Don't Fear AI - How to Use AI in Your Job Search

In today's episode of Talent Takeover Unfiltered, we're diving into a topic that's both exciting and a bit intimidating for many: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the job search process. As we navigate the evolving landscape of recruitment, AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming invaluable for jobseekers. From crafting standout applications to preparing for AI-driven interviews, we're here to demystify how you can leverage AI to your advantage. We'll share our firsthand experiences, tips for using AI to enhance your job search, and insights into how AI is reshaping the recruitment industry. Join us as we explore why embracing AI could be your secret weapon in landing your next big opportunity. 

 We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Instagram at @talent_takeover_unfiltered

To watch this episode, visit The Millionaire Recruiter YouTube channel https://youtu.be/QnWPr8NZhZM

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Creators & Guests

Host

Brianna Rooney

I am the CEO and Founder of TalentPerch, Techees Recruiting, The Millionaire Recruiter, and now Thriversity. My vision for the last 14 years has been to change the way the World views the Recruiting Industry. Even though I have two little kids, I remain firm on maintaining a work-life balance. I believe you can be as successful at work, as you are at home. You don’t have to choose. The choice is, to be present and rock everything you do!

Host

Taylor Bradley

Chief Strategy Officer, Talent Leader, Advisor, Podcast Co-host. I specialize in turning DIRT to GLITTER ✨

Producer

Kait Vickers

What is Talent Takeover Unfiltered?

Hosted by Brianna Rooney, The Millionaire Recruiter, and Taylor Bradley, The Humble Hustler. When it comes to working hard and keeping it real, we know our S.H.I.T. (self-care, happiness, inner peace, time). Two women who’ve made thriving in chaos and finding the meaning in the madness an art form, provide you an “under the hood” view of all things recruiting in hopes to bring respect and awareness in a relatable way to a long underrated industry that’s oversaturated with “experts”.

welcome to Talent takeover unfiltered

when it comes to working hard and

keeping it real we know our [ __ ]

