Using AI in Your Job Search

AI is everywhere these days and people are rightfully approaching it with equal amounts of delight and suspicion. Both are warranted. Finding ways to work smarter, not harder has always been a goal for individuals and businesses alike, but not at the expense of quality, results, service, or security. If you’re in a job search and struggling to get started, here are a few ways you can safely and effectively use AI to give you a boost in a productive way:

1. Taking the first step to get started (the hardest part):
When you’re overwhelmed, taking that first step can be daunting. Using AI to help you make progress in one major area is a great first step in the right direction. This momentum can be enormously helpful. Whether you use an AI tool to help you create a resume outline, or draft a message to send to your network asking people to keep you in mind for potential job opportunities, simple first tasks like these are gateways to making more substantial progress in your job search.

2. Condensing and summarizing content:
A general rule for resumes and cover letters, is don’t use 45 words when 25 will do. There are numerous AI tools and apps that can help you take a large chunk of content (like all of the information in your current job description) and streamline it to create a summary of what you’re doing. You can use this to succinctly and more effectively describe your role to potential employers in a cover letter, a networking note, or in your resume.

3. Identifying keywords you should be using:
AI is often the first line of screening after you’ve applied to a job, and what it’s looking for is very black and white. If you ask AI to identify the top 10 to 20 keywords and phrases in a job description, this will help you ensure that your resume, cover letter, and other supporting documents use those keywords. When your documents use words that occur frequently in a position description, you’re more likely to be flagged as a match…which means a higher likelihood you’ll be contacted for an interview.

4. Writing cover letter outlines:
Starting a formal letter is hard because most people don’t write like that often enough to be good at it. In this case though, AI plays an important role in creating something from nothing. As we said above, the hardest part is getting started. AI is a great way to get the framework of your letter built out, and then it makes it easier to fill in the gaps.

5. Developing a list of potential interview questions based on a job description:
Just as you can use AI to identify keywords to include in your resume, you can also use it in reverse to take a set of keywords and develop a list of potential questions you may be asked in an interview. Is this the only way you should prepare for interviews? No. Preparing effectively for interviews is more complex because people are more complex and unpredictable. However, AI can help you think of common questions that may come up and how you could respond to them.

What is AI NOT great at? Giving custom advice based on unique circumstances, thinking outside of the box, reading social cues, intuition, framing unique situations in a particular way that benefits you, reflecting effectively on multiple options and outcomes, navigating any sort of gray area, and noticing anything beyond the parameters you gave it.

Need more help? Our career coaches are real people, not AI bots, and we’re experts at all things related to a job search. If you’d like to speak with a real person, then give us a call or send us a message through our website. We’d be happy to chat with you about your unique situation. Cheers to your success!