Use ChatGPT to Write Perfectly Tailored and Customized Job Application Cover Letters

Updated August 2nd, 2024.

Looking for a job? You’re going to need a resumé, and a cover letter. The resumé is up to you*. Until recently, the cover letter was up to you too, and because cover letters can be hard to write, most people used the same cover letter over and over. But now… now we have ChatGPT, which can help you write a customized cover letter, specifically created for a particular job. So let’s do it.

In this article, I’m going to use my own resumé, and I’m going use ChatGPT to help me write a cover letter tailored to getting a particular job at Apple. Then I’ll do it again, using ChatGPT to help me write a cover letter for a different particular job at Disney. The letters shouldn’t be the same, because the jobs aren’t the same, and that’s the whole point.

(Wondering how to type that accented é, in resumé? I have two articles for you. This one tells you how to type accented characters (and more) on a Mac. This one tells you how to do it on an iPhone.)

Job 1: Senior Manager, Training and Content Development at Apple

Here’s a job that sounds interesting: Senior Manager, Training and Content Development, in Austin, Texas. Let’s apply.

Here’s part of the job description. You can click here to read the entire PDF.

I want to create a customized cover letter to go with my resumé. I want the letter to connect items in my resumé with the job description’s requirements. If I only wanted to write one such letter I’d do it myself, but job searches don’t usually go that way. Usually, one applies to multiple jobs. So we’re going to need multiple letters, and they are all going to be different, and for that we can use a little help.

So we turn to ChatGPT.

This would be handier as a PDF or a Word document, so let’s ask for those.

After a little bit of clean-up in Word I ended up with this (click to enlarge):

As you can see, the letter matches five of the job responsibilities with my skills and experience, as found in my resumé. Nice.

Job 2: Technical Analyst, at Disney

Now let’s apply for a different job, and see what kind of letter ChatGPT makes for us. This job is a Technical Analyst position at Disney. Click to read the entire job description, or just get the basics below:

… and here’s the letter.

Note: See where it says “ChatGPT can make mistakes.”? Well it made one (actually three) in this letter. ChatGPT said I had “hands-on experience with AWS, Python, and SQL” but I don’t. That’s not in my resumé– ChatGPT simply made it up! So, I asked ChatGPT to take that part out and give me another version, and then I asked it to save it as a Word document. This is what I got (click for the full-size version):

It’s a totally different letter than the one it wrote for the Apple job. Compare the bullet points from each:

Quite different, and both quite good. ChatGPT did a good job of comparing my resumé with each job’s requirements, and created unique letters to support my applications. That’s a lot of help.

(No, I am not really applying for these jobs– I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing all these years. But… if I were looking for a change, I’d use ChatGPT to help me write customized, targeted cover letters like these. Try it yourself and see!)

One more thing: GOOD LUCK with your job search! Leave a message in the comments here if ChatGPT helps you.

* Actually, you could ask ChatGPT to help you with your resumé– try it!

More ChatGPT tutorials by Christian Boyce

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