Ch: 29 - ChatGPT and the ATS Bot!

As you might have heard by now, there is a new 'AI' in town that wants to take over your job search. I'm big on trying on new things for your job search and seeing if it works.

So the other day I tried using ChatGPT to see what it would do for me as far as resume optimization and cover letter creation. I'm not going to lie to you all, I was a bit disappointed in what it produced mainly because everyone and their grandma was raving about using ChatGPT and how useful it was.

I tried a couple different versions of my resume and many different jobs. It fell short in a lot of those spaces.

I'm not saying it's all bad, it's a great starting point. If you want a template that you can then modify, you should definitely use ChatGPT especially if you don't want to give your email address to access 'free' content from various influencers.

As far as cover letters are concerned, I've never been a big fan of asking or writing them. Through various years, I've also pushed back on why a cover letter is needed when a hiring manager asks for one. Because for the most part, it's not needed. Cover letters can show a person's writing ability if the role requires those skills but you know what else can showcase these skills? A person's portfolio. Asking for something that they have already written can show you the skills.

I still stand by my statement that any role that requires you to upload a cover letter isn't a role worth applying to. However, you should make the determination whether you want to apply to a role based on your situation. I'm not paying your bills and if you need a job to pay your bills and that job requires a cover letter you need to determine what you want to do.

ChatGPT again can be a good starting point to write cover letters. You will need to modify the output from ChatGPT.

Now let's talk about the elephant in the room or should I say the bot in the room.

First things first, there is no bot! As my friend Amy Miller would say, "I'm the bot".

Every automation done during the application process is conducted by a human. No bot is hiding your resume from a human. You might say, "well I applied to a job and immediately got a rejection" or "I received a rejection in the middle of the night" isn't that proof that the bot exists? No, it's not. That's correlation and not causation.

If you immediately received a rejection after applying, let me ask you if there was a question during the application process that you answered that was a 'yes/no' question. The answer is likely yes, and that is what is called a knockout question. It's a simple process that the recruiter set up which allows them to sort for qualifying applicants. These questions can include: certain certifications that are a must for the role, your ability to work in the US without needing sponsorship, etc.

What about the rejection in the middle of the night? That's likely one of two scenarios, either the recruiter is working that late or they scheduled it go out at a certain time.

Are there ATS's that can sort resumes based on keyword matching? Yes. Do most recruiters use it? No.

I know you want a bad guy to blame your job search frustrations on, it's easy to do that. However the ATS bot doesn't exist and can't be your bad guy. An ATS is a database where your information gets deposited, nothing more.

These are not the droids you're looking for.

If you match the basic qualification of a job, and you show that on your resume that's all you need to do. There is no magical formula and unlike Harry in the Half blood prince, we can't use Felix Felicis.

The next time someone tells you that they will show you how to beat the ATS for a price or they have course on how to beat the ATS, walk away. That person is either a grifter that knows there is no such thing but wants your money or they don't know how hiring works and won't provide you much value anyway.

Until next time,

Stay Caffeinated!