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:
![Beginning of the Disney Technical Analyst job description](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_auto,q_lossy,ret_img,w_624,h_364/https://christianboyce.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/chatgpt_disney_job_desc.png)
… 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:
Apple Letter
The key responsibilities of the Senior Manager role at Apple align perfectly with my expertise:
1. Content Strategy and Alignment: I have developed long-term content strategies that align with business objectives, enhancing user productivity.
2. Adult Learning Principles: I am well-versed in adult learning principles and best practices through my extensive training experience.
3. Content Management: I have managed content performance, continuously identifying areas for improvement. 4. Impact Measurement: I have implemented systems to measure the effectiveness of training programs, ensuringtangible improvements.
5. Leadership and Inclusivity: I have built and led effective teams, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous learning.
Disney Letter
My expertise aligns with the Technical Analyst role in several key ways:
1. Collaborative and Agile Environment: Experience working within multi-functional teams to support software in a collaborative and agile environment.
2. Operational Support and Incident Management: Skilled in triaging service alerts, managing incident responses, and ensuring system uptime and availability.
3. Technical Documentation and Automation: Proficient in creating operational documentation and developing automation solutions.
4. Data Analysis and Problem-Solving: Ability to analyze data sets and service metrics to proactively identify and resolve technical issues.
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
- Use ChatGPT for Easy Vacation Planning (Desktop and Laptop version)
- Use ChatGPT for Easy Vacation Planning (Mobile Device version)
- Use ChatGPT to Clean Up Messy Data
- Use ChatGPT to Quickly Create Images
- Tailor ChatGPT’s answers to YOU
- Use ChatGPT to generate social media posts
- Use ChatGPT to summarize long documents
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