Exploring the Pros and Cons of Using ChatGPT for Your Job Search: Can AI Truly Help?

I’m going to say it out loud!

Can ChatGPT streamline some of the job seeking process?

As a CV Writer, that could be a little scary to consider…are we all going to be replaced by robots?

Let’s deal with the scary bit first. Let us imagine a customer is a HR Manager, let’s ask ChatGPT to write the CV for us. ChatGPT’s response?

For fun, I am going to collaborate with ChatGPT whilst writing this post! I am also going to use AI to generate some images too, just to show that there are no hard feelings and to hopefully get favourably treated during the robot uprising! ??

?? ??Hey, ChatGPT, can you write a HR Manager CV for me?

?? ??Of course! Here's a sample HR Manager CV

ChatGPT will then go on to create a pretty generic template of a CV, which then you would have to breathe some life into, not too scary so far, there must be millions of templates available online.

Of course, you can provide a job description to help generate the CV content, but of course, that is on the understanding that a person has all the skills, experience and qualifications outlined in the job spec.

The problem here is that ChatGPT isn’t able to quantify your achievements or add the nuances to make the CV pop to human eyes and as I mentioned, the content is very generic.

How about ATS?

?? Is this CV ATS compliant?

?? Yes, this is ATS compliant as it includes relevant keywords and uses standard formatting…

This may be true, but I am telling you that as a recruiter, I would not be overwhelmed by the format of the CV produced, it takes a skilled MS Word user to finesse the document [whilst keeping it within the ATS best practice parameters of course] and it also takes a human [and perhaps a different AI] to insert some serious tailoring that does not involve merely mirroring text.

I will say that ChatGPT can get someone started with content, but in my opinion, it still needs much more in terms of human intervention to create a CV of the highest quality.

Cover Letters

A cover letter has been described as ‘the last thing you want to do’ when submitting an application. Some recruiters don’t ask for one, some do, so can ChatGPT help with this?

Actually, the results are similar to the CV, pretty generic, non-personal and a little repetitive if I am honest [sorry ChatGPT]! The words “I am excited” appear at least twice which could lead to the reader concluding that either the candidate is an exuberant character that they would like to see on the team, or that the applicant is a bit unimaginative with their vocabulary.

A cover letter should look as though the writer has at least read the job spec and scores 8/10 against the criteria [or at least a strong 7/10]. You can show ChatGPT the Job Spec, but it will merely engage in some mirroring of the text. I will say that it could get a candidate past their writer’s block and get something on paper, but there needs to be some tailoring and imagination with the writing to make it look less AI- and more human-generated.

My conclusions based on my collaboration is that while ChatGPT is a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades, it lacks the expertise and human touch that only a skilled CV writer can bring, including an ability to “read between the lines”.

?? Hey, ChatGPT, are you able to read between the lines?

?? I am able to understand the meaning of words and sentences, but I don't have emotions or the ability to read between the lines in the way that humans do. My responses are based on the information and context that you provide to me, and I strive to provide helpful and accurate answers based on that information.

I am able to breathe a sigh of relief at this point, but what about other aspects of the process?

Job Interviews

A Google search can help you to shortlist a set of interview questions or tell you how to answer questions using the STAR method and provide a whole range of other help to coach you for a job interview, of course, someone has to have written and posted such information if it is to be truly helpful.

ChatGPT is not a search engine and by its own admission, it lacks the human-touch, however, in many respects it can be very intuitive.

I asked ChatGPT to act as an interviewer for a Customer Service role and score my responses. It was pretty good, try it, you might be surprised as to how thorough it is!

Of course, you could simulate a dozen interviews and the real thing may be completely different. I am going to suggest that a human coach would be superior, especially a coach with extensive experience of recruiting [or coaching].

Deliver a Presentation…

These words can strike terror into the heart of a jobseeker, as if the interview experience wasn’t terrifying enough…a ten-minute presentation can feel overwhelming!

ChatGPT can provide some serious help here!

I asked ChatGPT to draft the script to a presentation about why using a human CV writer is better than using ChatGPT – it was an excellent presentation, proving succinctly why a human CV writer is definitely of greater value, but also demonstrating that it would be able to provide an excellent starting point for someone given a challenging topic to talk about for ten minutes.

In Conclusion

ChatGPT is pretty awesome, I use it for all sorts of things, from getting me started on a product description for my Etsy shop to providing a delicious recipe for a Satay stir fry sauce, highly recommended!

This all seems very positive, so why shouldn’t you use this tool to write all your web content, social media posts, in fact, why did I not use it to write this blog post?

Quite simply, it is cheating, and whilst it isn’t strictly plagiarism, it can hardly be classed as original work, some plagiarism checking sites will flag content that is 100% AI-generated as ‘iffy’ and we now have GPTZero and similar tools that will spot AI-generated content a mile away, so using AI-generated content has drawbacks, especially if you are rumbled by someone who goes to such lengths to check if you are using this tool to make your life easier, and it may not go down well!

AI is clearly here to stay and no doubt we will all find ways to use this great tool to make our lives easier, but hopefully, this post demonstrates that it isn’t as straightforward as other posts may have you believe.