It goes without saying that ChatGPT and AI-powered tools are revolutionising how people are searching and applying for jobs. Yet there are limitations. Use AI wisely to make sure your CV or interview is standing out for the right reasons.
Do your research
Pitfall: ChatGPT can effortlessly create detailed summaries on potential larger employers (it’s not so good with smaller ones) and insights on relevant industry trends and challenges. Be mindful that this is not live data. Information may be outdated or incorrect. And it’s hard to spot the mistakes. Always cross-reference with Google, recent news articles and the company’s website.
Perk: Keeping in mind the above caveats, ChatGPT’s interactivity can bring a whole new dimension to your job search and help you identify an employer that feels a good personal fit. That jobhunters can prompt it to objectively compare similar potential employers, evaluating them on things such as their vision, leadership team, financials and culture, can help guide you to a company offering the opportunities and environment you’re after.
Cover letters
Pitfall: Having recently advertised for a new role at HiJOBS, the number of very obviously AI-generated cover letters filling up the inbox was depressing. Repetitive, lifeless, generic and utterly forgettable. It’s no wonder a recent study by iCIMS, a talent cloud company, found that 39% of HR professionals said that using AI tech during hiring is a dealbreaker. If you have done it, someone else has too.
Perk: That said, prompting Chat GPT to tell you the essential skills for specific roles and then considering how you can build on them, connecting it to your experience or relevant transferable skills, can be very effective in helping you perfect your cover letter.
A good cover letter lets your personality and relevant achievements shine through. And most AI cover letters fail miserably at capturing that important spark.
CV writing
Pitfall: When it comes to using Chat GTP to write your entire CV, don’t. Not only will it be devoid of personality, it won’t accurately reflect your experience in previous roles.
For a shameless plug, a better option is to use ChatGPT to help tailor content (see below), alongside a clever tool such as HiJOBS’ CV Builder to do the heavy lifting. You can have multiple, easily adaptable versions too.
Perk: When applying for a job, it’s always best practice to tailor your CV. Here ChatGPT can be your friend. Try copying and pasting the job descriptions and your current CV into ChatGPT and prompting it to:
- Draft five persuasive resume achievements based on my resume and job description.
- Using the resume and job description below, please showcase eight relevant skills I should highlight.
Goes without saying that the quality of what you receive depends on the quantity and quality of information you put in.
Interview prep
Pitfall: Don’t get too hung up on answering the specific question you’ve prepped using ChatGPT focused on job descriptions. Employers want to get a sense of how you would fit into the team and organisation’s culture.
If you’re applying for a managerial role, mention your personal managerial style. You may not be asked explicitly, or find it in the job description, but employers know what they’re looking for more than an AI system which has analysed the job spec.
Perk: Copying and pasting the job description into ChatGTP and asking it to generate potential interview questions can be an ideal starting point in preparing your interview answers. Use them as a jumping-off point to reflect on your previous experiences and to pick out the relevant skills you want to mention in your interview.
There are also some helpful AI-powered coaching tools to help practice your answers out loud such as Google’s Interview Warmup. This tool will listen to your responses and help identify areas you need to improve or questions you need to brush up on.
Finally, before you hit send…Proof-read. Use a spellchecker or Grammarly and watch out for any American spellings. Even better, ask a human who knows you and your personality well to sense check.
Laura is the Founder and Commercial Director of HiJOBS.net, the Scotland-dedicated job site which puts the candidate at the centre of the online experience. A tech start-up HiJOBS has helped 12,000 employers reach almost 4.5m jobseekers.