Majority of job hunters turn to AI to help land next gig
Many use it for help with resumes and interviewing skills, but employers also find it helpful.
By HALEY DAUGHERTY
TribLive
Mallory Helbling turned to her own professional advice when she found herself laid off in December 2024.
Among them: using artificial intelligence tools to assist in her job search as a career coach.
“I was able to get my first contract role in February 2025,” said Helbling, 37, of Sharpsburg, who specializes in workforce development with people who have employment barriers.
Helbling is among the many job hunters turning to AI to aid in their search.
About 65% of job candidates are using AI in the application process, according to the 2025 Market Trend Report from Career Group Companies, a recruitment firm. Of that 65%:
• 20% use it to help write a cover letter.
• 19% say they use AI for resume writing.
• 9% use it for their professional photo.
• 7% use it for practicing interviewing skills.
• 5% use it for work samples.
• 5% use it for career guidance.
Morgan Frank, an assistant professor in the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems at the University of Pittsburgh, said using AI to connect employers and job seekers is not necessarily new.
“It’s always been the case that companies that get a lot of applications do something to automatically filter them,” said Frank, who is conducting research to see whether AI-proficient students have more luck in the job market. “Five years ago, if you applied to something on LinkedIn, LinkedIn would do something to try to filter the match between your profile and that job opportunity.”
People didn’t necessarily call it AI, but there was an automatic process acting as a middle man, he said.
“I think the way we give it a name or assign blame for it is new,” Frank said.
Large employers are swamped with applications, and AI provides a solution to efficiently and quickly sift through resumes, he said.
“From the employer side of things, we need to do something,” Frank said. “It’s a sea of applications.”
The hunt
Daniel Lippke has more than 300 certifications and extensive experience working as a tech support specialist in Cheswick. He develops bots that use AI to assist customers with troubleshooting if they need help when he’s not at work.
He used generative AI to help condense to a single page what he said would have been a 10-page resume. He said he also created cover letter templates for positions he considered.
“I used AI to modify my resume for a few targeted positions,” said Lippke, 46, of Vandergrift.
Lippke said he tried various AI tools with mixed success. Complicating matters were the job-finding apps he scanned, he said.
“Most of the links are dead or the job has been filled,” he said. “Some of the programs are not keeping up with user needs.”
Rosie Wise, a job hunter from the North Hills, has been looking for full-time work for more than a year and began using AI about six months ago.
She has been using ChatGPT to practice for job interviews.
“I have a couple part-time, seasonal contract positions, but I’m really looking for that foundation of full-time work,” Wise said.
Although she has extensive experience working in environmental science and conservation, she found it helpful to use AI to sharpen her interviewing skills. ChatGPT offers a feature in which she can use her computer’s microphone and have a conversation that mimics an interview.
“I need to be as prepared as possible, given the job market,” Wise said. “I wanted to use AI to build up my confidence, be better prepared and help tailor my responses to the specific job requirements.”
ChatGPT poses questions she might not think of before an interview, she said.
Wise said she tries to keep AI use at a minimum because of its environmental impact and her desire to remain unique in the job market.
“I write an individual resume and cover letter for every position I apply for,” Wise said. “I think it’s important to show my personality, and AI is not going to do that for me.”
Studies show AI uses large amounts of energy and water to operate. According to 2023 and 2025 MIT reports, a single generative AI text query consumes energy at four or five times the magnitude of a typical search engine request. Generating a single image using AI consumes the same amount of energy as charging a phone to full power. In 2021, Google’s US data centers alone consumed an estimated 12.7 billion liters of fresh water to keep their servers cool, according to a University of California Riverside study.
Coincidentally, AI that is being used by some job hunters in fields such as tech, finance and STEM-based jobs also has been blamed for a lack of available jobs in those sectors.
“These were sort of industries that in the past decade or two, that if you were growing up at the time, these were the careers you were told to focus on,” Frank said.
The promise of an instant career that STEM students heard in school plays a role in how competitive the job market has become, Frank said. More college students are enrolled in those fields than there were a decade ago, and the covid-19 pandemic also played a role.
“Tech companies over-hired in the pandemic compared to what they need right now,” Frank said.
Teaching the methods
Helbling found the most helpful AI tools were job scans that let her know if an open position was aligned with her skill set. She said some tools she used were focused on helping format personalized emails to hiring departments.
Despite assistance, AI shouldn’t replace the human element in a job hunt, Helbling said.
“I always prefer to write fresh versus editing what AI produces,” she said, adding later, “I don’t recommend any tool that applies on (someone’s) behalf.”
Helbling takes on career coaching roles for people in various fields, including higher education and health. There’s one constant of which she reminds her clients.
“AI is something that can help everyone,” she said. “It can help you, but don’t rely on it solely. You, your confidence, your outreach, your personality are still so important to the process.”
