The internet and social media (and this very website) abound with people's thoughts on using AI to write resumes and cover letters to apply for a new job.

Kathleen Nolan would like to set the record straight, at least based on her experience as a technical recruiter for the last seven years: "I don't care if you use AI. Why would I?"

Nolan, 39, is currently a senior recruiter for GrowthLoop, a remote-first tech company.

She tells CNBC Make It she personally reads every resume that comes to her, and that when used well, she fully supports candidates who use AI to write their application materials.

"Everyone uses AI for things like this," she says. "It really doesn't matter. If you're using AI in the right way, no one's going to be able to tell."

How to use AI 'the right way'

As far as using AI the right way, Nolan says the the best practice is to feed a prompt to your generative AI platform of choice, like ChatGPT, get an answer and then tailor the result before adding it to your document.

Some specific prompts include:

• "I am going to send you a job description and resume. Can you optimize my resume for this job?" 
• "Write resume bullet points for [insert job title here] and include metric-based achievements." 
• "Review the following job description and identify the three things the hiring manager really wants in a differentiated candidate: [paste job description here]."

Personalizing your results is crucial, since many AI tools are trained using existing texts and tend to spit out very repetitive, common phrases. At the end of the day, you want the documents to sound like something you'd actually say, Nolan says.

Then, proofread the work to make sure AI hasn't inadvertently introduced any errors or inaccuracies into your resume.

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And be sure you don't include the original prompt in your final document. "You would be surprised; I've seen that many a time," Nolan says.

Otherwise, when it comes to using AI to write your resume and cover letter, "I don't care, and I don't think anyone else should care either," Nolan says. "I think it's very hypocritical when I see recruiters talking about that, because, come on — if I was in the job market, I would be doing that as well."

"I don't know why it's become such a hot-button issue," she adds. "As long as you're using it the way it was intended to be used, no one will be able to know, and it shouldn't matter anyway."

The time-consuming tip that's not worth it

Using AI can help you write a resume much faster, but it might not be worth your time to overhaul it for every new position you apply for, Nolan says.

"Tailoring your resume within an inch of its life for every job — I don't think the ROI is there," she says.

It's a good idea to have a few versions of your resume at the ready with small tweaks if you're applying to very different roles, "but I don't think that you should feel like you need to be completely personalizing it for every place you apply to," Nolan says.

Personalization can be helpful to a degree, she adds, "but I think there are limits to what you can accomplish there."

And good news for cover-letter haters: Nolan says she could take them or leave them.

"If somebody is going to take the time to write one, I am certainly going to take the time to read it," Nolan says, though she acknowledges she does this because she works for a smaller company.

For bigger corporations, however, it's hard to tell if your cover letter will ever land in front of human eyes.

"I would not expect somebody to write a bespoke cover letter for every opportunity, because that would be incredibly time-consuming," Nolan says.

If you're going to submit a cover letter, though, Nolan says make sure it's well written, tailored to the job and company, and says what you want it to say about your enthusiasm for the role and why you're uniquely qualified to fill it.

Want to up your AI skills and be more productive? Take CNBC's online course How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work. Expert instructors will teach you how to get started, practical uses, tips for effective prompt-writing, and mistakes to avoid.

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