8 tips for making the most of AI when applying for a job

1. What should I bear in mind when using AI to find the right training company?

AI applications are very effective at comparing companies based on publicly available facts and figures – their size, the number of apprenticeships on offer, the number of sites they have, and how far away they are from your home. However, you still need to check this information yourself. The best and most important impression comes from a work experience placement. It is only after spending one or more days at the company that you will know whether you feel at home there.

2. If I ask an AI questions about a business, how should I deal with the answers?

It's quite simple: you need to check every single piece of information. Otherwise, you might end up highlighting business areas or working models in your cover letter that the company doesn't actually have. It's best to ask for a source reference for every piece of information the chatbot provides about a company. That way, you'll find out more quickly what's true and what just sounds good.

Apprenticeship providers want to get to know the young people. This is only possible with a personalised application letter.

3. Can AI help me write a meaningful piece about myself?

AI applications are good at structuring text. They can also ask you questions that help you describe yourself accurately. But no AI knows you as well as you and your parents do. What's more, it produces impersonal texts – not just for you, but for everyone else who leaves it to the AI. Apprenticeship providers, however, want to get to know you. They can make much better use of a text that clearly shows it was written by a young person than one which, whilst linguistically flawless, is a generic, run-of-the-mill piece of writing.

4. AI writes better than I do. What's the argument against letting it write my job applications?

If you don't like starting from scratch, you can ask for a suggestion. The more precisely you explain what you want from the chatbot, the more personalised the text will be. Nevertheless, you'll need to revise everything, enrich it with examples from your own life and phrase it in your own words. Only then will the people reviewing your application get a realistic impression of you. It's also important that you don't enter any sensitive personal data about yourself into the AI application. The operators can store and reuse your data, and if you're unlucky, following a cyberattack or a company takeover, it could end up in the hands of people with whom you don't want to share that information.

5. If companies use AI to select suitable trainees, can the AI help ensure that I am selected?

Probably not. If she claims that, you should be sceptical. The best thing you can do is find out about the company offering the apprenticeship online and by speaking to staff members. Ultimately, there's no getting round the need to present yourself honestly and authentically, and to come up with good reasons why you're the right person for the apprenticeship.

Standard chatbots are unable to assess your demeanour and body language.

6. Have the standards for application portfolios risen since AI applications have become widely available?

Most likely, yes. Anyone who doesn't have someone with a strong command of the language to proofread their application would be well advised to have an AI check it for grammatical and spelling errors. Tolerance for spelling mistakes has probably decreased now that they are so easy to correct.

7. Can I practise a job interview using AI?

AI can ask you the sort of questions typically asked in job interviews. However, the AI doesn't know whether you'll actually be asked these typical questions during the interview. If you're feeling unsure, practise the interview with people – your parents, your careers adviser or your teacher. Standard chatbots are also unable to assess your demeanour and body language.

8. Can recruiters at training organisations tell when an application has been written by an AI?

Many HR managers are convinced that they can spot this – at the very latest when a candidate expresses themselves quite differently in the interview than they did in their application. Speaking on behalf of training organisations , the Inselspital Bern explains that applicants who use AI applications to structure or optimise the language in their documents demonstrate that they can use such tools effectively. It is also crucial, even with AI-assisted applications, that they accurately reflect the person behind them. An application that is written using language far beyond the applicant's vocabulary does not do this.