It is far too easy to hand off your entire CV, cover letter and any personalised messages to an LLM (Large Language Model) like Claude or ChatGPT and hope that they can get all the hard work done for you. While this is completely understandable and speeds up the application process, employers are becoming increasingly more aware of the use of AI in applications and subsequently more able to detect it.
How to effectively leverage AI for your applications
There actually are many great AI tools that can be used in the application process and if you use these correctly, they can aid you from start to finish. One use of AI that is arguably the best in the jobseeking process is for interview prep. Starting from the research process, there are many tools that have been developed in order to filter through papers and articles so you do not have to read through everything and ultimately you will find the same information as if you did sift through hundreds of papers, it just saves you time. This is not to say that you should go to an LLM and ask for papers and articles on a specific topic but instead use specific AI research tools since LLMs are incredible but some are still prone to hallucinations, meaning that on occasion their answers contain content that is made up and does not actually exist. However, LLMs can still be used to prepare for interviews. Many LLMs now have a voice feature built in which essentially means you can speak out loud instead of just typing responses. In the jobseeking context, this means you can simulate a real conversation and do as many practice interviews as you would like without repeatedly asking your friends, parents or siblings at the risk of them becoming increasingly less patient with you. This also means you can get a range of interview questions and instant feedback on your responses. Then there is the matter of the actual application, using an LLM to ensure you have a correct and professional structure of your CV or cover letter is a very sensible and effective use without straying into ‘unethical’ territory. You could ask for a quick template or examples of structure for a piece of writing for an idea of how to format properly and professionally, this is particularly useful if you are a recent graduate, looking for your first job or moving into a different industry.
Things to be aware of before using AI
When using artificial intelligence in job applications, it is easy to get carried away and let AI do all the work but there are things to be aware of before doing this. Cover letters or personal statements are two examples of aspects of applications that require a human touch, since these often are written to express who you are as a person and in order to write them you must draw on your life experiences, it is unlikely that AI would be able to bring the same level of human-ness per se to this. Additionally, if you copy and paste directly from AI into an application without edits or proofreads, it is likely to be detected as AI through the writing style, pattern of words used and use of punctuation. While you may not consider this to be an issue initially, it is likely that repeated use can highlight discrepancies between your personal writing style and the writing style of pieces of text where AI has been used. This can get flagged by your company or institution and reflects poorly on your work ethic and morals. Similarly, there is the matter of checking for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Many LLMs use different punctuation or spelling based on the region that the company is from. The majority of LLMs will use American English rather than British English which means if you have the word ‘colour’ it would be changed to ‘color’. This is important to be aware of if you are using an LLM to proofread because even if you remember to specify your region, there are many punctuation rules that differ and would immediately give you away. Most word processing apps have built in spelling, punctuation and grammar checks that are just as effective and you can select the language and region you are in to ensure the corrections are accurate.
It is evident that AI tools are becoming more commonly used so it is important to learn how to effectively use these while avoiding getting too carried away. Proper leverage of AI tools can keep you ahead of the curve while improper use can be the difference between your application being considered or ignored.