3 Ways to Use GenAI in Your Job Search!
Generative AI tools can be a game changer when you know how to use them
In our Ask Me Anything meeting on using Generative AI in job searches, Samhir Vasdev and 50 participants shared their experiences and strategies using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini for improving LinkedIn profiles, drafting cover letters, refining résumés, and practicing interviews.
Here’s a synopsis of our discussion with paying subscribers and two custom GenAI tools you can use right now.
GenAI in the Job Search
AMA-style meetings feature lead discussants who guide the discovery process with participants. Everyone shared their Generative AI skills and experience - we are all learned peers - and how they use these tools in the job search.
One key point: spend 10 hours exploring each GenAI tool you are interested - from ChatGPT to Gemeni to Claude. Each has their own ‘voice’ and choose the one that fits you the best. They are all really good these days.
GenAI to find companies
The first step is to ask tools like Perplexity to research which companies are working on issues you care about, and who their competitors are. Then you can check out their their websites and go deeper, or use LinkedIn to see who works there.
Just be careful. GenAI has the tendency to "hallucinate." Think of GenAI as an overeager graduate assistant and you must always review and edit every output. This is your career after all.
GenAI to analyze yourself
Go to your favorite chatbot and ask it what it knows about you. This is what Perplexity thinks of me. Is that how you want the world to see you?
You can feed in your past performance reviews to find highlights to share on your résumé. Speaking of your résumé, here is where GenAI can be brutally honest. Ask it to condense your multi-page CV into a 2-page résumé.
The results are sobering.
I did this recently. Years of effort were reduced to single lines. Crushing to my ego, but that doesn’t matter. I am not who the résumé is for. It is for a recruiter, who doesn’t care.
You need to be cold about your résumé effectiveness. GenAI can help with that.
GenAI to speak corporate
There are three great uses of GenAI in the job search process that are particularly useful to us: term translation, cover letters, and interview practice.
Term translation
No one in the private section knows what a Chief of Party does or why MERL is important. We need to start speaking corporate languages to work outside of development. GenAI is great at helping you translate your titles and activities. Like this translation table.
Cover letters
I never realized how controversial cover letters are in the recruiting world. Regardless, I use them often to explain why my work history is relevant to the company’s future. GenAI is great at making cover letters fast - just always edit them to be in your voice. No one wants to read generic ChatGPT output.
Interview practice
There are many custom ChatGPT bots that can help you practice your interview questions. I’ve used them for years. Samhir showed us how to use the voice function in ChatGPT for mock interviews - wow!
There is something very powerful about a chatbot talking to you and analyzing your verbal responses that is more real, and challenging than using text. I say ‘um’ way too often!
Custom GenAI Writing Tools
We concluded the session by demonstrating two custom GenAI tools that can help you write cover letters and résumés, and score your résumé using an Applicant Tracking Systems framework.