It’s more common than ever to use AI tools in everyday life to streamline complicated or time-consuming tasks. Whether you’re pivoting careers, stepping back into the professional world after a break or searching for a job after a layoff, writing dozens of cover letters can be daunting. So, you may be asking yourself: Should you use AI to write your cover letter for you?
USC Online spoke to USC Career Center expert Lori Shreve Blake to find out when it’s appropriate to use AI in a cover letter — and when this tool should take a backseat.
Do: Use AI to Understand the Job Description
Writing a great cover letter takes time, especially if you’re out of practice. While it’s important that your cover letter is written in your authentic voice, Shreve Blake said AI assistants can help you tailor it to the job you want.
Shreve Blake suggests using an AI assistant like ChatGPT to generate keywords from a job description, which you can incorporate into your cover letter. You can also save time by asking AI to read a job description and summarize the key functions of the role.
You can also ask AI tools like ChatGPT to write a first draft of the cover letter. But there are some important details that AI won’t be able to add.
“You’re not going to state day-to-day duties in [your] cover letter,” Shreve Blake said. “You should emphasize your best accomplishments, share your unique qualifications, and demonstrate your professional fit for the role, your values and the organization’s alignment. Should you add quantifiers? Add numbers, percentages, [things] like that.”
Job seekers might be tempted to cut corners with AI to save time, but Shreve Blake emphasized that there are other ways to speed up the process of writing a cover letter. Once you have a template of your cover letter with an introduction, middle paragraph and summary paragraph, you can customize sentences, interchange keywords, and add examples based on the job you’re applying to. You can also customize the formatting of the document.
“I give an analogy of a house: Once you have that foundation of the cover letter completed with AI, then you can incorporate job-specific sentences as you see fit,” Shreve Blake said.
Many people also find writing a cover letter becomes quicker and easier over time.
“Writing cover letters is a skill, like other skills in life,” Shreve Blake said. “So, the more you do it, the faster and more confident you’re going to get.”
Don’t: Neglect Your Research
Researching your target employer is an integral step in the cover letter writing process. Applicants should visit the company’s website, read the mission statement and consider which of the company’s values resonates with them most. This research will help you put together an argument about why you’d make a great candidate — something an AI-generated cover letter can’t do, Shreve Blake said.
“The cover letter is also a persuasive piece,” Shreve Blake said. “So, it’s almost like that interview question[s]: ‘Tell me about yourself. Why are you interested in this job? What unique skills and experience makes you the best person for the job?’”
Making these connections early in the application process prepares you for interviews later. This “process of self-reflection” helps you identify what the organization is looking for and which key achievements make you stand out, Shreve Blake said.
Don’t: Forego Your Authentic Voice
Although recruiters can’t always tell whether a cover letter was written by AI or a human, there are sophisticated tools that can detect it, Shreve Blake said. Recruiters have also told her that they don’t like the generic cover letters they see when reviewing applications and Shreve Blake challenges job seekers to ask the question: “What do you want your first impression to be with a potential employer?”
“[If] the recruiter receives [a] generic, AI-written cover letter [and] one that is more custom to the job, which one do you think the recruiter is going to pick?” Shreve Blake said. “You must show integrity, you must show thought and care … It’s a test to see how you’ll be as an employee.”
Whether or not you choose to use AI, be sure to inject your authentic voice into your cover letter and use it to showcase your writing skills. (If you’re at a loss for verbs, check out the USC Career Center’s resume and cover letter booklet for a helpful list of action words to incorporate.) Employers use cover letters to judge whether applicants will be the right fit for email- and communication-heavy jobs, Shreve Blake said.
“I would say … [your] cover letter can be seen as a form of a work sample,” Shreve Blake said. “And it shows your future employer that you have skills in writing, that you possess attention to detail in submitting a cover letter that is grammatically correct and free of typos, that you have skills in communication, that you have skills in persuasion and strategic thinking.”
Do: Use AI to Check Your Grammar
Although you can speed up the process, writing a good cover letter takes time. So, you want to make sure your finished product is concise and easy to read.
“[Recruiters] spend about 15–30 seconds [reading] the resume. They may spend even less time on the cover letter and many employers do not require a cover letter,” Shreve Blake said.
This is where AI comes in. Shreve Blake recommended using Grammarly or a similar AI-powered writing assistant to give your cover letter a once-over after you are finished writing it. This ensures that your spelling and grammar are up to par and that there are no filler words clogging up your precious cover letter real estate.
“Grammarly is a good tool to use to edit your cover letter,” Shreve Blake said. “Twenty years ago, it was common to write a cover letter and then let a friend or family member double-check it for meaning and typos before submitting it to a potential employer. … Well, now you don’t have to ask a friend or family member. … [You] can use Grammarly and do that.”
Just remember to double-check your cover letter one more time after using a tool like Grammarly. Sometimes, AI takes your writing out of context, Shreve Blake warned.
Don’t: Limit Your Focus to Just the Cover Letter
Unfortunately, even writing a perfect cover letter sometimes won’t land you the job you want. Shreve Blake advised that people find additional ways to express their interest in a role or company, including networking and conducting informational interviews.
“At the end of the day, AI doesn’t hire people. Humans hire humans. People hire people,” Shreve Blake said.
Similarly, if someone at the company you are applying to is vouching for you, make sure not to make them look bad by submitting a generic, AI-written cover letter. After all, they are putting their reputations on the line for you, Shreve Blake said.
In the end, securing your dream job is all about going the extra mile. No matter what balance you choose to strike between using AI and writing the old-fashioned way, the goal remains the same: to create a cover letter that is tailored to the position you want and sells you well to your future employer.
“And, let’s face it, cover letter writing is not easy.” Shreve Blake said. “So, not taking the easy way out and doing your research on the organization, addressing the right person, and going through the process of customizing the cover letter after using AI gives you a competitive edge.”
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