The world of AI can seem a little intimidating and may leave you feeling slightly detached from humanity, but, with the rise of technology and AI technology specifically, it is something we should all learn to embrace and embed into all areas of our lives to allow us to work smarter and spend more time doing what we do best.
Contrary to popular belief, the use of AI in the recruitment industry may actually improve your chances of success and create a more positive recruitment experience as a job seeker. While AI will never replace recruiters altogether, new-age recruiters are finding ways to work with AI to source, attract and interact with the best talent. ‘How?’ you may ask… by embracing and embedding AI into the recruitment process – using AI to respond to enquiries, source candidates, screen applications and analyse candidate data.
A modern recruiter or hiring manager may use AI to help source talent through the likes of LinkedIn or other sourcing platforms – using the AI assisted search functions to seek out candidates who have the skills and experience to fit the criteria of a particular role within a particular region. This is why it is important as a job seeker to make sure your professional profiles are updated and accurate. Make sure your job title is easily searchable – by this I mean easily understood – some job titles only make sense in the context of that particular organisation/industry or are quite vague, for example your title might be ‘Senior Consultant’ and within the bounds of your company it might be clear but for those on the outside, they might be left with more questions than answers – Consultant of what? What do you do? Who do you consult to? This way both the AI and recruiter can quickly understand what you do, what skills you have, and what your transferable skills might be. Something else to keep in mind when editing your profile is to use keywords that would lead someone searching for your skill set right to your profile.
AI can also be used to assist with the screening of applications – scanning resumes and cover letters for relevant skills, experience, qualifications and keywords which ultimately help the recruiter/hiring manager to quickly and efficiently sort through large volumes of applications, speeding up the recruitment process, which really is a win for all involved – candidates, client/company and the recruiter/hiring manager! Those who have found themselves a victim of a longwinded recruitment process will appreciate this especially! Using AI assisted screening techniques can also help to reduce decisions made with bias and instead promote more data-driven decisions. This is why it is important to optimise your application documents (resume, cover letter, key selection criteria) by including keywords relevant to your skills and experience and making sure the format of your documents are easy to read and simply designed.
Some of the more AI savvy agencies/organisations are now using AI chatbots to assist in answering frequently asked questions about the vacancy, ensuring candidates receive immediate responses to their questions that might assist in them lodging their application or deciding if the role is right for them, thereby, reducing the back and forth of emails or games of phone tag that can often happen. With AI taking care of the more administration-intensive aspects of recruitment the hiring manager or recruiter has more time to do what they do best (and something AI can’t do), which is simply connect and talk to people. Find out their why, and their story and be able to create meaningful connections.
As a job seeker there are a few simple ways you too can leverage and embed AI into your job search and interview preparation as well. By acquainting yourself with an AI assistant such as ChatGPT you can create your own little career/job search coach that can help you prepare for interviews by giving you practice questions/scenarios or provide you with market insight. It is important to spend some time telling the AI about your current circumstance, job search-wise – feeding it context will help it answer questions more accurately and give you more relevant prompts, the more you feed it, the smarter the Ai becomes.
To generate a step-by-step interview preparation guide you could ask ChatGPT ‘What should I do to prepare for a Graduate Accountant job interview?’ and ChatGPT will create a guide for you complete with tips and tricks from interview preparation all the way through to interview follow up.
You can even use ChatGPT to help you understand the employment market and give you an understanding of what the market in your specific area is like for the role you are looking for. You can use a prompt like ‘I am looking for a new job as a Bookkeeper in Ballarat, Australia – what do I need to know about the job market?’ and ChatGPT will give you insight into the demand for your skill set, what may look like in your area or could recommend any professional development opportunities and job search resources that would be beneficial to you on your job search.
So, let this be your sign to embrace, or at the very least explore, AI assistance and how it can help you to do more of what you love and what you are good at. For recruiters, consider how automating the more laborious tasks could allow you to spend more time connecting with candidates and finding those rare, but very real, ‘unicorn’ candidates. And for job seekers, let Ai take away some of the guess work of your job search and help you feel prepared and confident for each role you apply for or interview you step into.
Disclaimer: All ChatGPT examples used above have been tested and have been found to be accurate however quite generalised. ChatGPT may serve as a great starting point for your career exploration and interview preparation. It is important to remember that AI technology may generate inaccurate information dependant on the platform (AI) used so your answers may differ – it may only have access to data from specific locations or have access to data up until a certain date. If you are seeking information that is critical to your business or personal circumstances we recommend sense checking ChatGPT information with a local recruiter or career coach.
