How to use AI to help with your job search in Canada
As a newcomer who’s just landed in Canada and is now looking for work, you probably spend several hours a day looking up jobs and painstakingly crafting your resume and cover letter. By understanding how to use AI to help with your job search in Canada, you can accelerate your employment search and leave time free for other essential tasks that need completing.
In this article, David Mendoza, the CEO and co-founder of Orbit5, a company that specializes in helping economic migrants and students in Canada to enhance their job search, explains how you harness AI to improve your resume, build a cover letter, prepare for interviews, and boost your online presence.
Using AI to build a solid resume
When you use AI to build your resume, you’re likely to save plenty of time that could instead be spent researching the company and role of choice, or building and expanding your network in Canada.
You’re not the only one using AI to increase your efficiency: 85 percent of employers, recruiters and talent acquisition specialists use AI as part of their recruitment process to screen applicants, while about 75 percent of resumes are never seen by a human being. Instead, they are put through an applicant tracking system (ATS), which will not filter resumes unless they have the same keywords as found in the job description.
When you use AI to help with your job search in Canada, you can enhance your resume with the following:
- Create an impactful introduction that shows employers that you are the right person for the job
- Convert job responsibilities into accomplishments that help recruiters understand your achievements and capabilities
- Identify keywords and keyphrases from the job description that you need to put in your resume
- Look up skills that are essential to the job that you need to have on your resume
Also read: Slip-ups in your Canadian job search as a newcomer can cost you great opportunities
AI can also help you craft an eye-catching cover letter
Once you have developed a sound resume, you can use that as a foundation to write a good cover letter.
“Nobody reads cover letters because they do not have time, and I do not want people to spend one hour writing a cover letter if nobody is going to read it,” explains Mendoza.
Based on your requirements, you can ask ChatGPT to condense or expand your cover letter as needed, highlighting the skills that make you most valuable to employees. Drafting the perfect application, however, is a continuous process.
“Chat GPT is a tool, and you have to challenge this tool,” says Mendoza. “Just because ChatGPT gives you something, it does not mean you can just copy and paste it verbatim. You have to see if it is mirroring what you want to reflect.”
Using AI for job search prep: Interview questions
When you hear back from the employer and it’s time to prepare for the interview, AI can help you predict scenarios and potential questions. Paste the job description of the role you’ve applied for in ChatGPT and ask it to anticipate 10 questions that you can get asked during the job interview. Practise the stories you can share from your professional experience for those questions and beyond. Similarly, you can ask for technical situations or scenarios that could be thrown at you or behavioural questions.
Also read: Optimize your career success in Canada with networking, mentoring, and volunteering
Enhance your online presence through ChatGPT
Before you embark on your search for successful employment, you can use AI to help with your job search in Canada by enhancing your online presence. Ask it, for example, to enhance and/or improve your LinkedIn profile.
“A platform like LinkedIn uses AI to provide personalized job recommendations, optimizes profile visibility, and facilitates better networking opportunities,” explains Mendoza.
Similarly, Glassdoor employs AI to offer insights into company culture, salaries, and interview processes based on user-generated content. AI algorithms analyze reviews and ratings to help job seekers find companies that match their values and career goals.
Now that you know how to use AI efficiently to help with your job search in Canada, we hope it sets you on the express lane to successful employment. Good luck!
This workshop was presented during the Crossover virtual conference organized by New Canadians TV Network to help incoming and landed immigrant professionals re-establish their careers by bridging the gap between their international qualifications and the Canadian job market.
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