self-care happiness inner peace and time

I'm Brianna Rooney and this is Taylor

Bradley hey y'all and we have thrived in

chaos and turn it into an art form so

Taylor what are we doing here today

we're here to give you a raw under the

hood view of all things recruiting and

finally give credit where credit is due

to a long underrated industry that's

full of quote unquote experts all right

well then let's take this show to the

road hello welcome to Talent takeover

unfiltered with your one and only Taylor

Bradley have you seen those well you're

not really on Instagram but have you

seen those memes where it's like um this

is what my wife looks like with her Yeti

and they've got those big ass dumpsters

or with her Stanley and it's like you're

carrying a dumpster around and there's

like a pool noodle in it cuz they're

just this massive ass cup you know I I

got to look at that actually just

recently Diego um it's like you know

what's up with this Stanley thing

they're so expensive I don't know why

everyone is so trendy with Stanley and I

was like thank you for not wanting to be

trendle at age 10 yeah well I mean I'm

like it's a cup it was gifted to me

otherwise I wouldn't have spend that

money but I'm going to send you this

thing I die laughing about it it's these

women just pulling a big trash can down

the street it's like my mom with her

Stanley and she's got her purse in this

big

trash it's hilarious oh my God I love

this okay so hello everyone we'll get to

it I swear uh this is going to be this

is kind of awful whim um just from our

our last podcast that we just we just

did this is all going to be about why

you need to use AI in your inter while

you're interviewing like while you're

looking for a job there's so many things

and we're actually going to divulge that

unfortunately Taylor and I don't

actually work together on the

regular anymore um which is sad but we

will reunite eventually still

each yeah we still get to do this we

still get to see you you you know see

you either on the millionaire Recruit

YouTube or you know just has listen to

us um every single week so we're there

for that yeah and if um I would be

interested if our listeners want want to

know how that story happened there's

it's not a bad story but just want to

know how that Journey evolved um we'd be

happy to share that with you guys but um

we'll just you got to give us some

reviews comments and let us know if you

wna want to know more um because there

is there's yeah there's some interesting

the T right there's some interesting

components there um but yeah using AI in

your interview process I feel like is

going to be critical in today's job

market I mean uh like applications that

I'm seeing are just novels that you have

to write it's no longer you know the

questions that I touched on in in one of

our other podcasts of like are you 18

years of age or older can you legally

work in the United States like those

standard questions that you're going to

get asked in every application but these

are like ones that really align with the

job description like what has been your

experience implementing Erp systems like

very detailed questions that should be

an interview question like if you're

talking to a person but they're asking

that at the point of the application and

so I think it's absolutely critical for

candidates to use chat GPT to help you

answer some of these questions like

you're going to use chat GPT a lot and

we'll talk further about that but this

is one area where it could save you a

significant amount of time because

pretty lengthy some of these

applications can take hours to complete

and it's like you're writing an essay

wow okay so when you were going through

these these applications did you like

copy and paste like let's just say like

one a company's asking the same exact

questions would you do a copy and paste

or would you put into chat GPT like the

new company you were applying for to

make it sound more for them or how did

you handle that yeah so I mean I what I

will say is like I use chat GPT a lot

and I will type in I'll word different

I'll word the same thing different ways

to see what the results come back with

so there wasn't like one single way that

I did it I I did put in company

information I did put like in

hypothetically if it was like have you

implemented an Erp system or tell us

about your experience implementing an

Erp system then you could put something

in chat GPT that's like what are the

steps to implementing an Erp system and

it just G to it's even if you've done

those things it's going to write out for

you what those steps would be so um I

make it it's it's like less specific to

the company and more specific to the

question that I'm answering and then you

know I I don't 100% like just copy and

paste what I get from chat GPT um but it

just gives me a starting point of like

yeah that was hypothetically again that

was my experience implementing an Erp

system I did start with step one step

two like these are the stages that I

went into or implementing an applicant

tracking system whatever it is um it'll

give you some basic responses and then

you can kind of make that your own um

but then there are ones that were like

specific to how does your mission align

with our mission and like then you know

you would have to put in like the

mission of the company and stuff like

that so I think if it's more about your

skills or tell us about a time when you

did XYZ it's easier to use chat GPT that

way um and get just a quick answer but I

think if it's going to be specific to

the company and your alignment with the

company in certain situations or you

know their stance on things then you're

going to have to put in some company

information but play around with it I

will I will put the same question but

just worded differently in chat GPT

multiple times just to what it gives me

it's always different results yeah I I

love that and so like I I go two

different ways like one if I'm like

feeling super creative or it's just like

something that's like really near and

dear to me like I'll write it first then

put it in chat GPT and then ask hey give

me five different F five different ways

to say this maybe shorter or maybe

longer like how how we want to roll that

or maybe with more sentiment maybe

funnier maybe more professional like all

those things right but then other times

what I liked what you said is like

sometimes you're just kind of like

staring at this question and being like

godamn where I even start it's like the

