How to Use ChatGPT for Your Job Search

Inside: How to use ChatGPT to write a resume, write a cover letter, find your ideal role, and prepare for interviews. Let’s rock your job search, technology style!

The robots are coming, and if that means you finding a new job you love in the most efficient way possible, I am SO here for it!

Job searching is hard work, especially if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. You can spend hours going down a LinkedIn job board rabbit hole and leave feeling frustrated, defeated, and more confused. I see it happen all the time.

But when we couple a proven strategy for career clarity and job search with powerful technology – that’s where the magic happens! Let’s learn how to use ChatGPT with a step-by-step guide and prompts.

how to find a job you love using ChatGPT step-by-step guide

What is ChatGPT?

If you haven’t used ChatGPT before, don’t worry. In the simplest terms, ChatGPT serves as a cross between a really amped-up Google search, Alexa, and having a text conversation with the smartest person you know.

In more complicated terms, ChatGPT is generative Artificial Intelligence that uses a language model to interact with users in a human-like way via online chat. So yes, essentially robots!

You can access ChatGPT 3.5 for free or upgrade to ChatGPT 4 for paid access on your computer or mobile device. Personally, I’m using the free version on my laptop and find it works well for all of the career clarity and job search topics below.

Once you create an account, you can get a quick tutorial on how to use ChatGPT, but you can also just get started since it’s an intuitive platform. You’ll see a chat box like this where you can enter in questions or prompts to get quick and detailed answers. You won’t be sorting through links here, all of your answers are fed directly back to you on the screen. Hooray for efficiency!

How to Use ChatGPT for Career Clarity

As a career coach, the place I ALWAYS start with job-searching clients is making sure they have clarity with their target role and company. Most of my clients are busy parents and if they start a search without a clear target in mind, they are going to be spinning their wheels without any free time available to spin those wheels. Direction is super important!

With that in mind, let’s use ChatGPT to find INDUSTRIES and ROLES that are well aligned for you using some sample prompts.

What industries would be a good fit for me?

ChatGPT Prompt: I am passionate about animals, have experience in education as a teacher, and have strong skills in relationship management. What other industries could I consider?

Why this prompt works: You need to give ChatGPT data to work with in order to get good answers. If you can provide some skills you like using, your previous work experience, and your interest areas, ChatGPT can get to work with some suggestions.

What job titles should I search for?

ChatGPT Prompt: What are some roles in healthcare administration where I could utilize skills in entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and curious listening?

Why this prompt works: Again, we need to feed ChatGPT some data. The better inputs you provide, the better outputs you’ll get. Then with a prompt like this, you can start to collect a list of job titles you didn’t know existed but that aligns well with your skills in your target industry.

How to Use ChatGPT to Refine Your Job Target

With industries and job titles or roles to consider, you’ve put together some hypotheses to test out. Some of this testing will happen offline with informational conversations and networking, but here’s how to use ChatGPT for research and learning too.

What skills would be most valuable in my “dream job”?

ChatGPT Prompt: What skills would I be using as a business development manager in a growing software company?

Why this prompt works: When you come across a job function or title that is interesting to you, let’s make sure that the day-to-day of the job is well aligned with how you like to spend your day. Provide ChatGPT with some good inputs like the job title and the type of company and you’ll get detailed feedback.

What qualifications do I need for the job I think I’d love?

ChatGPT Prompt: What qualifications are required for someone to be a marketing manager in the life sciences industry?

Why this prompt works: When we come up with hypotheses to test regarding what role/industry/company would be a good fit for us, we also often start to worry and doubt ourselves. Sure this job sounds great, but would anyone hire me? Well, let’s do some research and find out what qualifications are necessary before you count yourself out or look to skill up!

What companies should I be looking into?

ChatGPT Prompt: Give me a list of 10 companies in EdTech that are impacting student success for English language learners.

Why this prompt works: Creating a targeted networking strategy is something I coach on in the Career Clarity Program because around 70% of jobs are never actually posted online and instead are filled through networking and referrals. By building a target list of companies you are interested you can be intentional about who you’re reaching out to, AND what companies you’re keeping an eye on for new job postings.

Note: Here is where ChatGPT 4 instead of 3.5 can be a good tool because it is connected to live internet data. This live internet browsing function is likely going to roll out to free users of ChatGPT too, but for right now, free searches are only up to date as of September 2021. That means if a company went out of business in October 2021, it might still be on the list!

Google’s version of a chatbot, Bard, is another good option here for company lists.

How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume

Now on to one of everyone’s least favorite topics, resumes! I know this part of the job search isn’t fun for anyone except for a career coach and resume writer. So let’s make it a whole lot easier with some tech.

What should I include in my resume summary?

First things first, skip the resume objective. It’s outdated and not helpful. A resume summary, however, can pack a punch!

