Are you using ChatGPT for career support or application assistance? Can it be of benefit to you? Well, as a Career Coach and Certified Resume Writer, I have been exploring and learning more about ChatGPT over a few months. It can be helpful in a few ways particularly for career support when you might be stuck on a cover letter, application, or interview response.
Please bear in mind that ChatGPT should replace a professional you have engaged to help with your resume, LinkedIn profile, interview or job search strategy. ChatGPT is amazing resource for creative thinking and ideas only. For example, ChatGPT comes with its own set of problems, and I strongly recommend that you NEVER copy information directly from the AI platform into a cover letter. If you do copy information over, edit the content, make it your own and change the language style. That’s because it is in US English.
In Australia we use Australian English for resumes. Application and cover letters. For example, recognising vs recognizing.
If you are on the big job search hunt and have minimal money and no access to professional help, play around with ChatGPT, or other free tools you can find. If you have never used it, check out some tips online and then go in, set up an account and learn what it can do.
Here are some prompts to ask ChatGPT:
- Ask me interview questions for a Bank Teller position
- Give me interview responses for a behavioural question on problem solving
- Write me a cover letter for a fitness instructor
When it comes to generating prompts, the more detailed and specific you are about what you’re looking for the better.
I have read that one person applied for 49 jobs and received one interview based on their previous letter and resume. This same person then accessed and used ChatGPT to write and optimise their cover letter. After submitting another 12 applications, they got 4 interviews.
However, in that time, it is unclear as to whether the market changed, or maybe the other 49 jobs were not right for them. There are lots of considerations as to why the success changed from a 2% success rate to a 25% success rate. But whatever those factors were, that change is something you cannot ignore.
Ways to use ChatGPT:
- Writing a cover letter customed to a job description and company
- Getting talking points for an interview based on job requirements
- Do a mock interview based on a specific job description
- Writing follow up emails and thank you notes
- Giving advice to lower anxiety about the job search
We are in a new era of technology. ChatGPT is an incredible tool, its adaptive, fast and exciting, and maybe a little scary to see what it does over the next few years! Therefore, I recommend learning how to use it. Be curious, think out loud, get creative and have a conversation with ChatGPT. See what happens!
There are still pros and cons of ChatGPT, and it’s clear that the chatbot still has many kinks to iron out. Yet, there’s no denying that it shows massive potential for helping people and business to save money, automate tasks and become more productive.