Putting together resumes and cover letters is arguably one of the most tedious tasks involved in the job application process—especially when done well. While resumes may need to be tweaked to give relative importance to different experiences and skills depending on a particular job opening, these documents are relatively static compared to cover letters, which typically require more customization for each application.
It’s not surprising, given this level of tedium, that applicants are increasingly looking to AI chatbots for a little help.
Chatbots and the Job Application Process
“Leveraging a dataset containing 570 billion individual words, OpenAI’s ChatGPT can compose convincing cover letters on demand, or synthesise a few career details into a competent, bullet-pointed CV,” writes Alex Christian in an article for BBC. “Want to send an email to a hiring manager? Prompt the chatbot, then copy and paste the AI-generated text straight into the message.”
Still, job applicants aren’t the only ones who know about AI chatbots, meaning the hiring side of the equation is adapting in response to this new technology as well.
Hiring managers aren’t oblivious, Christian points out. They likely know that at least some candidates are relying on generative AI to help them out. It’s a solution that even more are likely to turn to in the future. That, says Christian. “This could create a shift in job applications as we know them, moving recruiters away from the traditional modes of evaluating candidates,” he says.
Changing Talent Acquisition in Light of AI
As application practices shift, so too will talent acquisition practices. With the advent of generative AI and its use by applicants, recruiters could start leveraging tools like questionnaires and personality assessments more heavily in the recruiting process. Such tests are more personalized, and, while it might take a long time for humans to pour over and analyze applicant responses, such a task is a perfect fit for artificial intelligence.
Rapidly advancing tools like AI chatbots have the potential to fundamentally change a job application process that has been relatively static for decades. The staple resume-and-cover-letter paradigm may not be a great model in a world where both applicant and recruiter can cheaply and easily employ AI to write and review those materials.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.
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