How to use generative AI in your job search in 2024

You might not find prompts to do exactly what you’re hoping to do in this blog, but you can use our prompt formula to create your own. The Meytier prompt formula remains the same. The most important thing you can do when prompting a GenAI tool is to be clear, specific, and direct and don’t ask open-ended questions. For example, rather than “help me write my resume”, ask “I’m applying for this job [INSERT LINK] to become a Senior Software Developer. Rewrite my experience in my current job to highlight my leadership skills [INSERT JOB EXPERIENCE]." You should also set expectations for how you want the answer to look (i.e. “in simple language…” “in 500 words or less”.. etc.). 

Next, provide context. Using the example above, you could try something like “I’m hoping to become a Senior Software Developer for a large bank. Can you look at job descriptions for Senior Software Developers at large banks (think JP Morgan, Citi Bank, Deutsche Bank) and identify industry specific skills I should include on my resume?” Lastly, try, try again. With Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, sometimes you’ll need a few tries to get the answer you’re looking for. Don’t be afraid to prompt for a different answer, you can say things like “Can you write that in simple language?” or “could you make this more concise?”

With so many companies switching to skills-based hiring, it is more important than ever that you’ve included the right skills on your resume. Generative AI can help you extract skills from job descriptions, sort them, identify skills that similar companies list in job descriptions, and more. Here are some examples of skills identification prompts you can use to enhance your resume:

• Can you extract the skills I need from this job description that I will paste below? Please categorize these skills into hard skills, soft skills, and transferable skills.
• What skills do I need to become a [TARGET JOB] for a [TARGET COMPANY TYPE]?
• I am going to copy a job description for you. Give me an inventory of all the skills you found in this job description and put it in a table for me to copy into my resume.
• I am a [CURRENT] in charge of [FUNCTION]. I aspire to become the [TARGET JOB]. Look at recent job descriptions from [COMPETITORS] and find skills I need to have to align with their jobs.

Generative AI can also help you refine and organize parts of your resume. Readability is key for both humans and computer screening systems, so it’s important that your resume is streamlined and organized. Here are some prompt examples that can help you do that:

• Can you help me identify other industry specific skills that people with [JOB] in [INDUSTRY] list on their resumes?
• Can you help me structure my resume in a way that presents my freelance work as a continuous experience rather than a series of separate jobs? Please highlight my professional growth and leadership skills
• Can you rewrite my experience to use more power language?
• Can you rewrite some of my experience as a [JOB TITLE] to include these skills?
• Can you separate these skills into hard skills, industry skills, soft skills, and transferable skills?
• Can you put this list of skills into a table so I can copy and paste it onto my resume?

GenAI is not a magic wand and it shouldn’t be used for everything. Remember, it's just a tool. GenAI is simply one of many tools for your job search and should be used as such. Your intuition and critical thinking are still key components in your job search. Don't fall for trending "hacks" like copying the entire job description or hiding prompts in your resume. Most systems are smarter than that! Don't use GenAI content outright to write cover letters, question responses or resumes in their entirety. GenAI tools can provide a good outline or help you enhance what you’ve already written but are not nuanced or sophisticated enough to write something worthy of being submitted as is. AI is only as good as the data it is trained on- while this is true for ALL AI, many GenAI tools in particular (Like ChatGPT and Bard) have a lag in their training data. If you’re in an emerging field or very niche field, you should rely more heavily on other tools at your disposal. Lastly, always fact check GenAI generated information. You should always verify any information coming from a GenAI tool. If it doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t.

Go download our updated GenAI Job Search cheat sheet, which includes prompts to help you write a great resume, prep for interviews, write cover letters, identify skills, and much more.