The Advantages (and Disadvantages) of Using AI in Your Job Search

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are transforming many areas of our digital lives, from smartphone apps to web searches, and they're pushing their way deep into the recruitment industry, too: Companies are increasingly using AI to sift through applications-and applicants are increasingly using AI to find the right roles.

Over at 404 Media, Jason Koebler reports on an automated job application tool called AI Hawk, which is helping job seekers apply to a multitude of jobs with a few mouse clicks: It'll find open positions for you, fill out the necessary forms, and even compose a few lines on why you actually want the job, while you get on with something else.

On the other side of the fence, around one in five big companies are using AI to help with "human resources and talent acquisition," according to IBM. You might even find yourself interviewed by AI for your next job. So what AI tools are out there to help you stand out from the crowd in the job market? And should you be using them?

How AI can boost your chances of landing a job

AI Hawk takes a few moments to install and is coded in Python. It'll automatically scour LinkedIn for jobs matching your specifications for you, and then take care of the application: You can plug in a Large Language Model or LLM (such as ChatGPT or Gemini) to take care of any text generation that might be required.

It's hard to argue with some of the results reported by AI Hawk users: As per its Telegram community and the 404 Media report, it's helping people apply to hundreds or even thousands of jobs with very little effort. It has led to actual interviews and actual job offers, though it's difficult to gauge just how effective it is to apply to huge batches of roles at the same time.

LinkedIn has its own set of AI tools. Credit: LinkedIn

LinkedIn, of course, has AI tools of its own, though you need to be a Premium subscriber (from $29.99 a month) to make use of them. You can get help from AI with filling out your profile, deciding if you'll be a good fit for certain roles and companies, looking for roles that match your specific criteria, and even messaging recruiters.

Need a little help sprucing up your resume as well? A plethora of apps are now available to help, from Kickresume to Enhancv, though they'll typically ask for a few dollars a month from you (or limit what you can do on a free plan). They're simple and straightforward to use, and can produce text on demand based on a few details you provide about your education and experience.

Don't forget the traditional chatbots like Copilot, ChatGPT, and Gemini as well. You can get assistance from any one of these with writing cover letters, giving the text on your resume more impact, and messaging recruiters. Even if you don't want all of the words you write to be produced by AI, you might want to consult these bots for some tweaks in terms of style and tone.

Another way to use generative AI chatbots is to think about roles you might be suitable for. Plug in some details about what you've done for work in the past, and what your skills are, and you'll get back some suggestions about the sort of roles that might suit you-and you could get back some ideas you wouldn't have otherwise thought of. These tools can help in prepping for interview questions, too.

Other AI platforms such as Teal (free or from $9 a month) give you a comprehensive, all-in-one job seeking package: You can produce multiple resumes, get feedback on them, search for relevant jobs, track the interviews you've been called up for, and more. It's a heavy-duty suite of tools for professionals.

Some of the features offered by Teal. Credit: Teal The case for not using AI to find a new job

For a lot of professions and roles, it's tough for applicants out there-and if you're job hunting, you're perfectly entitled to use any tool at your disposal to try and get ahead. I don't want to warn you off using AI assistance if you think it might improve your chances of getting hired, but there are a few reasons to think twice about whether it's for you.

While it's difficult to generalize across every job and every industry, knowing a lot about the company you're applying to and the role that's on offer often helps-not least when you get to the face-to-face interview stage. If you're applying to hundreds of positions while you're asleep, then you can't really know much about what you're applying for, or where you're applying.

Finding the right job isn't easy-so it's natural to want some help. Credit: Lifehacker

Then there's the rather generic nature of AI-generated text. Remember, if you get AI to write your resume, it's smushing together all the millions of resumes it's ever been trained on, ready to write something stuffed with buzzwords, cliches, and banalities (and a few personalized touches added by you). I gave ChatGPT a quick request for a cover letter, and got back such well-worn phrases as "proven track record" and "expertise and passion."

And let's not forget AI hallucinations, either-a generative AI problem that hasn't gone away but which now seems to be largely ignored. Chatbots like Google Gemini, by their very nature, are designed to be creative and deviate from their training models-so mistakes will inevitably creep in. Jason Koebler, for example, reports that the AI Hawk bot sometimes gave his location as Italy, not the U.S. It would be a shame if you missed out on your dream role because AI slipped up.

Koebler reports that the bot sometimes got stuck, sometimes mixed up company names, and sometimes applied for roles he didn't want. On top of all that, automated tools like this are actually banned by LinkedIn anyway (though obviously they still sneak through): AI Hawk cofounder Federico Elia has himself been banned by LinkedIn for this reason.

ChatGPT will write your cover letter for you-but should you do it instead? Credit: Lifehacker

There are problems for recruiters as well, by the way. Studies have shown that AI can introduce bias for or against certain groups of people, even on something as simple as a name. Both in training data and algorithm design, AI models can have trouble being fair-so if a role is usually filled by a certain type of individual, the AI may continue to favor the same traits in the future, and perhaps even reject the best applicants.

Then you have to think about where all of this is heading. If we're going towards a world where AI chatbots apply for jobs, and then get screened and interviewed by other AI chatbots, then where's the nuance and the human touch? Before too long, the logical conclusion might be that AI chatbots might as well fill these roles, too (after all, they've done all the hard work of applying).