Across industries, businesses handle a staggering volume of documents every day, with resumes being among the most frequently parsed. For organisations in recruitment, HR and ATS providers, choosing the right tool for resume parsing can significantly impact accuracy and team productivity. Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, have become a popular choice for handling various text-based tasks, including parsing documents. But how well do they perform in this specific context?
In this article, we provide a step-by-step guide on how to parse documents with ChatGPT, specifically a resume, explore ChatGPT’s advantages and disadvantages for this task, and compare it to a professional, purpose-built solution: Affinda’s Resume Parser.
5 simple steps to parse resumes using ChatGPT
Extracting data from PDFs as well as other files with ChatGPT, although possible, is not an easy task. Here’s how to do it.
- Prepare the resume by using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software in order to convert it to text
- Copy and paste the text of the resume directly into ChatGPT’s chat interface
- Provide ChatGPT with clear instructions on what you’d like to achieve, e.g. “Parse the following resume and organise the information into sections, like Contact Information, Education, Work Experience and Skills”
- Review and adjust
- You can automate the above process by using a programming language like Python to interact with ChatGPT’s API. To do this, you will need to complete step 1, then:
- Send the text to ChatGPT via API calls
- Receive and store the parsed data
Parsing documents with ChatGPT: advantages and disadvantages
Now that you know how to parse documents with ChatGPT and extract data from PDFs, let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using an LLM for document parsing. Although ChatGPT’s popularity and versatility make it seem like a good option at first glance, it’s crucial to carefully evaluate your parsing options before making a decision.
Advantages
- Capable of handling a variety of tasks beyond AI parsing.
- Utilises advanced AI to produce outputs that feels natural and human-like.
- Excels in processing and interpreting natural language.
- Can be tailored for specific uses with sufficient expertise.
Disadvantages
- May generate inaccurate or illogical outputs, referred to as hallucinations, especially if the document format (PDF etc) needs to be converted to text before input.
- Input character limits can result in truncated resumes and incomplete data.
- Faces challenges with complex resume formats, which may lead to misclassifying information.
- Integration into existing systems can be complicated and expensive and will need developer expertise via API.
- Slower AI document processing speeds make it less ideal for high-volume tasks. You would also need to work with ChatGPT’s API to automate more than one resume to be parsed at a time.
- Often produces generic results, lacking the depth needed for personalised evaluation.
- Can carry over biases from its training data, affecting outputs.
Because of these challenges, specialised tools like Affinda’s NextGen Resume Parser offer a more dependable and efficient option for resume parsing. Built specifically for this purpose, it provides the accuracy, scalability, and reliability that businesses need, without the common drawbacks of GenAI tools.
Professional resume parsing solutions like Affinda’s Resume Parser: the clear advantages
Although ChatGPT has its benefits, it wasn’t created specifically for resume parsing. For companies aiming to simplify their hiring processes with accuracy and speed, dedicated tools are crucial. Affinda’s Resume Parser stands out as a tailored solution, blending advanced AI technology with in-depth data extraction expertise to tackle the specific challenges businesses encounter when parsing resumes. Here are six key reasons why it’s a better fit for your recruitment needs.
1. Processing speed
Speed is of the essence when it comes to parsing resumes efficiently. This is true for several reasons:
- Efficiently handles large volumes of resumes to avoid slowdowns
- Reduces the time needed to fill positions
- Provides a better candidate experinece leading to quicker responses to job applicants
- Helps to secure top talent before competitors that many be using slow and time-consuming processes
- Frees up HR resources to focus on strategic tasks rather than data entry
That’s why Affinda's Resume Parser excels in AI document processing, processing resumes significantly faster compared to LLM solutions like ChatGPT. This is important for organisations that need to handle large volumes of resumes in a short time. Unlike LLMs that may take longer due to their complex architectures, Affinda ensures quick parsing, saving valuable time, with resumes parsed in just 2-3 seconds.
2. Reliability and reduced hallucination
One common issue with LLMs is hallucination, where the model generates inaccurate or nonsensical information. A high risk of hallunication can lead to:
- Inaccurate candidate data, with the resume parser extracting or generating incorrect information about candidates.
- Reduced trust leading to decreased usage of a job board’s platform or ATS if recruiters and employers find that parsed resumes are providing incorrect information.
- Inefficient recruiting, causing recruiters to spend additional time verifying and correcting data manually, which contradicts the primary goal of using a resume parser.
Affinda's Resume Parser is built to reduce errors from LLM hallucinations, delivering reliable and accurate parsing results. This consistency makes Affinda a dependable option, lowering the chance of incorrect data entries. Additionally, Affinda’s resume data outputs include the raw text.
3. Cost-Effectiveness
Affinda's AI parser solution is cost-effective, providing a high return on investment for businesses. By delivering precise results quickly, companies can allocate fewer resources to manual resume screening and more to strategic hiring initiatives. LLM-based solutions may incur higher costs due to their computational demands, making Affinda a more budget-friendly option. With Affinda, standard pricing is $800 USD for 6,000 annual parses, plus 200 free test parses to try out our tech before you commit.
4. Easy Integration
Ease of integration is another key benefit of Affinda's Resume Parser. It integrates smoothly with existing ATS and job boards, as well as HR SaaS platforms, facilitating a straightforward transition with minimal disruption. This capability ensures that businesses can start benefiting from Affinda's advanced parsing technology without extensive setup processes. LLM solutions, on the other hand, might require more complex integration processes.
5. User-Friendly Interface
Affinda focuses on user experience with its intuitive and easy-to-use interface. This straightforward design enables HR professionals and recruiters to navigate and use the parser effortlessly, without requiring specialised training. In contrast, LLM solutions often have a steeper learning curve, demanding more time and effort to master. Affinda’s resume parser eliminates the need for selecting, evaluating, and tuning LLM technologies, ensuring you benefit from future enhancements and features. The output is structured, requiring minimal setup from the client.
6. Customisation Capabilities
We understand that not every business can use an off-the-shelf solution. That’s why we offer customisation options and can talk you through what we can do for you. Unlike LLM tools like ChatGPT, which often lack fine-tuning capabilities, Affinda’s Resume Parser can be tailored to recognise specific keywords and handle particular resume formats, providing the flexibility needed to meet your unique business requirements.
Try Affinda’s NextGen Resume Parser today
Choosing the right AI resume parsing solution is critical for efficient recruitment. Affinda's Resume Parser stands out with its superior processing speed, reliability, customisation capabilities, cost-effectiveness, ease of integration, and user-friendly interface. While GenAI LLMs like ChatGPT have their merits, Affinda provides a tailored, efficient, and reliable solution for today's demanding resume parsing needs.
By considering these top 6 benefits, you can now make an informed decision on which resume parser is best for you. Sign up for a free trial to get 200 test parses before you commit or get in touch with our team to book a demo.
