Are you looking for a job right now? If so, there are some incredible AI tools that you can use to help you along your job search. We are pleased to feature this popular ALL-STAR episode once again!
Let me tell you about the top 5 AI tools out there that will help you get a job. If you’ve been laid off recently or just looking to move into a different job at a different company, let me tell you… the job market has COMPLETELY changed!
Smart and savvy job seekers are using AI tools to help them in all aspects of their job search, including:
- Finding jobs that match your experience level for you to apply to
- Identifying your key skills for a particular job posting
- Tailoring your resume specifically for each job you apply for
- Helping you craft your cover letter
So, let’s talk about the top 5 AI tools that people are using to help them be more efficient in their job search and reduce the headache of being between jobs.
(Disclaimer alert!) I want to be super clear… I encourage you to use AI as a starting point tool, something that will help you brainstorm and as an idea generator, but not to do all the work for you.
For example, if you let AI write your entire cover letter for you, chances are, recruiters will have seen that generic cover letter over and over again from other candidates. Instead, take it as a first draft, tailor it in your own way of speaking and add in your specific work experience and details to make it your own. When used right, AI is your assistant, your companion tool to help you be more efficient in applying for jobs. Not the machine that does it all for you.
Top 5 AI tools to help you get a job:
- ChatGPT - I’m going to spend a bit of time on this one, because there’s so much to learn here. Simply put, it’s a chat bot that works as your career assistant. It learns about you by the information you feed into it (like, your resume) and with carefully written prompts that you put into it, it gives you the information you need. Let me explain.some text
- First off, I recommend paying $20/month and subscribe to get the GPT 4 model and plugins. It’s worth it as this version (versus the free GPT 3.5 version) is better at complex problem-solving and understanding context and nuances.
- GPT plugins - If you’re a ChatGPT subscriber, you get access to GPT plugins (GPTs) and they could enhance ChatGPT’s capabilities, as there are ones specifically built for job seekers. I’ve played around with one called “Job” and found it useful.
- To get the most out of ChatGPT, you need to learn a few basic prompts (i.e. what you type into the chat bot), that will help you get the info you need out of it. Remember, what you put in helps you produce good, quality information out of it.
Here are a few ChatGPT prompts that I’ve used:
1/ Act as a recruiter with 15 years experience writing job descriptions. My goal is to land an interview at the job below. I want to stand apart from the competition by reverse engineering the job description to uncover exactly what the company is looking for and then I will tailor my application such as my resume. Start by answering 5 questions about the job description I paste: 1) What is the role? 2) Who is the company? 3) What is the salary? 4) What are the primary responsibilities? 5) What are the three most important skills listed? Embolden each skill, then give an example in italics, and then share ideas of how to upskill and learn those skills for someone who might not have the skill. Focus on actionable upskilling ideas that are less common. Here is the job description: [insert job description].
2/ Based on these 5 most important responsibilities from the job description, help tailor my resume for the role and company above, as if you are a resume writer with 15 years experience. I need help rewriting my bullet points to ensure each sentence is tailored to the keywords in the job description and is focused on my impact and results. Use this sentence structure as an example: “I accomplished A by the measure B that resulted in C.” For example: "Improved the efficiency of the sales team by 30% through the design and implementation of a comprehensive training program, which resulted in a significant increase in monthly revenue." Use compelling language, start with a strong action verb and keep the bullet point within 60 words. Do not include corporate jargon or run on sentences, and do not make information up. Here’s my resume: [input your resume].
3/ Please analyze my resume as if you are a recruiter with 15 years experience and point out if there are any red flags or potential detractors that an ATS could pick up on and why.
4/ What skills or other things could I work on personally and professionally to strengthen my resume and competitiveness?
5/ Review my cover letter as if you are a recruiter of 15 years and rewrite it to better match with the most important responsibilities and three most important skills identified above from the job description. Make this cover letter compelling, persuading the recruiter or hiring manager to book an interview. Cover letter here: [input your cover letter]
6/ Now that you have my target job description and my resume, I want you to help me write one story (interview response) for each of these 10 topics of behavioral questions: leadership, teamwork, challenges, problem solving, communication, decision making, initiative, organization, time management, ambiguity. An example interview question would be “Tell me about a time you showed leadership” or “Tell me about a time you expressed team work”. I want you to output a table with 10 rows and 3 columns: “topic” and “behavioral question”, and “behavioral response''. Create responses based on my resume, and factoring target keywords of skills and responsibilities from the job description above. Write the stories in a conversational style and focus on keeping the interviewer’s attention. Each “behavioral response” MUST be written in 4 parts using the “STAR method” which is “situation, task, action, result.” Each story must include this 4 part STAR method. Do not make information up.
