AI for Your Next Career Move ✨
Free tools to explore, research, and interview better
AI tools can serve as patient assistants when you’re looking for a job. Use them to organize your search. Or to challenge your assumptions about potential jobs. They can also help you present your strengths more persuasively. When you’re changing fields, or trying to move up, AI can help you stand out.
1. Visualize Your Career Options
Try: Google’s Career Dreamer
What it is: A free tool for exploring jobs adjacent to yours. See a map of professional fields related to your interests.
How to use it: Start by typing in a current or previous role. Or name a job that interests you. Use up to five words. You can also name a specific organization or industry, if you have one in mind.
Career Dreamer asks what work activities interest you, then maps related career paths. Pick one at a time to explore.
You can then browse actual job openings. Refine the search based on location, company size, or other factors you care about.
Example: I’m not job hunting, but I tested out the service by typing in “journalist, writer and educator” as roles and then “journalism and education” as my industries of interest. 📺 Watch my short video demo below👇
Why it’s useful: I like that Career Dreamer suggests a range of relevant fields, then summarizes what a typical day in those jobs might be like. It also suggests skills you’ll develop, and other jobs that might follow on your career path.
Next step: After exploring potential paths and looking at available jobs, use Gemini for further career planning. Read my guide to Gemini
Here’s how: Use Career Dreamer’s copy and paste feature to grab your career interests and skills to your clipboard. You can then jump to Gemini (screenshot below) to paste that material as a summary prompt into a chat about your career plans.
2. Figure Out What You Actually Want from Work
Try: Gemini Gem — Career Guide
What it is: Gemini Gems are customized AI assistants. They are AI models tailored to be helpful in a specific context. One of the template Gems that Google created is a career guide. You can copy the Career Guide gem to make your own editable version, then adapt it for your own professional interests.
How to use it: Start by conducting a thorough “soul-searching” reverse interview with Gemini. Rather than Gemini answering your questions, task it to ask you the questions. Tell it to nudge you to dig deeper into your own preferences, attitudes, objectives and needs. Then have it summarize what you’ve said. You’ll get better at understanding and articulating your own career perspectives.
Try this career self-interview prompt: Give this prompt to Gemini or another AI tool of your choice to conduct a reverse interview. As Gemini — or another AI assistant— interviews you, you’ll develop a richer understanding of your own job preferences.
Next steps: Use your Gemini Gem AI assistant to clarify your strengths and career objectives, and for help developing your search strategy.
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3. Research Potential Employers
Try: ChatGPT Deep Research
How Deep Research is different: Unlike typical AI chat queries, which yield responses of less than a page, Deep Research enables AI models to autonomously develop exhaustive reports. Some are 30 to 40 pages. The Deep Research agent searches the Web and examines hundreds of research sites. It returns a complete report, of the kind a researcher might spend days compiling. You also get citations and links to verify the info and explore more on your own.
See 9 ways to use Deep Research.
You can use these personalized reports to learn more about industries of interest. Or you can narrow your scope and investigate specific aspects of companies that intrigue you.
How to use it: Toggle on “Deep Research” in ChatGPT. Type a detailed query. Describe your specific interests, skills, and the kinds of organizations you're curious about. Request a comprehensive table of relevant companies with detailed information about culture, growth trajectories, or whatever else.
Example: Here’s a journalism industry query for Deep Research you can adapt.
Benefits: Learn valuable context about companies you may apply to, and discover new organizations you didn’t know about. Use this research to tailor your applications and to prepare for interviews by understanding industry trends.
Pricing note: You get several free Deep Research queries a month on ChatGPT’s free plan, or more on a paid plan. Gemini offers a good free Deep Research alternative, as does Claude. Perplexity also offers free Deep Research reports. They are faster, but not as thorough.
Alternative tools: Exa’s Websets is a powerful, pricey, pro AI search tool that organizes results into a detailed table. It can draw on datasets like these, helping you identify companies you might want to target, based on your own criteria.
4. Keep Your Search On Track
Try: ChatGPT Projects
What it’s for: Set up a dedicated AI folder for your career search. Provide instructions about what kind of help you’d like. Attach relevant files like your resume, interest list, or research reports.
Once you’ve provided that context, you’ll never again have to re-prompt ChatGPT about what you’re looking for, or how you want to be helped.
How to use it: Try having it guide you in building a realistic timeline for preparing applications, sending follow-ups, and reaching out for informational interviews. Ask it to assist you in designing a structured daily job search agenda. If you’re applying to many different positions, with lots of tasks to juggle, it can help to organize your plans.
