How Can Artificial Intelligence Support Your Job Search?

By Philip D. Adams

January 06, 2025

Career

We now live in the remarkable age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in which computers can do more than just than compute. Today, machines equipped with neural networks modeled after the human brain are able to simulate human learning and perform cognitive functions of comprehension, problem-solving, creativity, and even autonomous decision-making.

This new development raises a world of technological possibilities once relegated to the realm of science fiction, with computers that can learn, predict, and make inferences without having to be explicitly programmed for specific tasks. These extraordinary capabilities have far-reaching implications for virtually every industry, from marketing to medicine to finance and beyond.

Understanding GenAI and How It Can Aid Job Seeking

A subset of AI is a technology known as generative AI (genAI), which can create original text, images, videos, and other high-quality content based on user prompts and inputs. Apps such as ChatGPT, VideoGen, and Canva Magic Design are putting powerful new tools into the hands of creative professionals. Indeed, depending on one's needs, there are genAI apps available to create content specific to a range of diverse fields.

One field in which genAI is having an impact is job seeking—an area in which ��Ƶ (UMGC) has long been actively involved. Because our students’ career advancement is a primary driver—and measure—of our institutional success, UMGC has been providing lifetime career services to our students and alumni for years.

As part of those services, UMGC makes genAI tools available to assist you on your career journey. VMock SMART Career Tools is a suite of genAI modules designed to help you enhance your resume, LinkedIn profile, and other communications for greater impact. Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered virtual assistant that can help you with a variety of job-search tasks.

Cathy Francois, director of Career Services at UMGC, says these resources can offer job seekers key advantages.

“Leveraging AI tools in your job search can increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of an often-arduous process,” she says. “The feedback students receive from AI can be very enlightening and provide added confidence that their materials are optimized appropriately.”

Using VMock SMART Career Tools

Accessible at no cost through CareerQuest, UMGC's online career services hub, VMock uses data science, machine learning, and natural language processing to provide instant personalized feedback on your resume and other communications based on criteria gathered from employers and global best practices. VMock has several modules to assist you in various job search functions.

SMART Resume assesses the strength of your resume and provides a score benchmarked against your UMGC peer group. It then gives you personalized guidance, including line-by-line suggestions for improving your resume content. As you make improvements, feedback is adjusted, so you can fine-tune your content to create a world-class resume.
Resume Optimizer helps you tailor your resume to target a specific career track or job description. By highlighting keywords and formatting standards, it lets you edit your resume online with real-time feedback and customized suggestions.
Mock Interviews allows you to practice for an interview and get real-time feedback on your responses, body language, eye contact, and voice quality. You can use built-in interview sets for more than 100 career tracks or create a custom mock interview from the “Question Library.”
Aspire helps you create a compelling LinkedIn profile with personalized recommendations to improve the content, strengthen search engine ranking, increase visibility, and create a consistent narrative from your resume to your public profile.

Using Microsoft Copilot

This AI-powered assistant is also available to you at no cost through your Microsoft Office 365 Education. Microsoft Copilot uses the power of AI to help you

Optimize your resume and cover letter by analyzing job descriptions and suggesting relevant keywords to help pass through applicant tracking systems
Draft personalized networking emails to reach out to industry professionals and alumni
Gather information about an employer of interest, their culture, and recent news to prepare for interviews
Create an elevator pitch that is concise and compelling and highlights your strengths and achievements.
Draft thank-you emails to create professional and personalized interview follow-ups

Things to Consider when Using AI in a Job Search

AI scans data sets to analyze meaningful patterns and generate outputs. That means these systems rely on the accuracy and relevance of both the input data and the user prompts to avoid outputs that are false, misleading, or incoherent.

“One major caveat to the effectiveness of AI tools like Copilot,” said Francois, “is the quality of the initial prompt. Job seekers must still do the work of identifying and gathering relevant responsibilities, experiences, skills, and achievements.”

There are also ethical considerations associated with the use of these tools in job-seeking. AI tools can infer details about one’s experience based on their job title, which makes it crucial to verify the accuracy of the suggested content and avoid exaggerating one’s qualifications.

In addition, while genAI apps can mimic styles to some extent, they have no style of their own. They simply scan millions of existing text files, learn how they're normally constructed, and produce output based on that. This method can lead to content that is rather generic and less compelling. Revising the content to reflect your unique writing style and personality, therefore, can be an essential step in projecting authenticity and integrity, both of which are highly valued by employers.

Reference on this webpage to any third-party entity or product does not constitute or imply endorsement by UMGC nor does it constitute or imply endorsement of UMGC by the third party. 