Find a Job You Really Want In
Using ChatGPT in your job search may sound strange, but it can be tremendously helpful. In this article, we’ll share some ways that ChatGPT can lighten the load of your job search, as well as some limitations you need to be aware of.
Key Takeaways:
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ChatGPT can help you research jobs and companies, polish your resume, and practice answering interview questions.
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Always double check what ChatGPT gives you to make sure it’s accurate, consistent with your voice and personality, and compliant with any application requirements.
How to use ChatGPT in your job search
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Discover career path ideas. ChatGPT can help generate some ideas if you’re struggling to figure out what kind of job you’re looking for. Simply ask ChatGPT to give you a list of jobs to match your particular skills. Here are some ways you can word this:
“What are 20 job ideas for someone with an English degree who is passionate about helping people, enjoys writing, and wants to work from home?”
“Could you give me some job ideas based on my skills and interests? I have six years of experience in customer service, and I’m skilled at negotiating, handling difficult customers, and problem-solving. I have a degree in business management, and I’m passionate about optimizing processes.”
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Research companies. Knowing about a company’s culture, mission, and values can be vital to deciding whether to apply for a position or prepare for an interview. ChatGPT can answer questions like the following:
“What is it like to work at Walmart’s corporate offices?”
“What is the culture at Walmart like?”
Just remember that ChatGPT is using data that it likely found on the company’s website a few years ago—it didn’t ask employees who actually work there—so do plenty of your own research too.
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Generate job search strategies. Ask ChatGPT for job search strategy ideas if you aren’t sure where to start. You can enter the type of position you want, any preference of work environment, and ask it for advice. Here’s an example of how to phrase this:
“How should I go about finding an elementary teaching job? I’d like to work at a smaller school.”
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Create a resume template. ChatGPT can make resume templates for you to fill out with your information, skills, and work experience. This can be helpful when you aren’t sure where to start or how to format your resume.
You can even enter your skills and experience for ChatGPT to put together for you. If you do this, make sure you double-check the resume it produces and do plenty of editing and revising before you submit it.
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Write parts of your cover letter and resume. Cover letters and resumes can be tricky to write. You can ask ChatGPT to write you a resume summary statement based on your qualifications and interests, or even an entire cover letter. However, it’s best to either edit this heavily or use it as an example, as the result may not be entirely accurate or sound like you.
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Get feedback on your cover letter and resume. You can copy and paste your resume or cover letter into ChatGPT and ask it to give you feedback. It will then check your grammar and formatting and give you a revised copy of your document to use.
Just remember to revise this copy as well to ensure it’s accurate, fits your voice, and meets all of the job application requirements. It’s also possible that companies will check to see if ChatGPT wrote your cover letter and resume and negatively flag your application if so. Make sure the vast majority of whatever you submit is your own work.
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Practice answering interview questions. One of the best ways to prepare for an interview is to practice answering common interview questions. Use ChatGPT for this part of your job search by asking it to generate a list of interview questions you’ll likely encounter. You can even ask for a list of questions specific to the job you’re applying for.
Practice answering each of these yourself, and if you need tips or ideas on how to answer, ask ChatGPT for help. For example:
“How should I answer, ‘Tell me about yourself,’ in an interview for a role as an ICU Nurse?”
“What is an example answer to, ‘What is your greatest weakness?'”
While you can’t and shouldn’t try to memorize your answers to each interview question, running through a list like this will help you think faster on the spot and give better answers during your interview.
Tips for Using ChatGPT in Your Job Search
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Remember that ChatGPT isn’t human. It’s easy to forget that there isn’t a human at the other end of ChatGPT and that, as a result, it doesn’t think like a person. It’s simply programmed to pick the best next word or sentence according to the information it gathered from the internet.
Because of this, sometimes its answers might be a bit off or completely wrong. It can’t add the personality, heart, and personal experience to your writing that you can. So, it’s a good idea to never submit anything ChatGPT generated for you without reading and heavily revising it first.
