When applying for a job, you always provide a resume.
But a cover letter holds just as much weight — if not more — in hiring decisions. It gives you a chance to elaborate on your resume and explain why you’re right for the job.
Like a letter of interest, your cover letter is the recruiter or hiring manager’s first impression of you. It should be professional, persuasive, and well-written.
With that in mind, written communication isn’t everyone’s strong suit, and that’s okay. There are resume builders and cover letter templates to guide the way. And if those tools aren’t enough, artificial intelligence (AI), like ChatGPT, can also help you put your best foot forward.
Here’s how to harness AI and write a ChatGPT cover letter that looks professional and wins over recruiters.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI language processing tool that burst into pop culture at the end of 2022. As of June 2023, the program is available for free because it’s still in the research and feedback-collection phase, but there’s a paid subscription option called ChatGPT Plus.
AI research company OpenAI reportedly trained ChatGPT on a massive dataset of over 8 million documents and 10 billion words, which helped the program develop a complex understanding of the patterns and relationships in human speech.
When you ask ChatGPT a question or give it a command — like “Write a cover letter for me based on my resume” — the AI uses those patterns to create a string of words it predicts will best answer your question. The result is often eloquent and professional-sounding content.
In the short time it’s been available to the public, ChatGPT has become wildly popular. It gained 100 million active users just two months after its launch, setting a record for the fastest adoption of a new consumer app. It’s clear that people love this tool — and they’re using it for everything from computer code to resumes and cover letters.
How to write a cover letter using ChatGPT
While ChatGPT is a remarkable tool, it’s important to remember that it’s just that: a tool. The responses you get depend on the prompt you give, so it’s wise to learn how to use ChatGPT to your advantage. If you want to use this program to write your next cover letter, follow this step-by-step guide:
1. Gather your information
For ChatGPT to write your job application cover letter, you’ll need to give it some information about you and the job you’re applying for. The first thing you need to do is gather everything you’re including in the prompt. This should consist of the following:
- Your contact information
- Your work history, including a brief description of past responsibilities and personal achievements
- Your educational history, including any master’s degrees and notable honors and awards
- Your special skills or training relevant to the job posting
- The job description and roles and responsibilities of the position
This information will help you use ChatGPT as a cover letter generator that writes text specific to your desired job. The chatbot will analyze the job description for key information, like required education or skills, and use your work history and qualifications to draft a letter showcasing your abilities to meet the employer’s needs.
2. Prep the prompt
Once you have your resume and all other vital information handy, it’s time to ask ChatGPT to make a cover letter. Your prompt should be as specific as possible to help the AI create a tailored response that meets your needs.
Start your ChatGPT prompt by telling the chatbot what you’re looking for. For example:
I need you to write a cover letter for my application at [insert company name]. Please base the letter on the job description below.
Then, copy and paste the description from the original job posting. This encourages ChatGPT to use key phrases from the post and highlight your most relevant experience.
Next, you need to tell the AI chatbot a little about yourself. Input your contact information, your education history, and other skills from your resume or CV that you feel pertain to the position you’re applying for. You can even add your resume to the prompt to give the chatbot additional details. That way it uses as much information as possible.
Once you add everything you need, your prompt might look like this:
I need help drafting a cover letter for my application at [insert company name]. Please base the letter on the job description below:
[insert job posting]
Here is important information about me:
Contact info: [name, email address, LinkedIn profile]
Work experience: [relevant work history]
Education history: [degrees, certifications, any applicable awards and honors]
Special skills: [relevant skills for the position]
I am including my resume below. Please highlight my experience and responsibilities from [previous company].
Once you’ve entered all the information above, simply hit “enter” and let the chatbot get to work. In a few seconds, it should have a customized cover letter ready for you.
Here’s an example of ChatGPT’s response to a prompt asking for a hypothetical cover letter for an aspiring marketing manager:
3. Refine the response
While ChatGPT can write a cover letter based on the details you entered, its initial draft may still have room for improvement. It might not highlight everything you wanted it to, and there’s a chance the writing might sound robotic.
Luckily, you can ask the chatbot to refine and rewrite its results as many times as you want. You could ask it to adjust the tone of your cover letter to make it more upbeat or formal, or write a paragraph about a specific team goal you helped meet.
You can also tailor the formatting at this stage. When ChatGPT creates resume and cover letter examples, it typically adds a traditional heading. Instead, you can prompt it to reformat the letter for an email and create a subject line. Here’s an example from a prompt that said “Can you make this cover letter suitable for email?”:
Once you have the formatting down, give the letter a thorough read. ChatGPT is a highly advanced AI, but it’s not infallible. Take the time to proofread the cover letter for any typos, incorrect information, or phrasing that doesn’t serve your goal of landing a job interview. At only a few hundred words, you want to make that space count.
For example, ChatGPT may point out hard and soft skills you’re missing from the job description instead of highlighting the ones you do have. If you spot these kinds of errors, simply ask it to generate a new response without them.
Remember, a cover letter is your opportunity to make a great first impression on your prospective employer. Take the time and ensure ChatGPT creates the best letter possible. It might seem like a lengthy process, but it’s likely shorter than the time it would take you to write a cover letter from scratch.
Make AI work for you: 3 extra tips
While ChatGPT can write a decent cover letter with even the simplest prompts, a few tips and tricks will improve its output. Try these suggestions to make your cover letter even better:
Keep the thread open
As an AI program, ChatGPT learns from the conversations and prompts it gets from users. But once you close the page, the program might “forget” its previous conversations. If you want to make changes to your cover letter, it’s best to make those requests in a single thread. This helps the chatbot remember your asks and you keep track of the changes you made.
Specify the letter length
While you may have a lot to say in your cover letter, keeping it concise is key. The ideal cover letter is no longer than three paragraphs that span about half a page, or around 150–300 words. ChatGPT may not yield this rule because it wants to include all of the information from the prompt. If it does present you with text that’s too long or too short, ask it to adjust.
Ask to include keywords
According to a 2019 report, over 99% of Fortune 500 companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS). These systems analyze your resume and cover letter and weed out any that don’t include certain keywords or meet their standards. If your letter doesn’t have the right information, it could get lost in the database.
Ask ChatGPT to include certain keywords and phrases in your cover letter. Read through the job description and look for job-specific information like required software knowledge, soft skills, and GPA requirements.
Tell the chatbot to mention these in the cover letter to increase your chances of getting out of the ATS and onto a hiring manager’s screen.
Write a cover letter that stands out
Your ChatGPT cover letter saves you time and makes your job search a little easier — which is why so many people are using this technology. But no matter how many cover letters you and the chatbot write, remember to always give it a personal touch.
There are millions of people using this language model to help with their job searches, and while AI tools create great resumes and compelling cover letters, you want to avoid submitting something generic. Tailoring your prompt can help you write applications that stand out from other candidates, helping you land a job you love.
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