Looking for a job with AI: 6 techniques we’ve tried and how they work

With layoffs happening all over the US, finding a new job is a competitive sport. It also takes a lot of time to scroll through dozens of job postings, choose the ones that are truly relevant to you, write a cover letter for each one, and make sure your application stands out.

Meet artificial intelligence. While it may not be able to balance a budget or come up with the best creative ideas yet, it is very effective at summarizing information and making logical (mostly) suggestions.

Super important warning before you use AI: triple-check every detail an AI spits out to you, even if you’ve only asked it to summarize your accomplishments. AI tools have been known to hallucinate — aka confidently respond with made-up details — so you might want to make sure you’re not unintentionally lying on your job application.

Additionally, you don’t want to put sensitive or personally identifiable information into a chatbot, just in case a data breach ever occurs.

With that in mind, here’s how you can use AI tools in your search for your dream job (or any job, for that matter).

AI as your career coach

If you don’t know where to start, give ChatGPT a try as your personal career coach.

If you tell the AI ​​tool to “be my career counselor,” it will provide a list of information to compile: your current career status, education and skills, career goals, industry preferences, location flexibility, and lifestyle priorities. Plug that information in and it will give you advice on how to leverage your skills and experience across a range of different roles.

You can then feed the ideas you like back into ChatGPT and ask for action plans and goals for each plan. You can even ask it to prioritize the action plans from easiest to hardest and provide a timeline for each plan.

Check out our full guide with all the steps to using AI as a career coach.

Writing your resume: ChatGPT

Before you can start applying for jobs, you need to update and polish your resume. We tried it with ChatGPT, which you can use for free or pay $20 a month for extra features like priority access and the latest models.

Open the chatbot and ask it to create a resume that includes things like your career goals, work experience, education, skills, certifications, awards, languages, hobbies, and volunteer work.

Here’s a quick idea: “Create a resume for me using:

• My professional summary [paste]
• My work experience: [paste]
• My education: [paste]
• My list of skills: [paste]”

Remember not to put any personal information in ChatGPT. So add your full name and contact details later, when you copy and paste them into a Google or Word document.

And one more tip: you can send the final product back to ChatGPT and ask for a short list of suggestions to improve your resume.

Check out all of CNET’s tips on creating a resume with ChatGPT.

Visually Designing Your Resume: Figma AI

If you are happy with the wording on your resume, you may want to consider creating a visually appealing resume that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Figma’s visual-design-from-scratch feature, which would eventually let you insert a text prompt and have it generate a design from scratch, is temporarily down. So for now, you’ll need an online template, an existing visual design you’ve created in the past, or creating a design from scratch with another generative AI tool like Midjourney, Dall-E 3, or Adobe Firefly.

You can then bring the design into Figma AI to refresh it with tools like:

• Turn a static resume into an interactive resume if you want an online resume that moves.
• Divide your designs into layers so you can easily swap them out depending on the theme or job you want to accomplish.
• Generate content and titles in your design mockup.
• Instantly remove and replace backgrounds.

Here are all of CNET’s tips on using Figma AI to design a resume.

Search for a job faster and more effectively with AI

A useful way to use AI is to ask it to generate job ideas and searches for you. You might want a version of ChatGPT that has internet access — like the $20-a-month ChatGPT Plus — so it has up-to-date info, but you can also use the free version.

Then tell them your career goals and experience, and ideally what you’re looking for next. Ask them to suggest roles, industry types, and career paths that would fit.

Once it gives you a list of jobs you might be a good fit for, you can ask it to suggest companies you can contact. Be sure to include the region you work in and whether you prefer remote or hybrid work. One way to get results that aren’t just the generic big five companies in your industry is to ask ChatGPT for a list of 20 mid-sized or lesser-known companies where you could more easily find a job.

Finally, ask for help writing a short message to recruiters. This will save you from being one of 1000 applicants for the same job.

Here are all of CNET’s tips on how to find the job of your dreams through ChatGPT.

Writing those cover letters

One of the biggest pain points when applying for jobs is when every application wants an individual, personalized cover letter. If you’re running out of ideas on how to do this for every job you come across, here’s how to use AI to help you.

You will need an account at ChatGPT, as well as the job posting and your new resume. Ask: “Write a cover letter for the role of __ in the __ team at [company name]Here is the job description [paste from the job ad] and here is my resume [paste your resume in].

Again, make sure all of your information is correct. You may be asked to keep a word limit or highlight certain things on your resume that match the job opening — and even to write more formally or informally, depending on the company you’re applying to.

Paste the resulting cover letter into a document, make any final changes, and voilà: a cover letter for a specific position.

Here are all of CNET’s tips on using ChatGPT to write a cover letter.

Negotiate a salary with AI

Finally, once you’re in the running for a great job, make sure you’re not selling yourself short. Use AI to figure out ways to negotiate a starting salary before you sign the dotted line.

First, do a quick Google search for salary ranges for your job, location, and company and get a good cross-section of salaries on sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, Payscale, Reddit, and ZipRecruiter.

Then add a prompt like this to ChatGPT: “I am a [insert job role] in [insert your location]According to Indeed, the average salary is $[plug in the number] and i want to earn $[your ideal salary].What advice would you give me to help me negotiate this salary with employers?”

ChatGPT creates call and email scripts with all the details you need to include, which you can then use to negotiate your future salary.

Have fun looking for a job!