Applying for jobs can be time-consuming. However, for those using ChatGPT to help streamline the process, you should still do your own proofreading . . . at the bare minimum.
“This may very well be the worst email I’ve ever received . . . also one of the funniest,” says businesswoman Jane Lu, founder of the online fashion retailer Showpo and a star on the Australian Shark Tank. The email application for assisting Lu with her business course begins, ”Dear Hiring Manager, I hope this email finds you well.” From there, things go downhill. “I am confident that my experience in [relevant experience/skill] positions me as a strong candidate,” the email continues. “It’s ChatGPT copy and paste,” says Lu.
The application only gets worse. “Here is a more polished and articulate version of your cover letter,” reads one line that the applicant clearly didn’t bother to delete. “[They’ve] copied and pasted this thing that’s, like, half-filled,” Lu concludes. She rounded off the video encouraging future applicants to use their brains when applying for jobs.
The comments section of the video was filled with other TikTok users sharing their own experiences with ChatGPT fails. “I had someone send me an application for a ‘medical administration position’—I was hiring for airport workers in aviation,” one person wrote. Another added: “At one of my old jobs, we got an application that was ONE LINE.”
One commentator wrote: “My hope is that he downloaded a template and then mistakenly sent you the template instead of his finished copy. But I’m not betting on it.” Another simply put, “Come on Benjamin, you’re better than that.”
As companies increasingly use AI to sift through résumés, job seekers are responding with their own chatbot-generated applications. A 2023 iCIMS study found that 47% of college seniors were open to using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for their résumés and cover letters, while 25% of surveyed Gen Z respondents already have. Even in cases less damning than this one, employers are noticing and frowning on the trend. An April survey from Resume Genius found that AI-generated résumés were the biggest red flag for 625 U.S. hiring managers.
While AI can help stressed job seekers streamline the application process, just remember to give any emails the once-over before hitting send.