Using AI to Supercharge Your Job Search

Searching for a job can be a challenging and time-consuming task that requires a great deal of effort and perseverance. It’s not uncommon to feel lost and overwhelmed due to the vast amount of resources, tips, and advice available to you. However, with the emergence and swift evolution of generative AI tools, you can automate many parts of your job seeking process — leaving time for you to focus on what actually matters, which is honing your skills and identifying a role that is best fit for you.

Chat GPT and other tools can help you identify the most relevant job opportunities, optimize your resume, cover letter, and other materials, practice your interview skills, and streamline your networking and personal brand.

Skills and Keywords Optimization for Your Resumes and Cover Letters

The real benefit of using Chat GPT for your resume and cover letter is to optimize both documents for keywords and skills specifically related to the posted job description.

Chat GPT and generative AI can help you optimize your resume for every JD, ultimately making it more likely that your resume passes through application tracking systems that are set up to filter based on specific keywords. The best case scenario — even beyond mere optimization — is when Chat GPT can offer you bullet points or paragraphs specific to your experience and related to the key words and skills outlined in the posting.

Resume Writing

• Content optimization: a foolproof way to use ChatGPT to build your resume is to provide it with a job description and your resume. Prompt like this: “Write [x number] of resume bullet points based on the following job description, and use my resume as reference.” In the same prompt, copy and paste the JD, and below it, your resume. The bullets it shares back will be relevant across various of your roles, so makes sure to match them correctly.
• You can also ask the chat assistant to summarize points for you. If you copy and paste the job description for your current role into the chat, you can ask it to, “Write a resume entry based off of this [Cloud Architect] role with three to four bullet points.”
• Template and format: Once you’re comfortable with the content of your application, there are two main ways to go about using generative AI to create a resume format that works for you. First, you can find examples of resume formats you admire (use a friend or colleague’s, or find sample resumes online) and upload them to Chat GPT. “Add the details of the first resume to the format of the second resume,” and then paste both resumes in order in the same prompt. Another way to go about this is to ask the bot to create a resume template based off of institutions you admire, for instance “create a resume template that mimics the Harvard Business School format,” or “create a resume template likely to be viewed by Microsoft.” You can then ask the tool to add your details to this format.

Cover Letter Optimization

• Ask Chat GPT to identify keywords based on a job description, which you paste into the prompt. Ask it to also consider keywords based on the industry and the job title, such as, “Identify keywords based on this job description for ‘Product Manager, General Solutions, Core Machine Learning’ at Google.” Another example might be, “What keywords and skills should I use in my resume for a Software Engineer role at Meta?”
• Then try this prompt, “Using the keywords identified above, write a three-paragraph cover letter based on the job description below. Emphasize my experience with [X role or keyword]. Context: Take into consideration my resume below, the website of [the name of the company to which you’re applying].”
• You can ask the bot to “emphasize my experience with JavaScript,” or “focus on my experience leading cross-functional teams.”

Here is an example of a cover letter Chat GPT generated via the prompt above, using an open product manager job description at Google and a sample resume from an entry-level product manager:

Identifying Strengths

Throughout the resume- and cover letter- writing process, you can ask Chat GPT to identify strengths or skills relevant to your search. Use these suggestions to update your experience or even guide your job search towards roles more relevant for you.

Interview Preparation and Networking

Growing Your Network

Preparing yourself for the job process begins with networking. Generative AI can help you identify who to reach out to and can even automate parts of the networking process. Tools like Text Blaze integrate with Chat GPT to help you create personalized connect messages with speed and scale. (Here’s a video overview of how to do this.) For more personalized outreach, you can copy and paste a person’s LinkedIn profile details into the Chat GPT box and ask, “help me write a connect message to a person with the experience below [paste LinkedIn details].”

Another way to grow your network is to align with people in your field via mentorship. As a mentor or mentee, you have the unique opportunity to offer expertise or ask questions to those with similar or aspirational professional backgrounds. Merit, a mentorship platform democratizing access to tech careers, has recently made it easier for job candidates to get found — by recruiters, hiring managers, and peers. When building your candidate profile, you can upload your resume. Merit automatically scans your resume to ensure recruiters can find you by keyword.

Interview preparation

Chatbots and virtual assistants can assist you in practicing for interviews. Chatbots can simulate a hiring manager, asking you common questions and providing valuable feedback to improve your responses. Additionally, they can offer personalized job recommendations based on your qualifications and preferences, opening the door to job opportunities you might not have considered otherwise. Try the following prompts to get you started:

• What are the top ten most common interview questions for [X industry] and/or [X role]?
• Simulate a high-level interview for a position as a [job title] by asking questions as if you are a potential employer. Provide questions and sample responses for increasingly difficult questions to screen my competence. Take into consideration my resume and the job description.

Here are a couple of the questions and answers Chat GPT generated, using the same job description and resume referenced above:

Polite and professional communication

Using the same principles above, generative AI can help you craft follow-up and thank-you emails after interviews, ensuring your post-interview communication is well-received and leaves a positive impression. Remember that you can also ask Chat GPT to change the tone of your messages and outreach from “formal,” to “casual” and anywhere in-between. Use these additional capabilities to ensure a certain level of accuracy and personalization when connecting with people virtually. While you are optimizing the process, it’s important to remember that everyone on the receiving end is a real person — not a data point.

Personal Branding and Beyond

Building your personal brand is a great way to generate inbound content while you’re going through the job search. By posting on LinkedIn or professional forums, you establish yourself as a subject matter expert and thought leader on areas related to your aspirational role or field. This, in turn, can help you generate inbound outreach from recruiters, potential hiring managers, and mentors in the field.

Use Chat GPT to generate a skeleton, or general structure, for your content. However, it’s important to ensure that you humanize and personalize what Chat GPT offers back to you. The example below offers good insight into what topics to cover, angle to take, or even hashtags to use. But it is also fairly generic!

By applying your writing style, unique story, and opinions, you’re differentiating yourself and your perspective. Remember that others are using Chat GPT and generative AI with increasing frequency — AI tools are rapidly becoming a part of daily life — so your voice (whether in a resume, cover letter, social media post, or anything else) is more valuable than ever before.

Leveraging AI in Your Job Search

Integrating AI into your job search process can save time, increase your chances of success, and provide a strategic edge. AI is a way for you to remove the monotonous steps and focus on the decisions that really matter in your job search: where to apply, what you present and what questions you ask. By embracing the benefits of generative AI and mastering its capabilities, you can watch your job search reach new heights. Whether you're an early career job seeker or someone recently laid off, AI can be a game-changer in your quest for the perfect job.

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Optimize your job search by adding your resume to Merit: