The time between leaving university and landing your first graduate job will test your patience as well as your confidence. Not only is it tough looking for a job anyway – you’ll be competing with the millions of other graduates who are potentially looking at the same jobs as you at the same time. Aidan Cramer, Founder and CEO at AIApply shares his expert tips on ways AI can help you land your first graduate job. These are useful for any job search too…
Finding a graduate job will take a lot of time, effort and hard work and unfortunately, you’ll most likely get a lot of rejections. But that’s ok. The trick is not to take it personally and not let it impact your confidence, which is easier said than done. But how do you beat the competition?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a big role in making a job search more efficient but also more effective too. Don’t be afraid to utilise dedicated AI tools that can help create CVs and cover letters using the skills and achievements you’ve built from previous roles. They can also help you apply for all the roles tailored to your wants and needs from a job, making the application process much easier and quicker.
Let’s look at six ways you can use AI to help you land your first graduate job
1.Tailor your CV
Whilst it’s always good to know about the company you previously worked at, hiring managers will be more interested in the skills you built whilst working in these roles, and how they can be implemented in the job you’re currently applying for. That’s why it’s really important to tailor your CV for each job you apply for, making sure the skills and experience you’re listing are relevant to the role.
This could take a lot of time if you were to do it manually, however, with AI you can generate a new CV in no time for each role that you want to apply for. Not only will this save you time, but with an AI generated CV – you’ll spend less time proofreading and building CVs, and more time focusing on the job hunt.
2. Make your CV AI-friendly
Hiring teams don’t have the time to fully analyse every application they receive, particularly when it comes to post-graduation when they’re inundated with CVs. Many companies will use AI applications or scanners that help them create a shortlist of applicants by cutting irrelevant CVs. This means yours may not even get human consideration if you haven’t tailored it to the role or used specific keywords.
It’s important to showcase the most relevant and important skills to make it easy to digest quickly – but this can be time-consuming if you’re applying for multiple jobs. By uploading the job specification and your CV to an AI tool, it will read the job specification carefully, pick out the relevant keywords and quickly generate a unique CV that will pass any AI scanners – helping you land that all-important interview and get ahead of the other candidates.
3. Save time writing cover letters
Your cover letter is your chance to leave a good and lasting first impression. It needs to grab the hiring manager’s attention and stand out from the crowd, while showcasing your skills. Companies are often short on time and will have a lot of cover letters and CVs to read, so you want to capture their attention quickly. But if you’re applying to multiple jobs, it can get tough writing cover letters that are not only specific to the role and the company, but that are also concise and showcase your value.
Some AI tools can help you build a tailored cover letter in no time at all, which is ideal if you have a long list of jobs to apply for. All you need to do is upload your CV, a job description and the company name and you’ll get a perfect cover letter that is tailored specifically for the role you want. Ultimately increasing your odds of landing your dream graduate job.
4. Accelerate your job search
When you’re fresh out of university, you could spend hours scrolling through various job sites looking for the perfect graduate job. To save time, you could accelerate your job search by paying for a tool to automatically search and apply for jobs for you. Not only will this help you be more successful in landing an interview, but the AI will be doing all the hard work for you. Leaving you more time to hone your interview skills. Sometimes the trick is just getting in there quickly – so by using AI you’ll be able to get ahead of the competition and apply for jobs a lot quicker.
5. Perfect your interview skills
Do you ever come out of an interview kicking yourself thinking about all the things you should have said or the examples you could have given? Sometimes pressure gets the better of us and your mind just goes blank. And if you’ve just finished university, you may feel daunted by the influx of interviews you’re about to embark on. Using an AI tool could help you get prepared ahead of any interviews, so you know exactly what you’re going to say.
Some can even help you generate personalised answers to any interview question. You can upload your CV to help generate custom answers based on your skills and experience too, which is ideal for helping you highlight why you’d be a great fit for the role. If you struggle with your confidence, the tool could also analyse your speech patterns and provide personalised feedback to help you figure out where you need to improve, before the real interview. This is perfect for having mock interviews to help boost your confidence and increase your chances of landing your first graduate job. It also offers you the chance to get real-time answers and ace your next job interview with ease.
6. Why you should always follow up
If you haven’t heard back from a job, then a well thought out follow up could actually boost your chances of securing an interview. It not only shows that you’re keen and passionate about the role, but helps make you stand out too. This would normally be done around two weeks after sending in your application and can be done with an email, a LinkedIn message or even a phone call.
But if you’re manually applying for hundreds of jobs after graduation, you may forget what you’ve applied for. This can make it hard then when you’re looking to follow up with them about your application. If you use an AI tool to generate your tailored CV and cover letter, then you could use it to send a follow up email too. The tool will be able to track what you’ve applied for, and when, and send a personalised follow up.
Respond positively even to bad news
Alternatively, if you’ve had an interview and not heard back – or even got the dreaded rejection, you could send a well thought out reply thanking the recruiter for their time and consideration and include something that may have helped you in the process, whether that’s something that happened in the interview or any lessons you’ve learned, for example. You could even let them know you’d be open to other roles in the future. By responding well to the bad news, you’re not only building a relationship, but you’ll also stand out from the other candidates and could potentially land a role next time they’re hiring.
As many as 45% of candidates are ghosted by recruiters in the UK so follow up is crucial.
