Enhancing Your Job Search and Career Exploration with AI

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a rapidly advancing technology—a versatile and valuable resource that, when used effectively, can reduce time spent job searching and increase your chances of landing that interview. AI can help with:

• Career exploration (researching potential career paths matching your unique skills)
• Job search (editing and reviewing résumés, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles)
• Networking (crafting compelling messages, and practicing elevator pitches)
• Interviewing (targeted sample interview questions and answers).

When used responsibly, you’ll be able to navigate a focused and dynamic job market more effectively and make informed career decisions that align with your career goals and strengths. However, its limitations, benefits, risks, and ethical considerations should always be considered. Its usage should be balanced with critical thinking, cross-referencing, and ethical judgment.

Use the Right Tool

Be sure to use the right tool. Below is a list of AI tools that can help with your job search and career exploration. Also be sure to read UMBC DoIT’s website on AI Initiatives and the officially recommended GenAI Tools.

• Google Gemini: Use for live searches, brainstorming career ideas, and shaping your professional story. It can also help uncover transferable skills and provide data-driven insights into the labor market.
• Microsoft Copilot: Similar to Gemini, Copilot can serve as a supportive companion for career exploration and planning.

• ChatGPT: Good for speed, It is free with a limited number of prompts before a subscription is needed.
• Perplexity AI: Great for research citations.
• Career Dreamer (Grow with Google): This early-stage experiment helps users discover career possibilities by analyzing their life experiences and skills, then suggesting relevant paths.
• Existential: Provides personalized career recommendations and helps you develop a roadmap to achieve your preferred career path by analyzing your interests, skills, values, and experience.
• Resume/Cover Letter Builders (e.g., Enhancv, Resume Genius, Rezi, Resume-Now): These platforms use AI to generate content, optimize for keywords, check for grammar, and ensure applicant tracking system (ATS) compatibility.
• Grammarly: Offers an AI-powered cover letter generator and a resume skills generator, helping you craft impactful language.
• Jobscan: Analyzes your resume against job descriptions, helping you optimize keywords.
• Teal: Organizes job postings, deadlines, and company research, and suggests optimizations for your resume based on job descriptions.
• AIApply’s Interview Buddy and AI Mock Interview: These features allow you to practice with AI-generated interviews, providing real-time help and insights to improve your performance.
• Big Interview: This online mock interview tool provides AI feedback on your recorded practice interviews, helping you identify strengths and weaknesses.
• Jobright: Helps you personalize cold outreach messages for networking with custom templates.
• Pramp: Another AI tool that provides mock interviews.
• Career Bot 3000: This is a chatbot designed to assist with various aspects of the job search and career exploration. It helps users understand job requirements, identify relevant skills, find job offers, and gain insights into labor market trends. It can also support in writing CVs, cover letters, and preparing for interviews by offering advice and generating content.
• AI Career Coach.org: This platform provides personalized AI-powered career coaching, aiming to make career development resources more accessible. It offers a range of activities and guidance through a chat-based interface, helping users explore career paths, build professional skills, prepare application materials, and ace interviews. It’s designed to complement traditional career advising and prioritizes ethical AI practices and data security.
• strawberry.me: This appears to be a browser with integrated AI capabilities, rather than a standalone career tool in the traditional sense. It aims to act as an “AI superpower” for your daily workflows, allowing you to automate repetitive browser-based tasks like research, data entry, and content generation. While not specifically a “career exploration” tool, its automation features could be indirectly useful for job seekers by streamlining online research or application processes.

A Word of Warning

Despite its capabilities, AI has limitations. It lacks the capacity for original thought and relies on the
data it was trained on, which might not always be up-to-date or entirely accurate, or may even be invented (“hallucinations”). It is crucial to cross-reference the information obtained from ChatGPT with reliable sources. AI can give you a great foundation, but you do need to provide it with guidance and plan on taking it from 80% to 100% yourself. You must edit its output until you are satisfied with the results; never rely on its initial output.

Mastering the Art of Prompts

Using effective prompts is essential to getting the most out of the AI tool. The output will only be as good as your input. Crafting clear and specific prompts helps extract accurate and relevant information. Be sure to provide context for your input and special goals for its output. Do not be afraid to ask for better or more specific answers.

