ChatGPT is an open AI source that communicates with users in a conversational way while answering questions and helping people with various tasks from essay writing to creating code, and of course, helping job hunters to gain job offers.
The question career professionals are asking is: Can ChatGPT help me land a job? and If so, what do I need to do?
I asked ChatGPT to help me to answer commonly asked job interview questions and here is the advice I gained:
Sure, here are some sample answers to the job interview questions you provided:
- “Tell me about yourself?”
I am an AI-powered language model trained to assist and answer various queries. My purpose is to provide useful and accurate information to help people in their daily lives. I am constantly learning and updating my knowledge to ensure that I can provide the best possible assistance to my users.
- “Why do you want to work here?”
As an AI language model, I don’t have personal motivations or desires, but I can explain some reasons why someone might want to work for a particular company, such as:
- I am impressed by the company’s mission and values, and I believe that the work the company does is important and meaningful.
- The company has a great reputation in the industry, and I would like to be part of a team that is recognized for its excellence.
- The company offers great opportunities for growth and development, and I am excited to learn new skills and advance my career.
- “What are your weaknesses?”
As an AI language model, I don’t have weaknesses or strengths in the traditional sense. However, some general advice for answering this question is, to be honest about areas where you may need improvement and demonstrate how you are working to overcome those weaknesses.
- “What are your strengths?”
As an AI language model, some of my strengths include being able to provide accurate and helpful information quickly, learning from past interactions to improve future responses, and being available 24/7 to assist users with their queries.
- “Do you have an example of working in a team?”
As an AI language model, I work with a team of developers and data scientists who are responsible for training and improving my capabilities. Together, we work to ensure that I am providing the best possible assistance to users and addressing any issues or challenges that arise.
- “Do you have any questions for us?”
As an AI language model, I don’t have questions in the traditional sense, but some suggestions for questions you might ask the interviewer include:
- What qualities do you look for in successful employees in this role?
- What are the biggest challenges facing the company right now, and how do you plan to address them?
- Can you tell me more about the company culture and what it’s like to work here?
With the first set of answers, I wasn’t overly impressed being told over again that ‘As an AI model….’ Was it something I was doing wrong?
The answers given by ChatGPT do state good ideas – questions that can be asked at the interview end, but in the main, a quick search on Google would help a prospective candidate find better interview answers and more in-depth interview advice.
Business Insider also tested ChatGPT for its ability to write a cover letter. The AI-written cover letter was sent to real recruiters who, overall, liked the cover letter saying that they would invite the applicant to a follow-up screening call – the goal of a cover letter, but they also stated that ‘letters lacked personality and research about the companies’.
Indeed also looked into the generic interview answer problem, saying, ‘You can ask ChatGPT, “What are some tips for preparing for a job interview?” It will respond by telling you to research the company, review the job description and prepare to answer common questions.‘
They found that asking more specific questions would create more specific (potential) answers. As an example, instead of asking ChatGPT ‘What are common interview questions?’ ask ‘What interview questions would a (job role) be asked?’
Career tuners requested a mock interview with ChatGPT, asking for very specific information: ‘
‘I have an interview with (company name) for (job title) and the name of my interviewer is (name). Can you give me the following:
1. Information on the company, the industry, and its competitors
2. The culture of the company
3. How I need to speak to the company’s culture in my interview answers
4. Questions I can ask (interviewer’s name) at the end of the interview
5. Any mistakes I can potentially be making that would specifically affect my candidacy for a (job title) position with (company name)‘
The answers weren’t as impressive as hoped for, with some information being irrelevant and outdated.
Career Flow also found that asking specific questions is key: ‘While asking questions to ChatGPT, think of it as a very smart but very stupid machine. Despite being smart enough to know everything, it won’t give you an accurate answer unless you tell it exactly what you need.’
Is ChatGPT better than an AI-powered mock interview?
A secondary barrier to ChatGPT in helping to prepare for a job interview is not being able to read non-verbal communications; facial expressions, gestures, and even the candidate’s appearance, all, research has shown, has an impact on the interview outcome.
Google and Linkedin are helping job seekers by offering a free interactive AI-delivered mock interview. The post-interview feedback includes a review of the candidate’s interview answer, a filler-word counter, and additional interview tips – all advice that is missing when using ChatGPT to help land a job.
The final barrier for anyone relying on AI to support with their job interview is that it is difficult ChatGPT to predict:
- The type of job interview each company will use; formal, or informal, a values interview, behavioral and situational interview questions, a panel or single person interview
- The interviewer’s personality; a cold or warm interviewer – this is important as humans interact differently with different temperaments
- Accurately predicting interview questions; two employers offering the same position, in the same industry may ask different questions
The benefits of ChatGPT for job interview preparation
- Can help predict common interview questions
- Answers given can be specific when a distinct demand is asked
- Information is taken from various sources
- Answers can be used as a template that can be reworded
- It’s a great tool when an applicant is struggling to come up with any interview answer
- And, it’s currently a free tool
The negative of using ChatGPT for preparing for your next job interview
- Information given can be outdated or incorrect
- Answers can seem robotic, or dry
- Remembering a set of written interview answers is harder than discussing a memory or experience
- It is unlikely to give answers for ‘value job interviews’ and questions about company culture
- There isn’t a tool for checking non-verbal communication or communication style