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Remember that its information is old. ChatGPT has an incredible amount of information, but its knowledge ends around 2021. While it can manage to supply decent information in most areas with this foundation, remember that it won’t have the most recent updates on companies or jobs.
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Don’t be afraid to experiment. Because ChatGPT isn’t a person, you can’t annoy or offend it. Don’t be afraid to keep asking questions, experiment with what it can do, or reword your question if it didn’t answer the way you wanted the first time.
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Use your own words. Employers don’t want stacks of generic resumes and cover letters, even if they are technically correct. ChatGPT can be incredibly helpful in getting things started for you, but try to use your own words wherever you can. This will make you much more memorable to hiring managers.
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Build on your queries. ChatGPT operates like a conversation, so you can reference your earlier questions and its earlier responses.
For example, you can give ChatGPT a list of your interests and ask it to give you job ideas that would be a good fit. After it spits those out, you can say something like, “Write a resume research summary for those interests,” and it will write a summary using the criteria you gave it a few questions before.
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Ask ChatGPT how to ask for things. This might sound strange, but it’s actually very helpful. If you aren’t sure how to word a request for what you’re looking for, just ask ChatGPT how to do it. For example, you can say, “How do I ask you for job ideas based on my skills?” and it will give you a template to use.
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You can write conversationally. After years of simplifying questions for search engines, it can feel counterintuitive to ask ChatGPT to do things for you in the way you would ask a person. However, it can easily handle these types of questions, which can be helpful when you don’t know exactly what you’re asking.
For example, you could say, “Write a resume summary for someone with an engineering degree, eight years of experience, and a passion for research and development.”
Or, you could say, “Could you write a short resume summary for me? I have an engineering degree and have been working in the field for eight years. I’d love to get into research and development because I have a passion for that.”
You’ll receive very similar answers either way.
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Use the “Regenerate” button. If ChatGPT’s answer isn’t exactly what you’re looking for or you simply want additional ideas, hit the “Regenerate” button to prompt it to give you another answer to the same query.
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Always default to the job application requirements. In other words, if the job application says that your resume should include a section for skills and ChatGPT gives you a template without a skills section, make sure you add the skill section before you submit your resume.
ChatGPT uses general information about cover letters and resumes and doesn’t know what each particular company requires, so it’s up to you to make sure your application materials meet the requirements.
ChatGPT in your job search FAQ
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What is the best way to use ChatGPT for a job search?
The best way to use ChatGPT for a job search is to ask it to give you job ideas. ChatGPT can offer ideas for types of jobs you might be interested in based on your skills, experience, and interests. You can also use ChatGPT in your job search to:
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Research companies.
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Make job search strategies.
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Create a resume template.
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Write parts of your cover letter and resume.
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Get feedback on your cover letter and resume.
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Practice answering interview questions.
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Can you use ChatGPT for job applications?
Yes, you can use ChatGPT for job applications. ChatGPT can help you write your resume and cover letter or even answer essay application questions.
However, it isn’t a good idea to copy and paste whatever ChatGPT gives you for submission. Treat ChatGPT’s outputs as ideas or templates that you can edit to make sure they’re accurate and written in your own words.
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Is ChatGPT free?
Yes, ChatGPT is free. You can pay to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus, which gives you access to better performance and access to new features as soon as they’re released.
Final Thoughts
ChatGPT is a powerful job search tool for cutting down on time spent researching, generating ideas and templates, and helping overcome many of the roadblocks that come with job hunting. As long as you understand how it works as well as its strengths and limitations, with ChatGPT you can look forward to a job search that is much less painful and confusing.
References
Author
Abby is a writer who is passionate about the power of story. Whether it’s communicating complicated topics in a clear way or helping readers connect with another person or place from the comfort of their couch. Abby attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she earned a degree in writing with concentrations in journalism and business.
