AI – Friend or foe? This big question is sparking some heated debate. In this article, we’re going to focus on the positive side. We’ll explore how AI can give you a competitive edge during your job search, help you level up your application game, and ultimately land that dream job.
Let’s first break down job hunting into four stages. Choose the stage you’re currently going through and see how AI can make the process more effective and less painful:
Stage 1: Freshen up your resume
Stage 2: Know your worth
Stage 3: Tailor your cover letter
Stage 4: Prepare for your interview
Stage 1: Freshen up your resume
It’s always best practice to polish your resume before applying to any job, as well as tailoring it to make it really relevant to the role.
If you’re planning to update your resume, try Adzuna’s free AI resume screening tool ValueMyResume. Simply upload your resume to the platform, and the tool will evaluate it against a range of criteria, such as spelling, filename, the length of your resume, your work history, and more. Based on the suggestions, you can edit your old resume accordingly and make sure it’s flawless before sending it to your future employer.
Stage 2: Know your worth
In the meantime, ValueMyResume will also give you a statistical estimate of your market value. Knowing how much you’re worth in the job market can help salary negotiations after you receive a job offer, as well as fast-tracking your job hunt. You can skip underpaid jobs and go for positions that match your market value. This tool will also propose potential career paths you can take based on your skills profile.
The other side of getting paid your worth is knowing the salary range for advertised positions. Sadly, many employers are not showing salaries on job ads so it could be difficult to know whether some jobs match with your salary expectation. To tackle this pain point, we developed a salary prediction tool called Jobsworth that produces a salary estimate for every job ad that doesn’t have a salary. Simply start your job search on Adzuna.
Stage 3: Tailor your cover letter
Do recruiters or hiring managers actually read cover letters? Some do and some don’t. But let’s not make this an excuse not to include a cover letter. Drafting a cover letter from scratch can be time-consuming so let ChatGPT help you. This AI chatbot can draft your cover letter within seconds and tailor it to your role.
Here are some simple prompts:
“Draft a one-page cover letter for a job application as a [position] at [company] based on my resume below. Please highlight my qualifications and enthusiasm.”
“Compose a persuasive cover letter explaining how my qualifications align with the requirement for the [position] at [company] and why I am the best fit. Here’s the job ad: [job ad].”
Advanced ChatGPT prompt to try:
Step 1:
My name is [your name], and I am writing to apply for [position] at [company name]. Draft me a persuasive cover letter in 400 words or less highlighting my resume achievements. Do not start writing yet. Do you understand it?
Step 2:
Please make sure the cover letter includes all the points below:
- [Point 1]
- [Point 2]
- [Point 3]
While ChatGPT is indeed a marvelous tool, it isn’t always correct. It is therefore important to fact check and verify the answers. We also recommend adding a little personal flair to set you apart from other tech-savvy candidates who might also be using ChatGPT.
Stage 4: Prepare for your interview
Congrats! You’ve made it this far. Being invited to an interview means that you’ve passed the first screening of your application. Now you need to show your future employer that you’re the best fit for the role you’re applying for. Winging it usually wouldn’t work in a job interview. Even the most charismatic person needs some degree of preparation because jobs might be alike, but not identical, and it’s not that hard to spot a canned response.
Here’s a list of things to do to prepare for an interview:
- Analyze the job description
- Research the company
- Prepare a set of typical interview questions
- Practice answering those interview questions
- Find someone to be your coach and ask for advice
Guess what? Adzuna’s AI interview coach Prepper can tick every item off this checklist! You’ll get a list of questions sorted by difficulty level, model answers to the questions, and if you put in your answer, your response will get rated out of 100.
All you need to do is reopen the job ad of the role you applied for, and copy and paste the job title, job description and company name onto Prepper. This helps Prepper learn the skills, qualifications, and personality your prospective employer is looking for, and this information can improve Prepper’s accuracy.
Next, select your AI interviewer, which will determine how challenging the interview questions will be. For screening interviews and first-round interviews, we recommend “Easy mode”. You’ll receive five standard and classic interview questions. If you are invited back by a second or third interview or if you find out you are going to be interviewed by potential line managers and seniors, pick “Hard mode”. Prepper will generate five competency-based, skill-based or behavioral questions. The last option – the “Pirate mode” – represents the unexpected and tricky scenarios that sometimes happen in interviews. Prepper will list out five off-the-wall questions.
What you can do now is answer the questions or view the AI-generated model answers. If it’s the former, your answer will get rated by Prepper out of 100, and Prepper will explain the score and potentially how you can improve. You can amend your answer accordingly if you get a low score, and send it to Prepper to get reviewed again until you’re happy with the result.
Alternatively, if you really enjoy Prepper’s model answer, you can directly take it for your interview. While Prepper doesn’t give out cookie-cutter answers, we do recommend doing some final edits and adding a bit of personal touch.
Here’s the step-by-step guide: Six easy and quick steps to use Prepper to ace your interview
Ready to test out these AI tools? Start your job search on Adzuna now.
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