ChatGPT can help job seekers level up their job-searching skills and provide guidance throughout the hiring process.
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ChatGPT has been nothing less than a disruptor, making waves in about every industry. Given its strong writing abilities, it’s been called a job taker by some, but in actuality, the recommendation-style chatbot can help people find jobs.
In fact, a job application written by ChatGPT was recently shortlisted for an interview by a company and fewer than 20% of candidates moved forward to this stage of the process.
However, tools like ChatGPT can be much more than job application support—they can serve as career coaches, helping in every stage of the job search process.
With uncertainty over an economic slowdown and layoffs on the rise, competition among job seekers is increasing, making it hard for job seekers to stand out and in turn, find employment. Recent Employ data finds applicants per job, aka job seeker competition, is up about 50% over early 2022.
ChatGPT can help job seekers level up their job-searching skills and provide guidance throughout the hiring process. Here are the four key areas ChatGPT can support candidates with examples of actual questions and outputs submitted to ChatGPT:
Sometimes the most difficult part of job searching is knowing where to start. ChatGPT can support candidates through the planning phase and help job seekers research common questions to understand the state of the job market and better inform job seekers where to focus their job search. For example, ChatGPT can be leveraged to uncover what industries are growing / shrinking, what skills / competencies are required for certain industries, what are the highest-paying jobs, and the list goes on and on. By using ChatGPT in the planning phase of the process, candidates can gauge where they should be investing their time such as narrowing down the job searching stage.
Example: I’m a freshman in college and looking at a field in healthcare. What healthcare jobs are the most in-demand?
Output:
After ChatGPT helps candidates identify where to focus their search, it can help job seekers find positions and potential employers. The chatbot can outline major employers based on location and the best job boards to widen their search and find open positions.
Additionally, this technology can help candidates navigate through the job searching process by serving as a resource to answer the common questions that pop up when looking for a position such as what skills are required for an entry-level sales role. This is especially helpful for those new to the job search.
For example, since job titles for positions can vary from industry to industry, or even company to company, ChatGPT can help to create a list of common job titles for specific industries and/or levels. There are an endless amount of job searching questions ChatGPT can help answer, truly guiding candidates through the entire process.
Example: I’m looking for a job in nursing, can you recommend a website or job board?
Output:
Example: What are the largest companies that employ nurses in the state of Michigan?
A strong résumé is crucial for securing a job as a single corporate job opening receives roughly 250 résumés. What’s more, the job market is continuing to get more competitive as Employ’s Q4 2022 Quarterly Insights Report uncovered new job listings have decreased by 10.4% between Q2 and Q3 2022 while the total number of applicants has increased by 8.7% within the same time period.
ChatGPT can serve as a résumé consultant providing recommendations of top skills to include, how to word job descriptions, and overall résumé editing. To be clear, ChatGPT should be used to elevate a résumé not to build a résumé solely on its own. The tech is best leveraged to wordsmith sentences or provide recommendations for developing more compelling, well-rounded sections in the résumé. If ChatGPT completely crafts a résumé from scratch, it is likely it will produce a more generic version that doesn’t stand out to hiring managers as it lacks needed personalization.
Example: Suggest a more effective way to communicate the following phrase on a résumé: “Architected and implemented an automated system using real-time IoT device data, forecasted weather, and forecasted customer demand to drop product delivery costs 17%”
Output:
*One possible way to communicate this phrase more effectively on a résumé is to use a bullet point format and focus on the specific skills and technologies you used to achieve the results. Here’s an example of how you might communicate this:
By using a bullet point format and highlighting specific skills and technologies you used, as well as the results you achieved, you can better demonstrate your expertise and value to potential employers. It’s also important to use action verbs and quantitative results to help your résumé stand out and showcase your accomplishments.
Although ChatGPT is mainly known for its writing support, its capabilities also extend to the interviewing stage. Job seekers can use ChatGPT to gain advice for interviews and they can even conduct a mock interview through the platform. The technology will act as an interviewer asking typical questions and can also provide feedback on the candidate’s responses, enabling candidates to identify their specific strengths and weaknesses. This real-time, personalized feedback helps job seekers level up their interviewing skills and better prepare them for their real-life interview.
It’s clear ChatGPT serves as a valuable resource to job seekers and is working to create a more equitable job searching process. Not everyone has access to career services or someone in their life that can guide and support them through the process of finding a job. ChatGPT can fill that role, serving as a resource to help everyone navigate the process.
However, many concerns around ChatGPT as a source of plagiarism are valid and something that HR and business leaders will have to navigate during the hiring process. But when ChatGPT is leveraged how it is intended—to provide suggestions and recommendations—it can help improve the hiring process for job seekers and provide more equitable access to career services, relabeling ChatGPT as a career coach rather than a job taker.
Example: Suggest a more effective way to communicate the following phrase in an interview “Architected and implemented an automated system using real-time IoT device data, forecasted weather, and forecasted customer demand to drop product delivery costs 17%.”
Output:
*One possible way to communicate this phrase more effectively during an interview is to break it down into more digestible pieces and highlight the impact and results of your work. Here’s an example of how you might communicate this:
“I led a project to create an automated system that used real-time IoT device data, as well as weather and customer demand forecasts, to optimize our product delivery process. By leveraging this system, we were able to reduce delivery costs by 17%. Specifically, we were able to improve our routing and scheduling processes, resulting in more efficient deliveries and reduced fuel costs. Additionally, by incorporating customer demand and weather forecasts, we were able to better anticipate and avoid potential delays or issues with delivery, improving our overall customer satisfaction and reducing delivery times.”
By breaking down the project into segments, and highlighting the specific impact and results of your work, you can better convey the value you brought to the project and demonstrate your expertise in using data and technology to drive results.
ChatGPT requires responsibility and awareness. The job seeker, not ChatGPT, is responsible to ensure a truthful representation of their skills and experiences. Responsibility aside, using ChatGPT requires a high level of job seeker awareness.
Like all language models, the quality of the ChatGPT output is heavily reliant on the question asked. Job seekers will tend to receive better results with clear and specific questions. For example, include contextual information such as your career field or geographical preference. Also, be specific regarding what you want ChatGPT to provide, a list of company names, career sites or job boards, etc.
Finally, experiment with different question wordings as differences may lead to a different, preferred result. ChatGPT represents a new and valuable type of resource to job seekers.
Originally Published On: https://www.fastcompany.com/90867514/chatgpt-as-career-coach
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