AI-powered job search tools promise efficiency, but candidates still need to stand out in a crowded hiring market.
Nearly half of Americans are expected to search for a new job this year, according to Bankrate’s Worker Intentions survey. Yet it is a challenging time to be in the market. The “big freeze” in hiring has not thawed, and applicants for the limited white-collar positions available may face an especially crowded hiring pool.
Meanwhile, younger job seekers who are unwilling to join the NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) generation are increasingly turning to generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to produce quick, boilerplate resumes that can be farmed out to as many positions as possible, as quickly as possible, further crowding the pool. Workers who take the time to create a tailored resume that showcases their capacities and unique achievements may find that they need to submit their resumes to more prospective positions than they have time for, to get a bite from a prospective employer. In this difficult market, tools like JobAssist that can automate and speed up the process of getting resumes in employers’ hands can be attractive.
Speeding up the Job Search
JobAssist is designed to automate the grind of the job search process: locating jobs to apply for, creating personalized cover letters, sending them out, and tracking replies. The more creative and demanding work, like creating the resume and handling the job interview, remains up to the applicant. That may suit a lot of millennials and Gen Z job seekers who don’t want to outsource their resume to AI but do want to save hours on communication. As a Reddit post referencing JobAssist attests, locating jobs and communicating with prospective employers are the greatest time sinks for job applicants who are daunted by the repetitive process of job applications. Because many entry and mid-level positions require applicants to fill out job application forms in addition to the standard submission of a cover letter and resume, applicants can easily find themselves filling out the same information many times a day.
JobAssist works like this: Applicants upload their resume(s) and set preferences or criteria for selecting the jobs to apply for. JobAssist then aggregates open positions from large job boards, checks them against the criteria supplied by the applicant, and applies on the applicant’s behalf to matching positions. That means the JobAssist platform generates personalized cover letters. “You never fill another form,” JobAssist proclaims. The platform also tracks employer replies and application status in an “at a glance” dashboard for the applicant.
You Still Need the Human Touch
It can be an attractive proposition: automate finding jobs to apply to and then focus your time on the work that requires the most human touch, like assembling your resume, telling your story, and presenting yourself in interviews. JobAssist is one of a growing number of tools that use generative AI and related technologies to streamline the job application process.
Amid the big freeze and an otherwise difficult job market, however, the human touch has never been more important, and applicants will need to hone those interview skills in order to land that new job. The difference after the advent of new platforms like JobAssist is that, if these platforms live up to their promise, applicants may now have more time to perfect those skills and prepare for the conversations that will make or break their job search.
