Aki Ito, Chief Correspondent for Business Insider, tried to use job search bots to improve her job search efforts. She had dramatically mixed results. New bots are being introduced all the time utilizing artificial intelligence to match you to the right jobs. Is the future here? Will AI find you a job? The answer is decidedly maybe….
Even before AI bots started popping up all over, the ease with which one could apply to a job online was changing how candidates and companies managed the application process. Once you had your resume ready and had set up search agents on the major job boards, with just a click you could apply to the jobs that appeared in your email inbox. Every job posting can attract thousands of applications. HR departments don’t have time to respond much less read all the resumes flooding their inbox. At most you can expect an automated rejection, and often you don’t even get that. In fact, LinkedIn no longer reports on the number of people applying to each job opening on their portal – it is too many!
Job search bots are almost a way to get even with HR. Job application becomes as easy as the automated rejection you receive. LazyApply allows you to feed your resume into the bot. specify what you are looking for and it immediately starts sending out hundreds of applications on your behalf. Massive adds some human input to their process. They have “job experts” who double-check every application completed by its bot which, of course, is more expensive than the LazyApply volume approach. Teal and Simplify use chrome extensions that make you responsible for reviewing the bot’s work forcing you to click submit before each auto filled application is sent.
In response to all of these bots Ladders added a service to their product line. A team of humans will complete your job applications for $49.97 a month. It has become very popular even though they can “only” promise up to 50 applications a month.
Aki Ito ended up applying to 126 jobs via the bots she tried and did hear back from 7 employers – a not bad 6% success rate. The problem is one of the bots sent out an old resume and cover letter addressed to a competitor to many firms she was interested in, essentially torpedoing her job search at those firms.
Instead of assuming AI will find you a job, you may be better served by using AI for other job search needs. Tealhq.com can help you craft a better resume by presenting your accomplishments more impressively. Phantombuster was designed for sales reps to reach prospects on LinkedIn but you can use it to search for recruiters at companies you want to work for. Google Interview Warmup helps people practice their answers to common interview questions. And good old ChatGPT can suggest a resume format, list companies in your field and even proofread your emails to hiring managers.
AI will find you a job? Probably not yet. Eighty percent of people get their jobs through some kind of connection so instead of cold applying to hundreds of jobs focus on networking for the jobs at the companies you really want to work for.
