Intro
If you can’t beat them, join them, or at least that’s what some wise man somewhere once said. I’m going to share with you five AI tools that you can use to help find your next job faster. Of course, you can’t log on to the news without seeing another company announcing that they’re leveraging AI to take your job, but we can fight back. We can actually use AI the same way to help land our next job. I’ve been scouring the internet looking for some of the most useful tools and spending time vetting them, and here are the five that I think are the most beneficial for you, the job seeker.
I actually do have a newsletter where I talk about things like how to address AI tools in the workplace and how to leverage these tools to get a job faster. If you’re looking to reclaim control in your career and start to level up, make sure you sign up for it. Keep in mind it’s absolutely free.
Insta Headshots
Insta Headshots, just like its namesake may suggest, is AI-driven headshot software, and it’s a major game changer if you’re looking to level up your LinkedIn or your personal branding presence. Like it or not, first impressions matter, whether it’s your resume or your LinkedIn profile, and realistically a lot of recruiters will probably be looking at your LinkedIn profile first and foremost. Same thing goes for hiring managers; they will almost certainly be looking at your LinkedIn profile before they head into an interview with you. If you have a bad profile picture, or worse, none at all, it’s not going to paint you in the most professional light, and that’s not the best first impression you could possibly be making. That profile headshot really is so important.
Why Headshots Are Hard to Get
Here’s the thing: most people don’t like having their photo taken, and they probably have never engaged a professional photographer before. Ironically, I feel the same way, because I’ve actually done professional headshot photography in the past. The fact of the matter is it’s nerve-wracking. I’ve been on both sides of the camera, and I don’t love having my own photo taken. Not to mention, getting a professional headshot requires you to go find a headshot photographer, and let’s be honest, they’re expensive.
I used to charge $250 for three edited images, and on top of that you have to sort out wardrobe, makeup, and hair, you have to make the physical effort of getting to where the photographer is, and then you have to wait for the turnaround time. All these things add up to making a professional headshot kind of a pain, and that’s why Insta Headshots is such a useful alternative.
How Insta Headshots Works
Their algorithm makes some of the most realistic AI-driven headshots I’ve seen, and honestly, a lot of the ones I’ve come across elsewhere don’t really meet the mark. They look artificial, something’s off with the skin tones, they almost look too perfect. Insta Headshots is pretty impressive, and again, that’s coming from a professional headshot photographer. All you have to do is log onto their site, upload a dozen or so selfies you probably already have on your phone, and about an hour later you have a batch of professional-looking headshots to choose from. If you’re looking to build a stronger personal brand on LinkedIn or a personal website, check out Insta Headshots. I really do think it’s worth a look.
Teal (AI Resume Customization)
The next AI tool that I think is a game changer for the job seeker is AI-powered resume customization, and specifically I like the tool Teal. I’ll tell you this: resume customization is one of the most important things you can do to improve your callback ratios, but let’s face it, a lot of people skip it because it’s a hassle. You have to manually go into each resume and make all those changes. There are really two solutions here. The first, which I teach in Resume Rocket Fuel, is a quick manual customization that only takes about five minutes. But you can also leverage AI-driven tools like Teal. Teal has become a go-to option for AI-assisted resume customization; it’s professional, well-designed, and the team is always adding new features.
How Teal Works
Here’s how it works: you upload your resume, you upload a job posting you’re interested in, and the AI system gets to work trying to match your bullet points to the job posting. I do want to point out that it’s easy to fall in love with the idea of AI customization as some kind of cure-all, but whatever you put into the system is what you’re going to get out of it. If you start with a weak resume, you’re probably going to get a more customized but still weak resume out of it. If you want the best possible result, you want to start with a strong foundation.
What I’ve found works best is starting with the Resume Rocket Fuel template, taking those bullet points, and manually plugging them in. Yes, it’s a little more work, but that way I know the resume being customized is actually accurate, which gives me the best shot at getting those callbacks.
Notion
The next tool I use myself is more of an organizational one, and it’s called Notion. Notion has become a widely used option for organization. You can get lost exploring all their templates, but the one that really stood out to me is their job-tracking template. It’s handy because it takes all the different jobs you’re applying to and lets you track statuses, who you’re talking to, when you’re talking to them, important notes, who you’ve reached out to for networking, and their status, plus any relevant contact information.
