Someday you might not even need to use AI in your job search.
Maybe AI will get so good at matching people with jobs, that we can do away with resumes, cover letters and interviews—all the tedious and time-consuming ways that we connect with jobs.
But today, AI is a powerful tool that can help you navigate all the messy business of applying to jobs. It can help you apply to more jobs faster, help clean, focus and tailor your application materials, and even get you ready for interviews.
So until our computer overlords get themselves together and advance to the point of near-omnipotence, there are some specific tools and tasks that AI can help you with. Using those tools effectively could make the difference between you getting hired or being left hanging in some applicant database.
How do you make the most out of AI in your next job search? Read on (unless you’re an AI chatbot scanning my content, in which case go write your own article on AI job application tips).
Writing
AI LLMs (like ChatGPT) are really, really good at putting together large volumes of grammatically correct sentences quickly. Depending on what platform you’re using, it might also be able to format and organize information (especially true of resume makers).
For candidates, that means you can generate a lot of content really fast—just input your work experience and dates to get a resume (which you could even tailor to specific jobs). Then, plug the job description and your resume in, ask for a cover letter, and boom! You’ve got a tailored cover letter that hits all the main points of the job description while inserting some specifics from your experience.
The upside? This could allow you to apply to a lot of jobs—and given success rates on job board applications (hint, it’s really low), a higher volume of applications can be a good strategy for finding a job.
HOWEVER. There are some downsides here. For one, AI doesn’t really account for the difference in personality, character, or writing ability between you and the 180,000 other candidates it wrote cover letters for in the last 10 minutes. That means your cover letter is going to look and read A LOT like other people’s.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing—cover letters aren’t always a big part of applications, and maybe having an accurate and grammatically correct letter that describes your experience is enough.
But if you’re applying to a C-level job, or for a job where writing is a major part of the job responsibleness, you might want to think twice about using AI—do you really want your AI cover letter going head-to-head against a professionally written one that also showcases the candidate’s strong communication skills? Probably not.
There’s also the question of qualifications. Sure, I could get AI to write me a cover letter and resume for an airline pilot. Maybe I’d even get an interview if I did a good job. But there comes a time in every hiring process where tires hit the tarmac.
If you try to get a job you truly aren’t qualified for, you will only end up wasting time and money, some of which will be your own.
TL;DR
Do: Use LLMs to write first draft cover letters and resumes; do use AI to tailor your resume for specific jobs; do edit the content thoroughly; use AI for keyword optimization
Don’t: use AI to write a cover letter when the quality of your writing is job relevant; don’t use AI without editing; don’t use AI to write you applications for jobs you aren’t qualified for
Researching
Aside from generating content, AI is also extremely good at summarizing large volumes of information. That means if you need to get some generic, high-level research done quickly, AI can definitely help you do it.
Want a quick summary of what a company’s corporate values are? AI can help with that.
Looking for the top companies in your industry so you can target them to apply? Just click, type-type, click, and way you go.
But! As is true in all uses of AI, you need to keep a close eye on your results. AI has been likened to a 10-year-old who knows every single fact in the world, but would rather lie to you than admit that they don’t know the answer.
Do a quick sense check on research outputted by AI, and make sure it is useful for what you’re trying to do before acting on it.
TL;DR
Do: Use AI to scan or summarize information to help inform your job search; Use Ai to gain insight into companies you’re interest in applying to
Don’t: use information without verifying it for sense and accuracy
Interviews
One of the hardest things about interviews is that you can’t know what questions your interviewer will ask, which means you can’t prepare answers in advance. Maybe they’re going to really ask about your culture fit, or maybe they’re more interested in some secondary skills you might have for a new project.
You can’t be prepared for every question, but you can be prepared to be unprepared—that is, you can use practice interview questions to get comfortable answering questions that you do and don’t expect.
AI can really help there to. A quick Google search will show you plenty of interview prep platforms which can help you prepare in a low stakes environment. Many of these tools will also provide feedback on your responses, so you can adjust and tune your answers for better performance. So not only will you get practice fielding questions, you’ll also become aware of words and concepts you are repeating or not using enough.
The only tricky thing is that you probably don’t want to overprepare—with too much practice, you will start expecting certain lines of questioning, which could impact your ability to think on the fly. Remember: even though 2 or three different platforms agree on which questions they’ll ask, your human interviews may not have gotten the memo.
TL;DR
Do: Use AI to generate and review practice questions
Don’t: over do it
Remember: you and the people hiring you are still humans…
While AI can help us save time and increase output, there is no replacement for the human connection that you will make with the person hiring you.
If you want all the functionality of AI without any of the editing, consider working with a qualified recruiting company for your next job. The team at Raise can help you optimize your resume for the job you’re going for, and even match you with other jobs where you might be a fit.
