Written by Corbin C, Career Advisor
If you read much about the contemporary job search, you’re bound to hear about algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation — but what is this stuff, really? And can any of it be used to your advantage as a job seeker?
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) — the software that recruiting agencies and large employers use to manage applicants and job orders — have for many years utilized some type of computer-aided ranking system to filter search results. In fact, this type of technology has long been a primary selling point to differentiate one ATS from the next.
But, ask any recruiter and you’ll hear groans about the efficacy of these rankings; you’re unlikely to find many who find them more valuable than their own evaluations.
In the past couple of years, AI has made a lot of progress in achieving more reliable predictions and generating more believable content — and it’s inevitable that these same machine learning concepts will spread far and wide. Right now, there are countless startups developing AI technologies they claim will solve companies’ hiring woes (I recently demoed a few of them at a local entrepreneurs’ fair). Inevitably, some employers will embrace these technologies with open arms, and others will not see them as worth the investment.
What does this mean for you?
ChatGPT and similar services have put AI in the hands of anyone with access to the internet. While I wouldn’t personally recommend using text from ChatGPT verbatim, it’s a great resource for idea generation.
Here are three ways you might add AI as a tool in your job search toolkit:
Writing Resumes
Maybe it’s been a few years since you’ve had to write your resume, and you’re not sure where to start. While you could just copy-paste your duties from your job description straight into your resume, instead you might generate bullet points using AI with a prompt like this:
Write a qualified resume for this job: [copy-paste your job description]
Answering Interview Questions
You’re not likely to know exactly which questions will be asked in an interview, but there’s a good chance that you’ll hear some of the more common behavioral interview questions:
Tell me about a time when you had conflict with a colleague.
Tell me about your greatest weakness.
Tell me about a time when you had projects with conflicting deadlines.
ChatGPT is pretty good at answering these questions, along with providing an explanation of why they answered the way they did – which can be great prep for your next interview.
Try giving ChatGPT a prompt like this:
Give me an example of how to answer the question,
“Tell me about a time you had conflict with a colleague.”
Navigating Career Transitions
When looking to change careers, “transferrable skills” are key. However, the responsibility is on you to explain how your skills translate and transfer. Or, you can make it ChatGPT’s responsibility by using a prompt like this:
I’m a public school teacher looking to make a career transition. How can I explain my qualifications for this job: [copy-paste the job description]
In a rapidly evolving tech landscape, it’s difficult to predict where AI and large language model technologies will go next, but it’s always worth being aware of what’s happening — on both sides of the job search — to best position yourself and make the most of the tools and resources we have access to.
