How To Use ChatGPT In Your Job Search

Technology is changing the way job seekers search, prepare, and find jobs—and advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will hasten those changes. ChatGPT, a large-language model developed by OpenAI, an AI research group, is one of the most recent AI advancements. Simply put, it’s a very advanced chatbot, which is a computer software that simulates human speech. ChatGPT is among the most powerful software of its kind, drawing on millions of texts to predict the next words in a sequence.

Since its inception in late 2022, ChatGPT has gone popular. In reality, if you’ve attempted to access the program in the last several weeks, you’ve most likely been confronted with a screen claiming that “the site is at capacity,” and some people online claim to have been stuck in ChatGPT’s waiting room for many days. There are, of course, workarounds for this hurdle. Like refreshing your browser until you’re admitted, which can take up to an hour in some situations.

However, depending on your goals with the software, the delay may be worthwhile—reducing hours of effort to one (or numerous) well-worded query. There are obvious and, some may argue, problematic uses for ChatGPT, such as writing articles or academic essays, but the program has the ability to aid in other ways; all that is required is understanding how ChatGPT works.

To that aim, we wanted to test ChatGPT to determine if it could be a useful tool in the job search. We looked specifically at how it could be used to conduct company research, develop a résumé and cover letter, and prepare for an interview. Continue reading to uncover what we discovered.

Using ChatGPT as a job search tool

The program has access to texts from 2021 and before, so anything more recent is out of reach. It does not actively search the internet, as other popular AIs do. It is also susceptible to generalization, so the more information you can provide, the better. To provide a more complete perspective, we’ll walk you through some encounters with ChatGPT below.

After completing OpenAI’s simple enrollment process (which requires only an email address, a password, and a phone number), you’ll be presented with a chat window where you can ask ChatGPT almost anything. According to an NPR investigation, educators have been dealing with the fact that it can compose many kids’ assignments for them. Vanity Fair writers have discovered that ChatGPT can accurately write in their voice.

1. ChatGPT for researching a company

Whether you’re just beginning your job search, or looking into a company you have an interview with, researching is a critical part of the job search. Here we explore how to use ChatGPT to look up information about a specific career field and a specific company.

ChatGPT’s iterative capabilities make it far more valuable for research than Google. Currently, if you want to find something specific on Google, you must enter a random list of search engine-optimized words. If you Google “Web designer job Portland,” you’ll receive a list of open positions.

ChatGPT cannot access specific job vacancies, but it can tell you how to find them. In this situation, it refers you to a local institute where other professionals can take lessons and attend networking events. Search engines tell you what, but ChatGPT informs you how—which can be really useful.

But even its version of what can surpass search engines. If you ask, “Who was the CEO of Indeed in 2021?” It will inform you that the CEO was Chris Hyams and provide correct facts about his background. While you can obtain this information on Google, ChatGPT processes it for you and provides it in an easily consumable format so you don’t have to navigate through several web pages.

This is an excellent opportunity to conduct research and learn more about any companies that you may be applying to. One big caveat: as previously said, ChatGPT does not have access to any information until 2021, therefore double-check any facts you learn with other sources. If and when the application adds internet-search features, it could become a threat to traditional search engines

2. ChatGPT for resume and cover letter writing

In addition to research, ChatGPT can help you with cover letters and resume writing. Giving it as much information as possible will allow you to use it as a guide when creating a cover letter or CV. Reporters and journalists from various sites evaluated ChatGPT-written cover letters against real-life recruiters. However, according to an Insider story, one recruiter stated regarding ChatGPT, “It lacks the personal touch where we learn about a candidate’s human experiences, anecdotal evidence to back up their skills, and passion for the role.”

In other words, ChatGPT can provide you with an excellent template that shows you exactly what to put where, but it cannot speak to the visceral experience of your previous employment. However, there are some workarounds for this issue. Joshua L. Ritter, a creative executive in the film and television industry, claims he used ChatGPT to create a cover letter paragraph by paragraph. He would type in a few detailed sentences on his experience, but then let the software polish his words. He would just write, “Expand this into a full cover letter paragraph” or something similar, and the results were exactly what he was looking for. He also stated that ChatGPT is a good tool for producing original titles for various initiatives his company is pitching.

3. ChatGPT to prepare for job interviewing

Last but not least is interviewing. Though this is perhaps the most talked-about feature in relation to ChatGPT job search assistance, it’s also the most difficult to master.

Ask ChatGPT, “What are some tips for preparing for a job interview?” It will respond by instructing you to study the organization, read the job description, and prepare to answer frequent inquiries. You might follow up by asking for some examples. It will react with, “Tell me about yourself.” What are your strengths? “What are your weaknesses?” It’s all pretty general.

Ask increasingly precise variants of the same inquiry. So, rather of simply asking how to prepare for a job interview, provide specifics such as the job title, business, and amount of experience. Typing in “interview questions for a senior software engineer” yields questions such as “Can you describe your experience with code review and testing processes?” “How do you ensure the code you write is of high quality?” You could even go a step farther and ask it questions about specific programming languages and other topics.

Ultimately, these responses will be more valuable for your personal preparation than for providing functional solutions. If you respond to the questions, ChatGPT will most likely score your answer as “satisfactory” and go to the next inquiry. Again, this is just a text generator. The algorithm generates the most likely follow-up response, which is “Thanks! Next question…” regardless of the quality of your response.

Similarly, if you ask ChatGPT to answer the questions automatically, the answers will differ. For example, when asked the aforementioned coding question, it will respond, “As an Artificial Intelligence, I do not have personal experience with code review and testing processes.” It will then describe the code review procedure.

So it’s best utilized as a question generator rather than a fake interview companion. However, you may soon find yourself in a situation where ChatGPT–or a similar chatbot–conducts the interview.

The future role of chatbots in the job search

According to a 2019 Harvey-Nash survey, more than 20% of firms now employ chatbot technology in the recruitment process. These chatbot interviews are frequently used to weed out underqualified candidates or those who do not fit with the company culture. Interacting with ChatGPT can help you pass these interviews by teaching you which keywords and phrases will advance you to the next round. As always, you should carefully read the job posting. But, beyond that, why not contact ChatGPT for help?

Overall, ChatGPT is a useful and promising tool that is easy to learn but difficult to master. It is an excellent editor and brainstorming buddy, but it cannot read your mind or generate fresh ideas. While it can help you prepare for an interview, it will always be your own passion and experience that gets you the job. And once you’re there, no AI will do your work for you.