SINGAPORE: After Mr Julian Joseph, a software engineer, was laid off twice in just two years, he put his tech-savvy skills to use last July, applying for 5,000 jobs with just one click using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
He ended up with 20 job interviews and eventually found a solid job offer, thanks to a service from a company called LazyApply. The company promises to apply to thousands of positions with just “a single click” through its AI service; Job GPT can even answer questions about a person’s job applications on their behalf, although not always accurate.
In a recent article in Wired, Mr Joseph said that all he needed to do was provide information about his experiences, skills, and the job he wanted. He then paid US$250 (S$340), giving him an unlimited lifetime plan.
“He watched the bot zip through applications on his behalf on sites like LinkedIn and Indeed, targeting jobs that matched his criteria. Thirsting for efficiency, he installed the app on his boyfriend’s laptop, too, and he went to bed with two computers furiously churning through reams of applications. By morning, the bot had applied to close to 1,000 jobs on his behalf,” Wired reported earlier this week.
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The 20 interviews he got through Job GPT were roughly about the same number he received after applying for jobs manually, although Mr Joseph only did this for 200 to 300 positions. But for him, the time he saved made the investment worth it.
“The fact that this tool exists suggests that something is broken in the process. I see it as taking back some of the power that’s been ceded to the companies over the years,” Mr Joseph is quoted in Wired as saying.
The piece, which also mentions similar auto-apply programs Sonara and Massive, pointed out that job recruiters have had mixed reactions to the technology. Some are none too crazy about it, feeling like the applicants who use AI aren’t serious about their applications. Others, however, have become more accepting of applications accomplished through AI.
However, at this point, AI is probably just one of many tools needed in the sometimes cutthroat job application process, and many say that the most important tool is still the old-fashioned human-to-human networking.
Still and all, Mr Joseph admits, “The tool helped me find jobs that I might have skipped over. Even if it’s not a perfect fit, I’m getting better at interviewing. And I’m learning more about what I want.”
The Wired piece ends by saying Mr Joseph has gotten an offer for one of the jobs he applied for via LazyApply, and has gotten interviews with Apple and the White House as well—the old-fashioned way. /TISG
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