Don't Make This Mistake If You're Using AI to Write Your Cover Letter
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder warns job applicants that AI-generated cover letters sound generic and explains how to make yours stand out.
Key Takeaways
- AI cover letters sound the same - Hiring committees can spot generic AI-generated language immediately
- Personalization is essential - Your cover letter must reference the specific school, district, and role to be effective
- AI is a starting point, not the final product - Use AI to get started, then rewrite with your own voice and specific details
Transcript
Here's the thing about using AI to write your cover letter.
I saw this tweet about how all of the cover letters people are receiving are like virtually identical and clearly written by AI.
I think it's smart to use AI in some way to write your cover letter, but the problem that people are encountering is they're not providing enough information about themselves, right?
If 800 people use AI to write a cover letter and none of those people give any details about themselves, they don't include any specifics about their own career, their own accomplishments, their own experience, then, of course, AI is going to produce very similar sounding cover letters in each of those cases.
They're going to vary a little bit, but it's going to be very obvious to the reader who's going through dozens or hundreds of applications that all of these are written by AI.
So I don't think you should hold back on using any tool in your arsenal.
I think you should get peer feedback.
You should get your spouse to look at your cover letter.
You should proofread it.
You should use spellcheck.
You should use Grammarly.
You should use AI to help you with the wording if you need to.
But what all of those steps and all of those supports cannot do is provide specifics about you, the candidate.
You have got to provide specifics in your cover letter or else it's going to sound like everybody else's.
So regardless of what tools you use to turn in a good cover letter, and like there's no excuse for not having a great cover letter.
You have so many tools at your disposal now, but the cover letter still has to be about you and it needs specifics.
Let me know what you think.