writer's block and it also feels

emotional because it's a job search

which is emotional and so yeah so having

it start and then you be like okay like

I I can take it from here or or I'll

take half of this or you know whatever

it is um but something to note is

because this has been kind of

controversial is some people are using

um like these apps to figure out if it

was AI

generated and so that's something to

note like hey look you don't want to

just grab bot tobot right but but it's

you know so put your spin on it it's

it's again not here to replace you it's

not here to cheat right because that was

other thing like hey are you allow are

you allowing applicants to use chat GPT

well it's like wait let's think about

this for a second how long has there

been resume

writers so what's the difference someone

wrote this other person's resume and

they paid for it for a human being and

yet I use chat GPT to help me out yeah I

think I don't know if we think about

this realistically

that the amount of if we're talking

about ta professionals the amount of

applicants that any one company is

getting they're not going to be able to

check if all of those people put their

answers in chat GPT yeah you know like

there's no way but what I will say is

like their top applicants they could

check those but I still think you should

have incorporate some some personal

aspects there like I'm a person as you

know like I don't like to write it

doesn't come easy to me it's something

that I sit here and I'll just be like

it'll take me all day to write something

but it'll be good what I'll deliver will

be good but it's just because it takes

me all day I'll do multiple iterations

like it's not it's not a something and

that's something that I would love to

work on and get better at but it doesn't

come easy for me but whenever I use chat

GPT I still do my own version of what

it's telling me you know what I mean I

put my own spin on it but it helps get

the creative juices going of like okay

whenever I implemented that applicant

tracking system like it's telling me you

know in Chad GPT here's the steps that

you take to do that okay here's here's

where how I personally did that here's

where you know what my experience was

doing that I think it have to

personalize it I mean 100% that' be

that'd be ridiculous yeah I mean it it's

there shouldn't be a way that they could

just like copy and paste an answer in

chat GPT and that's like that's your

answer and it's also like if you haven't

actually Done

That What's the reality G to be your

reality going to be when you start the

job if you really don't have that

experience to draw from and use chat GPT

as a starting point like you're just

plagiarizing an answer what happens when

they ask you to do that as part of the

job after you get it you know right

exactly but I do think for our listeners

like it's very very important to spend

more time answering those questions

those application questions because

that's what's going to set you apart

from other candidates there's thousands

of applicants having just been there

myself like I I know that and posted a

roll myself and I got 1,500 applicants

and I remember I was telling you I was

like in shock I had like

300,000 um Impressions I had have still

in my LinkedIn because I haven't been

able to go through them all 1,700

connection request

1,700 for posting a job that was maybe

up just once that is so insane it's so

crazy and and I would never do this but

trust me I wanted to I wanted to post a

job just for shits and giggles because

when when you told me that I was like

there's no way like how like how did

that just happen no I I wouldn't do that

because that's fake but I I wanted to

see it yeah because I it's that's just

bonkers I mean I screenshotted it and

showed it to you like it wasn't like I

know I like but I wanted to test it I'm

like

no it was not like I I've never seen

anything like it and then you know and

not that this is what I'm going for but

like I had this moment where I was like

oh my God this is just an indication of

this job market like this is because it

got me gained or I gained like I don't

know I want to say like over 3,000 more

followers on LinkedIn in a matter of

days and like 300,000 post impression I

was like oh my God it's rough in ta

right now like this is this is a big and

then the messages I had thousands of

messages and I read every single one it

took me a while but I read every single

one I got back where I could but it was

I had to turn off commenting I mean it's

it's rough out there so go bringing it

back to the subject like I think people

need to spend a lot of time answering

those questions on the application

because if you think that your resume is

what's going to make you stand out and

you're just like trying to enter

whatever you have to to just get to the

submit part on the application you're

really doing yourself a disservice

because in my experience what I've seen

recently people pay more attention to

how you answer those questions

especially if they're written like

interview questions you know like tell

me about yourself or tell me about your

experience implementing applicant

trapping tracking system you have to be

detailed in that because that's what's

going to get you the interview they

probably won't even look at your resume

they'll look at like At first they'll

look at those questions then look at

your resume but that's going to be like

your first

in so did you use any of like the

LinkedIn AI that they have right now you

know like how to like write the message

or any kind of templates like did you do

anything like that to write them what

message um to write like a message like

when you uh when you sent your

application like did you then write like

the TA leader a message did you do there

I didn't do anything there because and

I'll tell you why because I personal

experience and then like what experience

that I've heard from others it's

overwhelming to have people reach out to

you like that's what I got is like 1,500

people and I mean they're not all

qualified like all these messages I got

and so it's like yeah you may have sent

this amazing message that maybe I saw

like not until later you know what I

mean like it didn't it didn't set their

candidacy apart because I was getting so

many messages and so I think that's

we're talking about ta that's what we do

we're ta professionals maybe if it was

like a CFO role or something you know

where you're not going to get thousands

of applicants but like if it's a TA job

