Job hunting with AI: CVs, cover letters and interviews
AI can help you tailor your CV, draft a cover letter and practise for interviews. The rule that matters most: use only your real experience, and check every line.
In 30 seconds
- Give AI the job advert and your real experience, and ask it to use only your facts.
- Check every line: anything untrue in your application can come up at interview.
- Practise with AI as the interviewer, one question at a time, and ask for honest feedback.
The advert closes on Friday. It asks for a CV and a cover letter, and if you’re shortlisted, there’s an interview. An Jargon busterAI assistant: A chat app such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that answers questions and does tasks you describe in plain language. can help with all three: matching your experience to the job, drafting the letter and playing the interviewer. The one rule is that everything it writes about you must be true.
Start with the advert and your real experience
AI works best with two things: the full job advert, and what you’ve really done. Paste in the advert and your current CV. No CV yet? A rough list of your jobs, skills and achievements will do. Then ask it to match the two, using only your facts.
That last part matters. AI likes to be helpful, and it may invent a qualification, inflate a job title or add a result you never achieved, a kind of Jargon busterHallucination: When AI states something false as if it were true, because it predicts plausible words rather than checking facts.. Tell it not to, and ask it to list any gaps instead of filling them.
Here’s a job advert: [paste the advert] And here’s my CV: [paste your CV, with your address, phone number and date of birth removed] Suggest changes that show how my experience fits this job. Use only facts from my CV. Don’t invent skills, qualifications, results or job titles. If the advert asks for something I don’t seem to have, list it as a gap instead of filling it.
A cover letter that sounds like you
Give it your raw material: why you want this job, why this employer, and one or two real examples that show you can do it. Ask for a short draft, then rewrite it in your own words. A letter full of stock phrases, such as “I am writing to express my keen interest”, sounds like everyone else’s.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| “Write me a cover letter for this job.” | “Draft a cover letter from my notes below. Use only my examples.” |
| “Make my CV sound impressive.” | “Make my CV clearer for this advert. Keep every fact as it is.” |
| “Add some leadership experience.” | “Which of my real experiences shows leadership?” |
| “Is my CV good?” | “What would a recruiter for this job see as the weakest part of my CV?” |
Check every line before you send it
Read the final version as if you were the interviewer, because you might be asked about any line of it. Anything untrue can come up at interview, or cost you the job later if it’s found out.
Before you press send
- Every fact is trueDates, job titles, qualifications and results all match what really happened.
- It fits this jobThe employer’s name and the job title are right. AI can mix them up if you reuse one chat for several applications.
- It sounds like youRead it aloud, and change anything you wouldn’t say in an interview.
- Your details are back inAdd your contact details yourself, at the very end, outside the chat.
- You’ve followed their rulesSome employers set rules on using AI in applications. Read the instructions, and follow them.
Practise the interview
AI makes a patient practice interviewer. Ask it to play the interviewer for the job you’ve applied for, asking one question at a time and waiting for your answer. If your assistant has a voice mode, use it: answering out loud is closer to the real thing.
You: I’ve pasted the advert. Be the interviewer: one question at a time, then honest feedback on each answer.
AI: First question: tell me about a time you dealt with an unhappy customer.
You: A customer’s order went missing, so I tracked it down, called her back and sent a replacement the same day.
AI: Clear and calm. To make it stronger, say how it ended: did she order again, or leave a good review?
I’m applying for this job: [paste the advert] Be the interviewer. Ask me one question at a time and wait for my answer. Mix common questions with ones about the skills in the advert, and ask a follow-up when my answer is vague. After each answer, tell me honestly what worked, what was missing and how to make it stronger. Don’t just praise me.
Many interview questions ask you to describe a real situation. A simple shape helps: what the situation was, what you did and how it turned out. Ask the AI to tell you when you skip the ending, and keep your answers true. It can also suggest good questions to ask the interviewer at the end. For more on asking well, read how to write a good prompt.
Check yourself
3 quick questions nothing is savedSpotted a mistake? Tell us and an editor will check it.