ChatGPT Prompt: Can you take my LinkedIn About section and turn it into a 3-sentence resume summary targeting this position? (copy and paste in your About section from LinkedIn and the job description)

Why this prompt works: ChatGPT is really good at writing first drafts. Stop struggling over how to phrase your resume summary in the right way and get a kickstart with this prompt. If you don’t have a LinkedIn About section to include in the prompt, you can also include a short bio or even a simple list of jobs you’ve held in the past.

Note: Remember I said that ChatGPT is good at first drafts! Take what ChatGPT gives you for a summary and then check for accuracy and refine the language so that it fits your style.

What key skills should I highlight on my resume?

ChatGPT Prompt: Based on this job description, what are the top 5 skills someone would need to be successful in this role? (copy and paste in the job description here)

Why this prompt works: You can read a job description on your own and pull out the top 5 skills, but it helps to have a technology buddy do it for you more efficiently. With this information, you can:

Refine the resume summary with the right keywords.
Fill in the Skills section of your resume with the skills you have that the company cares about.
Separate your resume bullet points into subheads focused on the key skills required for success.

What should I write in my resume bullet points?

ChatGPT Prompt: I led a team of 5 people while working at ABC University in our admissions department. What are some potential accomplishments I could highlight in a bullet point?

Why this prompt works: Every resume bullet point needs to earn its place on the paper. It shouldn’t be a list of responsibilities, but rather a highlight reel of accomplishments. If you aren’t sure what results you drove, ask ChatGPT to give you some examples of results you MIGHT have driven in your role as a way to kickstart your process.

The best part, when I tried this prompt ChatGPT didn’t just give good ideas about possible results (employee retention, boosting application numbers, improving efficiency of the department) but it gave those examples in bullet point format so you can pull them out and adjust to fit your numbers and individual situation.

Note: Remember not to simply copy and paste here! Use these suggestions as jumping-off points and only include results that are REAL to you!

How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Cover Letter

If there is one thing people hate writing more than their own resume, it’s a cover letter. As a career coach, I love a great cover letter but I know that if this is new to you it’s a pain and a half. Let’s make this one easier too!

What key skills should I highlight in my cover letter?

ChatGPT Prompt: Based on this job description, what are the top 5 skills someone would need to be successful in this role? (copy and paste in the job description here)

Why this prompt works: This is the same prompt we used for writing a resume but it works here too. With this prompt response, you can build a cover letter that connects the dots between the skills and experiences you have to the skills and experiences they want. I usually write a cover letter focusing on the candidate’s top 3 skills/abilities/experiences, but asking ChatGPT for 5 gives you options!

Where do I start with my cover letter?

ChatGPT Prompt: Can you write a 500-word cover letter for this position? Here is my resume summary and a list of my most recent job titles and companies. (copy and paste those in)

Why this prompt works: If you have writer’s block and don’t know where to start, let ChatGPT start for you! I’ve tested this out and if you give ChatGPT a length suggestion it will provide a pretty good template to build from. You’re going to need to edit this but at least you won’t be starting at a blank screen!

Note: ChatGPT has chat in the name on purpose! After you get your draft cover letter using ChatGPT or a great template, you can provide more prompts like “Can you make the letter more formal?” or “Can you include that I think this company stands out in the market because of XYZ reason?” and ChatGPT will do it!

How to Use ChatGPT for Interview Prep

Congratulations! You’re on to the interview stage of your job search. Now let’s get you ready to shine.

What questions will I be asked in my interview?

ChatGPT Prompt: I am interviewing for this position (copy and paste role) what are 10 interview questions I could expect?

Why this prompt works: You can search online for typical interview questions, but by getting more specific and including the job description you’re going to have a much better list of potential questions to prepare for!

What should I write in my thank you note after the interview?

Yes – thank you notes do matter!

ChatGPT Prompt: Draft a 250-word thank you note to my interviewer for this position (copy and paste job description) that highlights my interest in the role and emphasizes that my experience in healthcare, technology, and leading teams makes me a good fit.

Why this prompt works: Just like we did with cover letters, you can just ChatGPT to give your writing a kickstart. PLEASE make sure you’re editing this and personalizing it, but you can save time by having technology give you a great template to build off of.

Key Takeaway: ChatGPT is Your Job Search Bestie

When I first started career coaching over a decade ago, ChatGPT was not a thing. We had databases and Google searches and templates, but not a handy technology tool that could be all of those things in one.

So now that you know how to use ChatGPT, let’s put it to work! Make sure ChatGPT is bookmarked because you’ll be using it A LOT to make brainstorming, writing, and research much more efficient. Hooray!

And don’t forget, you don’t need to go this alone. ChatGPT is an amazing tool and when you combine amazing tools with real-life people and coaching, you have an All-Star team helping you get to the finish line!

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Hosted by Becca Carnahan