AI can help you in your job search in many ways, but there is something it cannot do: tell anyone who you are, what skills you have and what your hopes are for a future job.
When you are looking for employment, it is important that you are able to describe your competences, strengths, hopes and goals. AI can provide guiding questions, help you create a template to build on and add fitting words and sentence structures, but the actual content has to come from you. Included in A-kassa’s EmploymentWizard, the AI advisor can be a great tool when you need help identifying your strengths and putting them into words.
Make your voice heard and your experience known
A recruiter wants to know what kind of a person you are, as an employee and otherwise. What motivates you? What do you want to learn next? What type of working community do you enjoy? There are no stock answers to these questions – and this is why your own voice matters the most.
While AI can provide you with suggestions, it is up to you to make them reflect who you actually are. You are much more likely to make an impression with an application or interview where you draw from genuine personal experiences and goals rather than presenting a generic piece of text. AI is a good servant but a poor master. This is why you should always look at any AI-generated content critically and take it upon yourself to consider which suggestions you might want to use.
Identify your strengths and put them into words
Many are quick to undervalue their skills or think “they have nothing special to offer.” This is where AI can contribute – it can help you understand the kinds of competences you possess even if you have not been able to put them into words yourself. You can prompt AI to ask you questions that help you identify your competences.
Once you understand what they are, the next step is putting them into words: why is this particular competence useful and how would I like to apply it in the future?
And this is where AI cannot make do without you. Putting your competences into words requires consideration, discussion and self-reflection. It is often also helpful to talk with another person – such as a career coach, a friend or a colleague.
AI is there to support you – not to make decisions for you
Looking for a job is ultimately much more than just updating your CV or writing up an application. It is about finding your direction, about making decisions and sometimes about tolerating uncertainty. Looking for a job also calls for courage. Courage to speak up and say what you are good at and what skills you have – something that does not always come easy for us Finns. It also requires courage to apply for a position when you have no previous experience in the duties involved but feel that it is something you would like to do or think you might be good at.