or a recruiter role you're going to get

thousands of applicants and there wasn't

I mean there were some messages that I

was like oh that's cute like that's you

know that they put a little spin on it

but I mean a lot of people this is a one

you'll be interested a lot of people

regurgitated their resume in in the

LinkedIn messages so not only did they

attach it but they just like here's what

all I've done like and I get it like

you're trying so hard to Ure that you're

you get seen for this but also you know

I mean you're the one that would know

this better than anybody or feel this

better than anybody who wants to read a

novel email or inmail nobody does and so

that's another thing where it's like if

people are going to write a message it's

like you have to write something that's

going to make you stand out I got a lot

of just the I'm interested in your ta

role can we set up um a chat or time to

chat to discuss and it's like do you

know how many of those I got yeah and

it's like there's nothing different

about it nothing different about it some

of those didn't even attach a resume or

anything it was just like I

yeah like no like doing the bare minimum

so I don't think you need to go super

super above and beyond and waste your

time that's the other thing I will say

is that I think some of this stuff can

be a waste of time whenever you're

talking about companies that are getting

thousands of applicants like it really

from a recruiter perspective if you're a

recruiter you've been there where maybe

you work for a company that leaves jobs

open for a long time oh yeah Evergreen

rolls yep yeah unfortun or not Evergreen

they just leave them open for a long

time and it's really overwhel to have

thousands and thousands of candidates to

go through but I do think if you're

going to you know try to set yourself

apart somehow it would be like in those

application questions or maybe send a

you could send a LinkedIn message I'm

going to tell you probably most people

won't read it people were at at the

company that I worked at people were

surprised that I actually read them all

yeah that's wild I wouldn't have that's

a I'm not worthy on that one for you no

I mean don't get me wrong I didn't

respond to all of them but I read them

because I want I truly wanted to make

sure like we got some great talent but

exactly who you needed well yeah so

another thing in in AI is is grammarly

so you know grammarly yes yes grammarly

at one point was just like straight up

you know help me sound better you know

help make sure that there's no you know

anything but grammarly now has an

amazing AI whereas you can actually even

put the kind of sentiment you want so

like let's just say like in your

messages in in um your responses to the

questions and your resume those things

you can have grammarly over go over it

and you can say hey I want this to have

a direct tone I want this to have a

friendly tone I want this to sound more

aggressive like let's just say like

aggression is kind of like you know

you're you're maybe a passive person but

you want this sales Ro so it's like okay

well guess what passive people don't win

that game right you know so you can

actually change the sentiment on that

via AI which I think is like insanely

powerful and it's it um it's not that

you're trying to be someone that that

you're not necessarily it's more of a

like how can I get that look because I

know that's what you're looking for I

know I can do the job but maybe that's

not in my nature to write like that yeah

you know yeah I want to see that I'd be

interested to see because I would like I

feel like that could be such a great

thing if it's like internal

Communications that you have with people

where maybe it's feedback because I

actually have worked with somebody that

got this feedback that they're just like

too just short and it's it's comes from

their military background like they

spent a significant amount of time in

the military and so they're just like in

their messaging and communication like

not a lot of pleasantries just like

straight to the point and it it

sometimes can rub people the wrong way

you know what I mean unfortunately

because it's not it's not at all how

this person is they're not sure it's

just how they come off in writing so I

think that's where like if you're

working on your internal Communications

and how you Comm communicate with others

something like that could be beneficial

but I'd be curious to see see what the

output is and like if I'd want to use

something like that because if it I

would want to see if it takes something

that's like really really dry if that's

how this person is and then turns it

into something like fluffy and amazing

or super like that is just not at all

who they are yeah well at the very least

it will show you the tone it will it

will literally say hey is this too

direct is this lacking you know

friendliness and that's a good way to

use it like to me that would be like the

ideal way to use it of like if I'm

writing this does this do I sound like a

[ __ ] [ __ ] yeah saying do I sound

like a crazy person yes yeah like is

this too [ __ ] would be like what I

would use that for 100% another way that

I don't think it's talked about enough

and and although like you guys are

watching this on the millionaire

recruiter or maybe just listening to it

but we're not showing you it however if

you're on LinkedIn their AI you can go

on jobs so you can like let's just say

you're applying for a job you can go all

the way to the bottom and it's going to

generate what skills essentially you're

lacking that this job description wants

and I think people really miss that

because you can have up to 50 skills on

your thing so before applying make the

bot check your LinkedIn profile to make

sure that it's going to match with this

because if you're missing six out of the

10 skills guess what you're probably not

even going to get looked at like you

won't even be in that batch that comes

in like the top 20% like that's not

happening so adjust things let the AI

bot go through that and then

additionally back to your chat GPT thing

it's like put your paste your resume in

chat GPT paste the job description in

chaty BT and ask that bot what am I

missing so you can do like and and that

that's what's cool about AI is it can

check you it's like yeah you know don't

wreck yourself yeah yes before you check

yourself thank you well and I think that

like I mean AI is really what I feel

like we could talk a lot further about

because I know there's been all this

