By: Erik Pavesic and Kendel Jester
Many of us in Career Advising & Professional Development (CAPD) have had an opportunity to play around with the latest disruptive technology: ChatGPT from OpenAI. ChatGPT, a chatbot prototype launched in November 2022, has demonstrated use in reviewing code, compiling ideas, answering general questions, and writing full documents including poems, plays, letters, essays, and more. So, naturally, we wanted to factor in how ChatGPT may, or may not, be helpful with career related topics including resume writing, interview preparation, and personal statement writing.
Here are four considerations in deciding whether to leverage ChatGPT (or similar technology) for your career:
1. It’s only a tool
ChatGPT is a tool, and as such requires some guidance and constraints in using it for your career. You may find it helpful to develop resume templates, draft cover letters, or develop outreach emails, but when the template no longer suits your needs—it’s better to build upon it (or scrap it altogether). Make certain you take the time to present yourself as you would like to. Use it to examine possibilities, but stop short of fully relying on it. ChatGPT is a starting point, do not let it be your finishing point.
2. Evaluate your sources
ChatGPT relies on a vast amount of input data, so it may be challenging to determine if the information you are getting is good or valid. There are also concerns about whether information is true or if it is copywritten. Cross reference the output of ChatGPT with insights you obtain from your network connections, recruiters/hiring managers, and other reliable resources. And trust your gut; if you feel that something is not right, it is healthy to be skeptical, ask additional questions, and seek deeper understanding of your topic.
3. Safe guard your privacy
This AI learns from having information added to it by both the developers and the users. If you share something with it, it can learn and retain this information for much longer than you may expect. You should read more about OpenAI’s privacy policies and consider whether you want to share potentially sensitive information with it. Be careful sharing—as the saying goes, diamonds are forever and the internet comes close.
4. Be an above-average human
Since ChatGPT indexes web pages to “learn” what to write, it is probably starting off with giving you a very basic and average response. We know that many of you seek to be above average (after all, you made it into MIT!), so take the time to share out what makes you shine! Allow ChatGPT to help you get started, but take time to create something worthy of your humanity. When I asked ChatGPT to write a resume for me, the result was less than impressive. The content lacked rich details, because it doesn’t know everything about me. I could coach it through things I contributed to or experiences I had, but that would take a lot more work. Likewise, as AI-generated documents become more common, organizations may use technology to counter it as well.
We understand that there are many tools available to assist your career, with new ones appearing all the time. Keep in mind that CAPD is one of them. Feel free to schedule an appointment with a Career Advisor to help you navigate these tools and your career.
