With the recent rise in quality and availability of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools it’s inevitable that they will have an impact on recruitment. According to the Institute for Student Employers (ISE) Recruitment Survey reports, graduate jobs in 2019 had a ratio of 50 applications for every available job, but in 2024 this had risen to 140 applications per vacancy, almost their highest ever number. Here are our tips on leveraging these tools to your advantage in job applications while maintaining the authenticity that helps you stand out positively in a competitive market.

Tailoring applications to stand out

Whilst GenAI tools can write CV examples and cover letters, they tend to be quite generic in tone, so they aren’t necessarily effective in such competitive times. You can absolutely use GenAI to take out some of the labour from the process though, and we would encourage you to explore how it can help you tailor and refine your application.

GenAI is particularly good at taking existing data and reinterpreting it, so you can use it to extract the specific skills required from a job advert, allowing you to tailor your CV and cover letter to match the priorities of the employer for that role.

• Prompt: “What skills would I need to demonstrate in my application to hit all the criteria for this job?” then paste in the content of the job advert.

This will generate some useful bullet points to use as your guide of what to focus on in your application. You can use our guides on writing an impressive CV and an effective cover letter to structure your application in the best way, optimising the content for both the human reader and the more automated aspects of recruitment, hitting relevant keywords which the employer may be looking for.

Getting instant feedback on your application

When you have crafted your CV it’s important to get some honest feedback about the content you’ve created to ensure you have met the criteria provided by the employer. You’ll always get the most detailed feedback from a member of the Careers team, but a great step to take before this is to use GenAI to compare the CV to the job description and person specification to see how closely you’ve matched what they’re looking for.

• Prompt: “Compare the following CV and give feedback on how closely it matches the job description below, breaking down each skill and responsibility with recommendations on potential gaps.”. Copy everything in the CV except for your personally identifiable information so you don’t risk your personal details being compromised.

Once you have received and acted on the AI feedback, book an appointment with Careers via CareersConnect or come to a drop-in session to get more thorough and personalised feedback, as we will pick up on elements which the AI can’t check effectively.

Using industry research to craft your cover letter

An effective cover letter needs evidence of your research into the organisation to identify the specific factors about the company that appeal to you. GenAI can be a good starting point to help you direct this research.

• Prompts: “Summarise the recent news about [Company Name], particularly in [specific field/area, e.g., data science, sustainability].”
• or “Provide an overview of [Company Name], including its mission, values, and recent achievements.”

This can’t replace genuine research on your part, and you should verify any details using reliable sources such as official company websites or reputable news outlets, but it can certainly help you to find some inspiration of the things that attract you to that organisation specifically rather than at a sector level. This will allow you to do more detailed research in a focused way, saving you some time.

Preparing for interviews

One of the real strengths of GenAI is rephrasing or extrapolating from a ‘best guess’ about what should come next. This is very helpful when you’re preparing for an interview, as the real questions should be based on the content of the job description and person specification, so AI can help by writing some questions for you to practise. You will need to do some research outside of the AI first, using resources like Glassdoor and the information provided by the company to find out what type of questions you might be expecting. This will help you write the most effective prompt, so aim to base it on whatever intel you uncover.

• Prompt: “Based on this job description/person specification create a mixture of motivation-based, competency-based, strength-based, scenario-based and knowledge-based interview questions aimed at a graduate level.”

The Careers team can help you get ready for your interview and give you some advice and guidance about effective preparation and answer techniques, so please do use our resources to make it easier for you. AI is a brilliant practice resource to use after you’ve spoken to us!

Taking the work out of networking

Professional networking can be a source of anxiety for many of us, but building those relationships can open doors to opportunities you might not find through traditional channels, so using GenAI to support your networking efforts is a helpful way to start.

LinkedIn lets you connect with Lancaster alumni around the world working in almost every sector imaginable. GenAI is helpful in getting past the blank email stage when you’re reaching out to alumni or industry professionals and can give you a good starting draft in a polite, engaging style.

Prompt ideas:

• “Draft a polite, engaging LinkedIn message template for reaching out to alumni from my university. I want to introduce myself and express interest in learning about their career journey.”
• “Write a LinkedIn message template for reaching out to someone who completed the [name of graduate scheme] at [company]. I'd like to ask about their experience and any tips for applying.”
• “Draft a LinkedIn outreach message to connect with someone I admire in my industry. I want to briefly mention why their work inspires me and express my interest in connecting.”

GenAI can also help with writing the prompts effectively too, so don’t be afraid to experiment and see what results you get. As with all things AI, it’s vital that you infuse the results with your own style for it to feel authentic.

Ethical use of AI in job applications

GenAI is a helpful timesaver and can be a useful tool in your job search if it’s used to provide inspiration on themes or topics to focus on, and as a supplement to your efforts rather than a replacement. Here are some final tips to summarise our guide to using GenAI effectively and ethically:

• Be authentic: Ensure that your application is a true reflection of your skills, strengths and experiences. AI is prone to hallucinations and doesn’t know what your experience covers, so it can’t speak from your perspective. Use it for inspiration rather than writing the final content. Be on the lookout for American spellings too – this can be a giveaway that the work is not your own.
• Be cautious about privacy: GenAI tools are not private, so don’t divulge information that you wouldn’t otherwise share about yourself or others in a public forum. Particularly when working on things such as your CV or cover letter, don’t paste in your name, email, LinkedIn URL or your address.
• Be aware of employer policies: The use of AI is evolving constantly so employers’ policies on the fair use of GenAI will likely change. Be respectful of their guidelines and don’t misrepresent AI content for your own work.

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