Finding a new job – especially one that involves a career change – is daunting right now, and least in most fields.
But- there’s some good news.
After decades of little change in how best to search for jobs, we finally have a tool that can help a little – or maybe a lot!
Some people have already been using AI to draft and proofread their resumes and cover letters. The jury is still out on whether the resulting resumes and cover letters are so formulaic that they put off hiring managers. If you are going to do this, make some changes to be sure the resumes and cover letters represent you accurately and persuasively and don’t read like boilerplate.
EXAMPLES BEYOND RESUMES
I’ve been recommending ways to use AI for over a year now. Here are some examples of what I’ve been suggesting:
To assess the kinds of jobs you might be able to get, ask AI something like:
- “What are the names or titles of jobs that hire people with a background in… (you fill in yours, such as sociology, project management, and statistics).” This can be helpful especially when you know the type of job, but don’t know exactly the title to search for in LinkedIn or Indeed.
- Then, to see who often hires someone with your background, ask: “Create a 4000 word report on companies that sometimes hire people for fill in a job title you want to pursue from the previous question.”
- Next, ask: “Provide descriptions of the mission and products or services of at least 20 companies in the Denver area that sometimes hire people as a fill in one of the job titles that interests you .” Repeat the query for other interesting job titles.
- And then try this: “Which of the organizations or companies in the previous response are currently hiring?” Then ask: “Provide links to current job ads for positions in fill in the titles in the Denver area.”
- Next, try asking something like: “What are the most important skill sets in the job ads for fill in the title of each separate job that interests you, in different queries.”
Chances are, if you spend several hours with prompts like the ones above, you’ll learn a lot.
If you want, you can ask for information about which skills are most highly sought after in each type of job you decide to pursue. Staying honest, mention these skills and examples in the resume that you develop to search for those jobs.
It’s handy to have an all-purpose resume for each type of job you to pursue. But if you want to get more interviews, best practice is to tailor each resume – and your cover letter – for each job. Recall that usually your application will be screened for key words. But don’t just stuff your resume with key words; the next stop is a human recruiter, who is savvy to that.
The examples above can help you better consider your career change options, including what on-line courses might improve your chances. (It’s good to learn something new while you are looking — interviewers often ask what you’ve been doing recently.) And even if you already know the title(s) you want to target, these kinds of queries can steer you to some companies you might want to network into, even if they have no jobs posted right this minute.
OTHER WAYS TO USE AI
DESCRIBED IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL OF MAY 5 “AI is helping job seekers explore and find new careers”
LinkedIn:
They have a new tool, called Next Role Explorer, for premium subscribers, which allows you to see jobs inside and outside your current organization– – as well as online learning classes to gain skills you need to help get those jobs.
Google:
In February, Google put up a free tool called Career Dreamer, which uses AI and labor market data to provide advice about appropriate career possibilities for people wanting to change jobs.
Harvard:
Harvard Business School is testing an AI tool that compares your résumé with your preferred jobs, and recommends online classes to bridge skill gaps. That plus possible job opportunities, and alumni to contact.
And here’s another suggestion from the WSJ article. Try asking your AI to create a list of equivalent private sector job titles for people laid off from government wanting a private sector job. Ask AI for three directly equivalent roles, three adjacent roles, and three broader private sector roles..
Once you know the job titles of jobs you want to prioritize, want an overall plan of action?
Try asking AI this: “Playing the role of a career counselor, outline the major and minor steps a job-seeker should take in finding a job as an x.”
WHICH AI IS BEST?
There are lots of good ones now. Personally, I like ChatGPT-4 or – even better- Perplexity, which lists the sources for the information they provide you. (Both are $20/mo, but free ChatGPT is pretty good too.)
It’s often productive to click on some of the follow-up questions suggested by Perplexity. Each has additional follow-up questions, so you can drill down if you want even more information.
Caveat: You’ve read that all of them hallucinate, though reports on how often vary. If the information is important and/or sounds wrong, doublecheck with a second source.
Don’t miss out: I predict that increasingly employers will ask in job interviews how much and what kind of experience you have in using AI. If your answer is “not that much”, take an inexpensive course or two on uses of AI on a site like Coursera. And use AI yourself.
A new cheap or free tool is available. Why not put it to work for you?