Tips on How to Best Use AI for Your Job Search and Application

For your brand

1. Optimize your LinkedIn profile with an improved headline and professional summary crafted for the roles you want
2. Use AI to analyze the roles you have enjoyed the most and suggest job titles you should seek out to experience that satisfaction again

For your Master Resume

1. Build a master version of your resume with all your achievements that you can tailor for each application using the extracted keywords for each role
2. Focus on the roles you want:
   1. Collect 3-5 target descriptions of roles you want
   2. Copy text from those real postings into AI and request it to tailor your master resume for those required skills, tools, and responsibilities across roles
   3. Use AI to identify the hard skills, soft skills, and industry terms that appear repeatedly and build those skills and keywords into your master resume

For research

1. Using your master resume, use AI to search for high-match jobs with your skills and experience
2. Read the company’s reports for the past year and analyze job openings to get their most frequently used traits and skills into your cover letter and resume that echo their needs
3. Check if employers have a policy for acceptable AI use in applying for jobs

For resume-writing

1. Pass Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) screening using resume checkers for posting alignment
2. Quantify achievements wherever possible – AI prioritizes measurable results, so include numbers, percentages, or scope to show impact clearly
3. Format your resume
4. Customize your master resume for a specific role
   • Incorporate industry-specific language
   • Translate your experience into the same terminology employers use – ATS systems match based on phrasing, not intention
5. Revise your resume for readability for the hiring manager after passing the initial ATS screening

To Pass ATS Screening

1. Use standard headings:
   1. Work Experience
   2. Education
   3. Skills
   4. Certifications
   5. Summary
2. Use Common Fonts
   1. Arial
   2. Calibri
   3. Helvetica
   4. Georgia
3. Avoid this formatting:
   1. Text inside tables or text boxes
   2. Two-column layouts
   3. Fancy formatting
   4. PDFs that are actually images instead of readable text
   5. Untraditional section headings – Use Work Experience, not Career Journey

For Cover Letters

1. Tailor your cover letter for a specific application
2. The ATS may note gaps in employment history; this is where your cover letter can help provide an explanation

To Prepare for an Interview

1. Research who will be on the search team
2. Look up best practices for interviewing
3. Generate mock interview questions – focus on a particular role or industry for best results
4. Check if the company uses bots for the opening interview rounds, and, if so, use AI to practice talking to a bot

Temper your AI Use

1. Do not look like you used AI – check AI’s work
2. Do not just cut and paste keywords from the posting for repetitive use in your resume
3. Do not invent skills or achievements
4. Do not use AI to complete assessments
5. Do not use AI during your interview
   1. If you start every question by saying, “Let me think for a minute,” interviewers will know that you are using AI to compose your answer.
   2. If you are not going to have AI compose every answer you give at work, you should not use it to compose your interview conversations
6. Do not automatically respond information you did not request
   1. You may receive fake links to fake jobs. If you are unsure that you requested information from the source of the link, look it up before clicking.

• Why? You provide information in an application that is then used to steal your identity.
• Job scams – crafting fake jobs to apply to – are a common scam

Sources for this information