It has been over a year since OpenAI released its ChatGPT. Since then, there has been Google Bard, Microsoft Bing AI and a whole slew of other AI chatbots. The debate over these AI interfaces has been a never-ending discussion, both with useful tips and doubtful fears.
Being a college student, the use of AI has produced mixed emotions from our professors. Some encourage us to experiment with it; not necessarily using it to do our assignment, but to use it to aid with assignment completion and developing our content. Others prohibit its use in classrooms for fear of plagiarism and cheating.
The ethics of using AI are dependent on how you use it, and what you use it for.
As I am now in my last semester at Penn State, one way that I have been able to utilize AI to my advantage is to help assist me in my job search for post-graduation.
Here are some useful ways I have been able to utilize AI to be more efficient when applying for jobs.
- Find resume action words
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If your resume is getting too repetitive, try asking AI for new resume action words or synonyms. For example, if you have four lines that start with “Assisting with,” use a prompt that asks for synonyms of the word “assisting” to use in a resume.
- Rewrite sentences
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Have you ever written a sentence that you tried to rewrite several times, but could not get it quite right? Copy and paste that sentence into an AI chatbot and ask them to rewrite it for you.
If you have a resume bullet that is too long, or an overly friendly email send-off, using AI to reword the sentence could benefit your professionalism.
- condensing your cover letter
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More often than not, I find that when I finish writing a cover letter it ends up being too long. Recruiters do not have time to read a lengthy cover letter, and if yours is long, they might not even bother to look at it.
Copy and paste your entire cover letter into an AI chatbot, and prompt it “Can you condense my cover letter?”
- Thank you emails
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If you are not sending a thank you email after speaking with a recruiter or participating in an interview, you need to put that on your to-do list immediately.
If you are not sure what to include in your email, ask an AI chatbot for a thank you email template after an interview. Then take that template, give it your voice, plug in your information and send that off to the interviewer within 24 hours after your interview.
- Linkedin “about” section
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The “About” section on LinkedIn can be intimidating if you are unsure of what to write about yourself in it. If you need guidance, try using the prompt, “Can you write a template to follow for the ‘About’ section on a LinkedIn profile?”
If you already have an existing “About” section, but need to boost its professionalism or condense it down, copy and paste it into the AI chatbot and specifically prompt it to fit your needs.
- Prepare Interview questions
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The hardest part about preparing for an interview is anticipating what questions an interviewer is going to ask. If you are struggling to come up with questions, ask an AI chatbot what questions an interviewer might ask.
To be more specific about the job you are applying for, try a prompt similar to this, “Can you give me a list of questions an advertising agency recruiter would ask during an interview for a role as junior account manager?”
You can also ask AI chatbots for advice to answer specific questions, or what are some good questions to ask at the end of an interview.
My personal preference for using AI when I am working on my career items and job search is Google Bard because it can directly connect to the internet and find sources. It also has a more conversational feel to the interface, and I have had more success using Google Bard compared to its competitors.
Depending on the AI chatbot you prefer, the results can vary. Each AI product is different, so it does not hurt to test out the different versions if you are not happy with the results of the one you chose to use.
Always remember, when used correctly, AI can be an efficient tool, but it can never replace the human touch.