Why Staying Organized Matters
It also helps you organize your company research, since you should be doing research before interviews. Once you’ve looked into the people on your interview panel, you can drop the relevant notes in there to stay organized. This matters because if you’re deep in a job search and leveraging all these tools, hopefully getting a lot of phone calls, it can get overwhelming fast. You don’t want to forget which company is calling about which job or which resume you sent them. That’s pretty embarrassing, and I’ve actually seen it happen when I was recruiting: candidates would forget the job they were interviewing for, or even that they had an interview at all, which obviously isn’t a great first impression, and those candidates rarely made it to the next round.
Notion has thousands of templates for just about everything, from time management to finance to team building to career management. If you’re in the middle of switching careers and juggling a lot of tasks, Notion is the first place I’d point you. There’s a free option, so you can download it and see if it’s valuable for you.
Massive (Auto Applying)
Next up is a really interesting one: job search automation. Let’s face it, actively looking for a job can be time-consuming and tedious. You spend hours refreshing job boards and filling out long applications that ask for the same repetitive information company to company. But what if there were an easier way? Dan and the team behind Massive have been building exactly that. Their system automatically searches for and even applies to jobs on your behalf. You log in, set a few parameters, and let the AI find roles you qualify for, then wait for interviews to come in.
The Risks of Outsourcing Your Job Search
Admittedly, I have a little bit of hesitation about handing my entire job search over to AI, because that’s not really acting like the CEO of your own career. That said, when you’re in an active job search and need income coming in, having a high volume of applications matters, and a tool like Massive can take a lot of that grunt work off your plate. Of course, you’ll still want to know what jobs you’re applying to and make sure they actually fit your career direction, but if you do use Massive, pair it with something like Notion so you can keep track of everything happening behind the scenes.
Copy.ai (Networking Automation)
The final tool on this list is Copy.ai, and it’s for networking automation. We’ve already touched on the importance of networking, and you absolutely should be using targeted networking as part of your job search strategy. Why? Because it gives you a better chance of getting the right people to see your resume at the right time. Building a rich network with the right kind of people can feel overwhelming. I created a course called Unlocking LinkedIn that helps with that, but you can also lean on a tool like Copy.ai to assist, specifically through its marketing integrations, which let you build a pipeline of targeted contacts from LinkedIn profiles and then send them emails to market your brand in a subtle but effective way.
Using Copy.ai for Networking and Research
Of course, you don’t want to spam a hiring manager, but a bit of company research before you apply can do wonders for your callback ratio. Personally, I might use Copy.ai to build a list of relevant recruiters in my industry and send an occasional low-pressure note just to stay on their radar, which can catch a hiring authority’s attention, especially alongside a targeted, customized resume. That’s not all Copy.ai does. I’m also using it to help build my LinkedIn posts, which is genuinely useful if you’re working on your personal brand, and everybody has one, whether they’re actively building it or not.
It can also help you parse and summarize long documents, podcasts, and YouTube videos. Imagine prepping for an interview and being able to take a two-hour video the company released and turn it into a quick summary you can reference in the room. That kind of prep really shows you’ve done your homework. Copy.ai is a slick piece of software, and one I’d absolutely lean on if I were job searching right now.
Conclusion
AI can help you get a job faster. The world of AI is changing quickly, with new tools released nearly every day, and while some of them can stir up fear and uncertainty, there are plenty that are genuinely useful for job seekers. If you want a leg up on the competition, check out the tools above. I think you’ll find them worth your time. If you’re struggling in your job search, that’s something I specialize in. I’ve got a website called thelifeafterlayoff.com, loaded with tips and tricks from an insider’s perspective, along with some training courses that go deeper.
Resume Rocket Fuel
This course teaches you how to write a resume that gives you a strong chance of getting noticed by recruiters. It’s especially powerful when paired with a tool like Teal.
Ultimate Jobseeker Boot Camp
Once the phone starts ringing, it’s up to you to market yourself through each round of the interview process, ideally landing at a job offer. That’s where the Ultimate Jobseeker Boot Camp comes in. It walks you through each round of the interview process, gives you tips, tools, and techniques to help you perform well, and covers how to negotiate the best possible offer terms so you don’t leave anything on the table.
Unlocking LinkedIn
If you want to skip straight to the front of the line, Unlocking LinkedIn teaches you how to get recruiters to start noticing you, so you don’t have to go through the entire application process from scratch. It’s much easier to get hired when a recruiter finds you than the other way around. Make sure you check out some of the tools on this list. I hope you find them helpful.
