document.
How do I keep my CV authentic?
Use AI suggestions as a starting point. Add your own examples, achievements and voice to ensure the document accurately reflects your experience.
Can ChatGPT help with cover letters?
Yes. You can provide a job description and ask ChatGPT to help draft a tailored cover letter that complements your CV.
Is it safe to share personal information with AI?
Be cautious about sharing sensitive personal information. Consider removing personal identifiers and confidential details before uploading documents to AI tools.
