Do you hate writing cover letters?
Or coming up with the perfect resume bullet?
Or just figuring out what to do with your life???
Good news: ChatGPT is here to help!
And while it can’t find you a job completely on its own (Robo Career Coaches are still a few years off, thank goodness for me… ;), it can absolutely help at every step of the way.
Step 1: Find Your Career Path Using ChatGPT
Let’s start at the very beginning. Say you just graduated with a degree in Sociology and you’re looking to find a way to pay off all the debt you just accumulated.
Or maybe you took a high-paying job only to discover that you’d rather do something that involves your love for animals.
Either way, don’t just sit there and wonder what you could do - get a list of possible paths to start exploring:
Even if every single path that ChatGPT generates isn’t perfect, it’s better to at least understand the possibilities than to feel trapped and hopeless.
Step 2: Test Your Job Fit with ChatGPT
OK, so you’ve got a list of 5+ paths that might be good for you. But how to figure out which ones will actually play to your superpowers - and which will just be your kryptonite???
Once again, ChatGPT is here to help, giving you a series of action steps that this career coach highly approves of. Whether it’s networking with professionals in these spaces or getting the experience you need to get the job later, you’ll be in great shape with these smart techniques:
Step 3: Build Your Skills with ChatGPT
So let’s say you reach out to a bunch of professionals in your prospective new space - e.g., veterinary sociology. And there’s good news and bad news:
The good news is that you’d absolutely love the role - it would be a perfect fit for the kinds of things that energize you.
The bad news is that you’re not quite qualified yet. While you love the kind of work it entails, there’s still a skills gap between where you are today and where you need to be to land a job.
Rather than spend years of your life and hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing another degree, ChatGPT will help you pinpoint the exact skills you need to learn:
And that way, you can take just the right free course on Khan Academy or LinkedIn Learning (pro tip - you can almost always get free access via your public library) and close that gap ASAP!
Step 4: Create a Company List with ChatGPT
You’re really off to the races now - you’ve found a role that fits your unique gifts and passions, you’ve built up your skills to earn those roles, and now the only question left is, “Where to apply?”
Well, even if you’re exploring a relatively obscure space like veterinary sociology, ChatGPT won’t be stumped. Just ask for some job leads and it will produce a great ecosystem map of your desired space, laying out all the key categories you should consider:
Step 5: Make a Resume with ChatGPT
So far, so good. But I know what you’re thinking: “Couldn’t I have figured out all of the above on my own?”
And you’re absolutely right - these are the kinds of questions savvy job-seekers have been conquering for generations. Or at least since the advent of LinkedIn and Google!
But now get ready for the real ChatGPT magic trick: Not only can it answer just about any question but it can also write just about any document.
Yes, even the most painful ones. And you know exactly what I’m talking about - resumes, cover letters, pretty much everything that has to do with job-seeking.
So just ask it to generate a resume for your space and it will put together a template that you can easily customize to make sure that your own CV is nailing the most important keywords:
Or better yet, feed it your existing resume and ask it to customize the resume for a specific job. You’ll be blown away by what it can do!
Just to be clear: No matter which path you take, don’t assume that your resume is now 100% ready for primetime. As we all know ChatGPT can get a bit… ahem… creative sometimes. So make sure you review and edit everything before submitting, lest you get asked in your interview about ChatGPT’s unbelievable accomplishments… ;)
Step 6: Write a Cover Letter with ChatGPT
If you think writing a great resume is hard, imagine writing a couple dozen great cover letters. You can see why so many job-seekers either do copy-and-paste jobs (often listing the wrong company name) or skip them altogether.
And while there are plenty of good reasons to write a cover letter, you’ll find that having your own personal AI ghostwriter makes it so much less painful!
So just like with your resume, you can ask for a generic cover letter for your industry:
Or, if you want to really knock your recruiters’ socks off, feed ChatGPT your resume and desired job description and get back a super personalized letter.
Step 7: Prepare for Your Interview with ChatGPT
Now your rockstar resume and cover letter have won you an interview. But there’s just one problem: There’s no way an AI can help you with that, right?
Wrong.
It turns out that ChatGPT has been trained on some of the best interview advice in the biz because it not only can give you a cheatsheet on the most likely questions, it can even give you sample answers to learn from:
And I’ve got to tell you, ChatGPT’s answers are a lot better than the ones I used to hear in mock interviews. They’re crisp, focused, and on-point - so definitely great models for you to build your prep around.
Step 8: Write a Thank You Message with ChatGPT
So the interview was a big success, thanks to your AI coach. But there’s just one last task to check off before you can rest on your laurels: The perfect thank you email.
And if you’ve been paying attention at all, you know that this is the exact kind of message that ChatGPT was born to write. Not only will it give you a great structure to start with - it will even feed you specific spots to add little bits of personalization, MadLibs-style:
Step 9: Negotiate Your Salary with ChatGPT
One of the biggest mistakes job-seekers make is that they’re so elated to win a new job that they don’t pause to negotiate their salary. And, of course, this mistake compounds upon itself because your starting salary is the base for your bonus, for raises, and for negotiating your next job offer.
So even if you’re conflict-averse, be sure to ask ChatGPT for a little guidance for your region:
Plus, if you combine this step with the last one, why not ask ChatGPT to also write a message to the recruiter making the case for better compensation? Think of it as your own personal agent, going to bat for you Jerry Maguire-like! :)
Step 10: Nail the First 90 Days with ChatGPT
Just like your starting salary sets the tone for your financial future, so do your first 90 days establish your overall trajectory in your new job. So rather than dive in head-first, come back to your old friend ChatGPT one last time for a little advice:
And even though this advice is pretty well-known, it’s classic for a reason: It works. So take heed of your AI pal and make sure to invest in both your skills and your colleagues right from the get-go.
So there you have it: 10 steps to land your dream job. And while this journey has been a long and lonely one throughout our history, it’s one that you no longer have to travel alone.
So whether you leverage several of these techniques or just a few, know that you need never be stuck on your professional trek. Especially with your handy AI guide by your side!