Sample Prompts

CAREER EXPLORATION

• Can you suggest exercises or activities to help me identify and prioritize the core values that would be needed for a career in [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• Can you provide any reflective exercises or guided prompts that may assist me in discovering what genuinely inspires and drives me?
• What methods can I use to assess my risk tolerance and willingness to step out of my comfort zone in pursuit of growth in [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• How can I stay updated on technological advancements in [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• Explain how to analyze job market data to help
  me identify potential career opportunities in [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• Generate 10 specific job titles that could be a good fit for me based on skills in [INSERT SKILLS], [INSERT INTERESTS AND VALUES], [INSERT MAJOR], and résumé [PASTE RÉSUMÉ].
• What are three specific ways I can prepare
  myself to be marketable in the following roles:[LIST JOB ROLES]

RÉSUMÉ

• Could you review my résumé (and or cover letter) [PASTE RÉSUMÉ/COVER LETTER] and provide suggestions for improvement for this position [PASTE POSITION]?
• What are common mistakes you see in résumés, and how can I avoid them?
• Can you rewrite my bullet points to include more results-driven achievements with a focus on my experience in [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?

COVER LETTER

• What are the essential skills and qualifications for the [INSERT LINK TO JOB POSTING] position at [COMPANY], and how can I demonstrate them in my cover letter?
• Can you rewrite a paragraph about my strengths [INSERT PARAGRAGH] in a cover letter for this role [PASTE POSITION]?
• Please rate the following cover letter for an
  [INSERT ROLE] based on how clearly my skills and passion align with the role. And suggest specific ideas to improve it, if possible.

NETWORKING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• How can I optimize my LinkedIn profile for searchability by including relevant keywords and phrases related to my target industry
  [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• Do you have recommendations for professional associations or groups related to [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• What resources (including online) do you recommend for quickly learning new skills relevant to
  [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• What are effective strategies for building and nurturing professional relationships within [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• Besides LinkedIn, are there any other online networking platforms or forums relevant to the
  [FIELD/INDUSTRY]?
• In ChatGPT, use the “Viral LinkedIn Post Formatter” to enhance your post drafts.

JOB SEARCH

• Generate a general list of the 100 top employers of
  [INSERT JOB TITLE] in [FIELD/INDUSTRY] and
  [INSERT LOCATION].
• What are typically the five biggest challenges and opportunities facing [INSERT COMPANY]?

INTERVIEWING

• What are some common interview questions a hiring manager could ask at a company that [EXPLAIN WHAT THE COMPANY IS/DOES]; list questions for the role [PASTE POSITION].
• Can you conduct a mock interview with me for the [PASTE POSITION] and provide feedback on my performance?
• Can you help me practice answering behavioral interview questions related to these skills [LIST REQUIRED SKILLS] for the following role [PASTE POSITION]?
• Generate a list of the 10 most likely interview questions I will face based on the following job description [PASTE POSITION]. And for each question, generate an answer in Situation – Task – Action – Result (STAR) format, drawing only from the following résumé [PASTE RÉSUMÉ].
• Generate a short thank you email to my interviewer at [ORGANIZATION NAME], focusing on what I learned from the conversation, including: [ENTER WHAT IMPRESSED YOU MOST].

SALARY

• What are strategies for researching the market rate salary for a position [PASTE POSITION] at [EXPLAIN WHAT THE COMPANY IS/DOES]?
• What are effective negotiation strategies for advocating for competitive compensation and benefits for entry/mid/senior level positions [PASTE POSITION]?
• Draft an email and talking points regarding salary/benefit negotiation with a potential employer for this job offer [PASTE OFFER]. I want to ensure that it effectively communicates my expectations and highlights my value [PASTE RELEVANT SKILLS] while maintaining a professional tone. Mention that I would like to explore what is possible based on my previous pay rates, other offers, research on the current job market, and location.

CAREER ADVANCEMENT AND GROWTH

• Are there techniques for setting goals that balance professional growth, personal fulfillment, and work-life balance?
• Are there specific actions I should take to demonstrate readiness for increased responsibility and leadership roles in [job role/industry]?
• How can I enhance my professional brand and visibility to attract opportunities for advancement in [industry]?
• Can you recommend avenues for ongoing learning and skill-building to support my career progression in [industry]?
• What is a 90-day action plan to tackle the job described in this job description: [PASTE JOB DESCRIPTION]?