hype about you know AI is going to

replace recruiters and ai's and I mean

it totally in some aspects I will say

has like my personal experience with it

having been on you know the employer

side and then the candidate side of like

using a video interviewing tool yes um

that was that was a first for me where I

had to interview and I was asked

questions that were exactly like the

questions that you would be asked in an

interview exact questions and I had a

little clock at the bottom with like 60

seconds and it's like counting down like

oh [ __ ] you know it's very it's very

stressful and from a candidate

experience standpoint and I've provided

I did provide that feedback like it's it

wasn't a great candidate experience I

think that there is a way to use AI in

your interview process it's not like the

first step because I had never talked to

anybody and then had a AI interview and

I don't know I feel like again companies

can get away with things that they

couldn't before because there's so

there's just an abundance of talent

available and so many people just trying

to to get these jobs it goes back to the

what you and I've talked about before

assignments the assignments they give

candidates like we're back there we're

back there we're like it's an employer's

world right now and we're just living in

it and they can ask all kinds of crazy

things of you and if you're not willing

to do it somebody else will you know

that's just the way the world is going

I've seen it and more times than I can

count here lately is those application

questions that are like an essay that

you have to write and um you know

incorporating AI into your process now

from the other side of it I'm like okay

I get it because it saves me so much

time if I've got thousands of applicants

because it will tell me like

how they scored on those questions that

they were asked now I listen to all of

the answers I do because it's I feel

like there's just with tech there can

always be an you know with Bots I just

feel like there's always room for

interpretation of like what the person

actually means versus like what how

they're being scored and so I did watch

them all but most of it was pretty

spot-on of like here's the answer they

gave how does their answer aligned with

the question that we're asking and so it

did make it significantly easier another

thing that was was asked there that's a

big one and it can be asked in a

pre-screen question or in the AI

interview is your salary expectations

like there's nothing every recruiter

knows this like it sucks to get on a

call with um a candidate especially the

more senior the role you know you're

talking hourlong phone screens and you

don't lead the call with like what are

your salary expectations that's like the

last question that you ask and so it

sucks to have like a conversation for an

hour with a candidate maybe fall in love

with them and then their comp

expectations are completely misaligned

with the budget that or the range you

have for the role and so I do think

there are parts of where Automation and

AI are beneficial in the recruitment

process I don't think they're going to

ever replace recruiters because the

feedback that companies get on AI video

interviews is not great um but I do

think that you have to start embracing

technology which was like actually my

broke to boss tip is like AI you know I

know there was this type about AI

replacing recruiters and all of that but

I think it's it's never going to do that

but it is going to replace certain parts

part of the process and the the more

that you know how to use it and the more

well-versed you are in AI chat gep all

these things it's just going to help

your candidacy that much more you know

that was actually a question that I got

asked in an interview was like how do

you incorporate chat GPT um in your

recruitment process or in your process

when working on a role or whatever and

so it's it's coming up in interviews

even so I think everybody should AI is

your friend you need to be prepared to

speak about it get familiar with it and

it also just make your life so much

[ __ ] easier when you're having to

write a bunch of stuff all the time or

come up with answers that you know you

probably used to spend a [ __ ] ton of

time Googling or I know I did so AI is

your friend and yeah oh I love that I

don't even want to speak after that like

AI is your friend but just one thing

going back to to prep where you're

saying like the AI you know is

interviewing you and you know and we'll

talk about this in a in a different

subject because I'm helping train a bot

do this which is really fun um but you

have to prep like who wants to talk to

the themselves on a video like talk

about giving yourself anxiety like it's

it is more anxiety filled than I think

talking to a human because just looking

at yourself you're seeing a timer you're

freaking out I mean like I can only

imagine like how that like all Vibes

especially with the 60cs especially if

like what you're saying like it's not a

short answer like like how is this a

60-second thing and it will cut you off

and you can't redo it no yeah I've I've

I've seen them and like that's what's

crazy I like oh [ __ ] [ __ ] I'm not done

yeah oh [ __ ] f I didn't know it was

recording cuz you hit the button when

you're ready to answer it's and you

can't take it back you can't take it

back so Prep Prep Prep Prep for AI use

AI you know all that stuff but um do us

a favor you love this episode share it

with your friends for sure but also

comment because you know we have to keep

talking about AI we have to keep giving

you you know ways to use it ways to

accept it adopt it um and you know right

now a good AI bot at its high is 80%

accurate at its high right now now it's

about 50 50 to 60% accuracy so it's like

you also have to think about those

things and you know it's not replacing

us like you said it's our friend it's

enhancing us yeah and it's it's going to

be something that is asked about in the

interviews like it's gonna it's going to

continue to be asked about like how do

you incorporate AI um into your pro

whatever job it is insert a job people

are starting to ask those questions it's

not even just of recruiter so I

definitely think it's at the very least

get yourself familiar with how you use

these like I've talked to people that

don't even know how like we start where

do I start with chat GPT you have to

know like play around in there do

yourself that favor love it thank Taylor

thank you all see you next

Tuesday