Thinking of using AI for your job application?

Widespread AI usage will likely change the job application process significantly within the next 5 years. Until those changes come in to play, here are some suggestions & potential setbacks to consider before using such tools for your next job application.

Positive use cases

AI can create excellent templates and frameworks for creating structured documents. Whether it is suggestions for your CV layout, or a structure for a cover letter, AI can really professionalise your layout. It can also help with spell checking, tone checking & grammatical considerations too. You could use it to highlight any points you've repeated, how to rephrase something so it sounds more in keeping with the rest of the text, or analysing your text against a job description or advert. All of these will help to bolster your application, and, in turn, influence your writing the next time you apply for a role.

Look to stand out, accidentally blend in...

Widespread use of AI has lead to increased difficulty in application sifting for hiring managers and recruiters alike. With popular AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and CoPilot, often the tools themselves have limitations to what style of writing, language & grammar they would use for certain document types. As this is replicated across many applications, it can make it challenging to see the wood for the trees. Homogenised layouts, wording & phrasing can be a real disadvantage when actually trying to stand out against your competitor candidates.

When using AI to write cover letters, always ensure you add your own additional depth to the letter. If you're copy & pasting a CV and asking the AI tool of your choice to create a cover letter, it will just reorganise your CV rather than provide any new information - it can't do this without you feeding it in alongside the document text! Personal storytelling remains a critical differentiator in applications.

Proof reading the proof reader?

If your CV is formatted with sidebars for dates and job titles, AI tools won't always pick this up in relation to your role description in another area. Often this can lead to paragraphs opening with "In my current role as ____" when the experience was actually 2 or 3 roles prior to your current position. This wouldn't be picked up by a spellcheck or a grammatical consideration if the AI tool itself is unable to correct it's errors because they aren't recognised as an error. Always make sure you proof read any text generated by an AI tool.

Overstating or falsifying experience

If the role you are applying for requires previous management experience and you're pasting requirements into an AI tool alongside your CV, it can often generate text that states you have the experience, even without evidence of it in the CV. This isn't to say you don't have the experience, but if you do, make sure your CV is reflecting this. Statements that can't be backed up by content in your CV can make your documents look mismatched.

In summary...

AI can be an excellent tool to plan or check a document, but it shouldn't be relied upon to create an entire standalone piece of text.

• If a full cover letter is generated, use this as a template rather than a final version. It will likely have organised your CV into paragraphs that match the requirements for the role you have applied for, now add additional context. What was the reason behind your decisions? What challenges occurred in your team? How did you overcome these? This level of human detail and additional depth will often be left out of CV's to keep them concise, a cover letter is to bring those details back in and demonstrate your alignment with the criteria.
• Sense check the tone of the writing. Does this sound like something you would write naturally? Try and add your own tone so you represent yourself as closely to the truth as possible. Yes, this is an opportunity to sell yourself which doesn't always come naturally, so try and bring the authenticity to your cover letters as you would day to day once in the job.
• Proof read the proof reader! Make sure there are no errors, statements that can't be backed up by CV content, and check tenses/role context.