Advanced tactic: You can upload examples of your past outreach or other writings as project resources. That will enable the AI assistant to help you draft new emails in your own style, whether you’re letting people know you’re open to new opportunities or reaching out to new contacts. You can even connect the project to Google Sheets or Excel to keep your tracking list updated.
Organize your career search tasks: ChatGPT’s “Scheduled Tasks” feature can help by sending you custom reminders. That could include an automated daily reminder of specific tasks to complete to maintain momentum. You can even ask it to periodically send encouraging messages.
Free alternative: ChatGPT’s Projects require a paid plan, $20/month. For a free alternative, you can create a limited number of free Claude Projects, or create a Gemini Gem with similar functionality.
5. Sharpen Your Applications
Try: Claude Projects
What it does: Gives you personalized AI assistance to help polish any materials you’re creating. Give it specific instructions and upload background documents to ensure that it understands your preferences, strengths, and style.
I have Claude Projects set up to assist with many of the things I work on, from new classes I’m developing to volunteering projects. Here’s why I find Claude Projects so useful.
How to use it: Upload past cover letters, resumes, lists of accomplishments, awards, vision statements, or anything else you’ve created.
In your project instructions, tell the AI to respect your authentic voice while providing you constructive criticism.
Ask for feedback on writing you’re submitting. Specify what will be most useful for you. For instance, ask for grammar, spelling, and syntax suggestions, or warnings about exaggerations, cliches, or jargon.
Ask what additional information you should consider including based on a particular job description.
Warning: submitting purely AI-composed material can weaken your application. Your text may sound artificial and lack soul. That’s why I’m recommending using AI for critical feedback, not to replace your writing.
Alternatives
ChatGPT’s Projects & Custom GPTs have similar functionality. You can add resource files and instructions to adjust how the AI assistants support you.
Perplexity Spaces also allow you to organize prompt threads and add custom documents and instructions.
Gemini Gems noted above, offer a free alternative. I prefer the quality of Claude’s responses and some of its features, like a custom editing style I’ve trained it to use. Google also just launched Gemini Notebooks, which I’ll soon test.
6. Rehearse Interviews Out Loud
Try: ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode
How to use it: Brainstorm interview questions specific to your target role, industry, and even the particular company you're applying to. Then practice answering these questions using voice mode for a realistic simulation.
Read 7 ways to use Advanced Voice Mode
Ask for detailed feedback as you rehearse your answers. Prompt your voice assistant to highlight strong points and suggest areas for improvement. Ask it to be as specific as possible and to help you practice strengthening your responses.
Ask it to help you prepare for whatever interview context you expect to encounter, from technical questions and case studies to fact-based questions or casual, open-ended lunch conversations.
Pricing: Full access to ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode requires a paid plan, but free users can access a daily preview of advanced voice mode powered by a model slightly less advanced than the top paid models.
Alternatives
Microsoft Copilot Voice is free. Choose from eight voices. You can even adjust the voice speed. I like Wave, with his British-sounding accent, at 1.25 speed.
Gemini Live from Google is also an excellent voice AI assistant. Like ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode, it can even use computer vision to comment on something you show it. Initiate a conversation while pointing your phone camera at a company’s leadership org chart, for example, or public balance sheet, or a list of questions you’ve handwritten.
Bonus tip: If your job search involves speaking or understanding multiple languages, you can use these voice models to practice speaking or listening in any number of tongues. It’s a great way to practice live language skills.
7. Negotiate Your Salary
Try: Deep Research (from Perplexity, Gemini, or ChatGPT)
How to use it: Research average salaries for similar positions in your industry, accounting for variables like location, company size, and experience level. Ask for a salary table you can reference when negotiating. You can also research relevant benefits, company culture, and other factors.
Compare Deep Research salary reports
I’m not job hunting, but I generated these reports as examples, so you can compare them side by side:
Practice negotiating: Use the aforementioned voice AI tools to role-play negotiations or to prepare for difficult benefits conversations. Practice responding to everything from a dream offer to one below your market value.
Two Bonus Ideas
Put together a video reel. Try Google Vids or Captions to create a little video about what makes you distinct.
Make a great deck. Gamma, Beautiful.ai, Pitch, Canva, and the new Chronicle are helpful for turning talking points into polished slide presentations. You can even create surprisingly strong slides about your qualifications with NotebookLM and the brand new Claude Design.
Great resources to further explore
Nice tips