I found these prompts from various thought leaders on LinkedIn over the last two months and have started to tailor them over time. But this should be a jumping off point for you, to start playing around with prompts and seeing what ChatGPT can do for you.
Remember: think of ChatGPT as a highly-skilled assistant who you’re having a conversation with. They learn more over time as you interact with it. But this helps you as a jumping off point.
- Teal - This is an all-in-one suite of AI tools to help you land your next job sooner, including a resume builder, job tracker, and personalized career advice to help job seekers navigate their job search and career development more effectively. Here’s how it works… You download their extension to your Google chrome browser. So, the next time you’re searching for jobs on LinkedIn or any sort of job board, you can bookmark that job posting and it plugs into your Job Tracker dashboard. That way, you can track the job, have you applied for it yet, then track follow ups, interviews… all the way to negotiation and accepting the job. From there, you plug in your resume and it helps you write a more compelling resume highlighting your key achievements, that’s tailored to each job posting’s keywords and essential skills needed. I’ve been testing this platform for about 30 days and so far I like it. It takes a little time to get it set up but overall it seems to help, especially if you don’t want to learn how to use prompts in ChatGPT.
- Jobscan - This tool uses AI to compare your resume against job descriptions, providing scores and feedback to improve your resume's match rate and also improve your chances of getting past Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that recruiters use to deal with the volume of applications they get with every job. You simply upload your resume, then the job description and it tells you how you can improve your resume to be more of what a recruiter is looking for to fill this role. There is a free version which gives you 5 free scans upon signup, plus 2 free scans a month… but you may want to bump up to the paid subscription to unlock more features like unlimited scans, LinkedIn profile optimization, job tracker tools, predicted skills and more.
- Interview Warmup - This tool is powered by Google and is so cool! You practice your interviewing skills by practicing key questions, get insights about your answers, and get more comfortable with interviewing. It asks you questions and you vocalize your answers, as if you’re actually interviewing for the job. Then it tells you afterwards how to improve your answers. Pretty cool and totally free! Right now, they’ve got custom interview questions for those interviewing for roles in the fields of data analytics, IT support, project management, cybersecurity, UX design, and digital marketing, but they also have a “general” category, which are generic questions like “Why would you be a good fit for this role?” or “How would you describe your working style?” We all need practice with interviewing and this is a great way to do the thing and build up your confidence. Go try it out!
- EarnBetter - It’s a free AI job search assistant, especially great if you want to dip your toes into using AI for the very first time. It helps you reformat and rewrite your resume in minutes. And then from there, it’ll help you find personalized job matches within (say) a 25 mile radius of you, for jobs that you’d be a great match for and encourage you to apply. You can also draft cover letters through this tool, but I recommend always tailoring it and not just using the AI-generated one 100%.
And as an aside… I recommend trying out 1 or 2 of the AI tools I recommended today… Not all 5, all at once.
Play with ChatGPT’s free version, see if it works for you. Test out Teal vs EarnBetter… which one is more user-friendly for you? Don’t get overwhelmed by trying all of them, all at once. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Is there an AI tool that you’re using and loving? Let us know! DM me on LinkedIn at @thesimplifiers and let’s spark a conversation.
And a reminder, this season we are simplifying what's going on in the job market these days, especially with AI and automation on the rise. Why is it so hard to land a job right now? Why are there so many layoffs that you hear about in medium-large size companies? And what can you do about it? I'm interviewing some incredible thought leaders in human resources (from recruiters to employee engagement senior leaders to DEI experts) at big corporations who have the insider view on what's going on.
Bottomline, you are very smart to brush up your skills in AI because your future employer is looking for people who’ve got these skills as they begin to implement AI and automation into their workflows this year. Well done you, keep doing the thing!
You can do this, I believe in you.
It’s time to SIMPLIFY.
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Thank you!
Show credits: Suzen Marie, our Podcast Editor and Jeffrey Lynn, our Video Editor. Aubri Williams, Chris Justice, and George Mills, our advisory board. And I’m your host, Mary Baird. Big love to Dennis Coleman, Kristen Kurtis and the team at Goodboy Creative, as well. Thank you so much for listening and telling your peeps about us.
As always friends, keep things simple.
