AI is revolutionizing job hunting. Discover 5 ways to leverage chatbot tools for creating job applications, resumes, and job postings, and avoid 5 common pitfalls of using AI.
An increasing number of job seekers are turning to AI-based chatbots to simplify and expedite their job search process.
ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, has been a popular topic for a couple of years, but in reality, there are now over ten different chatbot solutions based on large language models available on the market, many of which offer free versions for users. Despite the abundance of free options, not everyone is using AI assistance for creating job applications, resumes, and job postings.
The quality of AI-generated content has improved phenomenally since ChatGPT's launch in 2022. Current models are multimodal, meaning they can listen to and produce sound and analyze images in addition to text. The latest models are excellent tools for supporting and challenging your thinking in both written and spoken forms.
Is using AI in job hunting advisable, then? Utilizing AI demonstrates to a company that the applicant is adaptable and eager to learn new tools and skills, which is highly valued in many fields. According to a study by Lightcast, the demand for AI skills has increased significantly. In 2022, there were 519 job postings requiring generative AI skills, but after ChatGPT's release, the number had grown to over 10,000, representing a staggering 1848% increase.
However, using AI is not an intrinsic value in job hunting. The key is to learn how to use AI tools to highlight your strengths as effectively as possible. AI is therefore a tool that can highlight your best qualities in the eyes of a potential employer.
5 Ways AI Can Help You in the Job Search Process
Articulating and Summarizing Your Skills
Many job seekers still suffer from modesty, preventing them from showcasing their strengths and achievements strongly enough. AI can help you express your core competencies persuasively. It acts as a thinking aid, challenging you by offering ways to formulate and summarize your skills in a new way. Highlighting your skills and experience isn't bragging; it's professional self-marketing!
Finding Suitable Job Opportunities
“Good jobs are hard to find.” Or have you just been looking in the wrong places, perhaps limiting your search to a few familiar websites and browsing LinkedIn? AI can act as a virtual career coach – it can analyze your skill profile and interests and recommend job positions that best match your abilities and career goals. This helps you consider new, intriguing “outside-the-box” job opportunities.
Researching Employers
AI can be your secret weapon when you want to make an impression in a job interview. Use AI as a research assistant to prepare for the interview. Company history and values, financial status, competitors and market position, and corporate culture are things you should be familiar with before the interview. AI analysis helps you stay a step ahead and show a potential employer that you are motivated to land your dream job.
Tailoring and Finalizing Applications
Struggling with the right wording? Hit a writer's block while drafting your application? AI can help you tailor and refine your job application to be ready for submission. It can suggest better formulations, check spelling and grammar, and help you highlight your skills in a way that is best suited for the particular job.
Job Interview Coaching
The better prepared you are for the interview, the more relaxed and confident you can present yourself. Multimodal chatbots can help with interview prep – they can simulate realistic interview situations and practice responses to typical questions with you. You can ask the chatbot to analyze your answers and provide constructive feedback so you can polish your performance and career story.
5 AI Pitfalls in Job Hunting
Limited Knowledge
Chatbots are based on large language models trained with vast amounts of data – hundreds of gigabytes of text and billions of word pairs from various sources. Despite this, the models don't know everything and may not always understand requests at first. To achieve the best results, the user must be patient: give clear instructions to the chatbot, ask follow-up questions, and provide feedback. Experiment boldly with chatbots from different companies and compare their outputs.
Cultural and Linguistic Limitations
Many language models are currently culturally and linguistically limited, as their knowledge is primarily based on English data. These language models may not understand the peculiarities of Finnish culture and may contain biases. The Finnish language has been a challenging one for language model developers due to the smaller amount of data and complex grammar. However, the situation is continuously improving as more Finnish data is added to language models.
Risk of Impersonality
AI-generated texts can be clear and well-structured, but they might seem exactly like what they are – mass-produced by AI. It's important to remember that AI output is more like a draft that can serve as inspiration or a starting point for a good application text. Believe it or not, recruiters can recognize AI-generated content quite well, so use chatbots with caution and make sure to personalize your texts. The final product should look and sound like you!
Checking for Errors
Chatbots are not perfect, and their generated text can contain errors. It's crucial to carefully review the AI-generated text and ensure that the grammar is correct and the text is logical. This way, you avoid potential blunders that could negatively impact your job search. Do not upload AI-generated text directly into application systems.
Ensuring Data Security
Data security is an important aspect to always keep in mind when using AI. Be careful and remember to protect your privacy; do not share personal information on AI platforms. Ensure that the platforms you use are trustworthy and that your data remains secure.
AI Accelerates Job Hunting – But Human Connections Remain Powerful
AI offers countless opportunities to streamline the job search process – it can act as an application text checker, career coach, and research assistant. Therefore, it's worth learning to utilize AI in its various forms. Employers, staffing companies, and recruitment system providers are also exploring the possibilities AI offers to streamline recruitment processes. So why not take advantage of these new tools yourself? However, remember the power of networking, as AI does not replace human relationships – at least not yet!