LinkedIn is publishing new features that provide ai-powered assistance for premium users searching for a job. The tools use generative AI to suggest to users how to better customize their profiles to stand out and whether they would be a suitable fit for open positions posted on the marketplace.
The new AI elements on LinkedIn job ads are denoted by a sparkling emoji and are enabled by OpenAI’s technology. When someone clicks on it, a chat window shows up where they may type questions about jobs or choose from pre-written ones like “Am I a good fit for this role?” Responses are given in the form of succinct bullet points that are taken from LinkedIn corporate profiles and other data scraping.
More specialized questions concerning a job advertisement, the benefits or culture of the organization, or the sector the position is in can also be addressed by the automated assistant. LinkedIn is enabling users to extract career advice from posts and articles shared on the platform’s feed by providing the same capabilities.
The modifications aim to address a persistent issue: job hunting stinks. Director of product management at LinkedIn Rohan Rajiv compares the procedure to having to scale a tall wall. The candidate is on the receiving end of things, not knowing what an employer is looking for in a candidate or how likely it is that they will receive an offer. You genuinely believe that you will be able to see behind the wall and determine what your possibilities are in this situation. How is the work environment there? Says Rajiv.
Some job searchers are accustomed to using AI to their advantage. The emergence of generative AI has led to the development of tools that automatically apply for jobs, find people, and draft cover letters.
Microsoft, the largest supporter of OpenAI, owns LinkedIn. With its productivity tools, Microsoft has introduced a number of AI-powered “copilots” to assist employees in completing tasks at work. With another uncertain year ahead of us, full with layoffs, the work-centric social network is testing these features in beta.
A website that keeps track of layoff announcements in the tech sector, Layoffs.fyi, reports that over 400,000 workers have lost their employment in the last two years. Over 600 employees were let go by LinkedIn itself in the fall. Job searchers have spoken of a dreadful experience looking for work, spending weeks applying for new positions during their 9 to 5.
While job searchers rarely enjoy being laid off, the current status of the tech business is rather advantageous. According to a January survey from CompTIA, a nonprofit trade association for the US IT industry, the industry’s unemployment rate is a mere 2.3 percent. According to the Department of Commerce, that is even lower than the record low of 3.4 percent that the US national unemployment rate reached this month. CompTIA reports that there are 392,000 available positions in the US IT sector.
Arduous encounter
Finding a new job is frequently a more drawn-out process than it has been in the past, even in a strong labor market. Employers now require more tests, interviews, and working interviews in addition to implementing sophisticated applicant management systems and expanding the application process.
According to study conducted in 2023 by the human resources advice organization The Josh Bersin Company, the typical recruitment procedure in the US currently lasts 43 days. A lot of job seekers experience burnout. According to a CompTIA survey from February, almost half of job seekers in the tech sector list the time commitment as their biggest obstacle. According to the same survey, workers are embracing tech-enabled short cuts: 17% of participants reported using AI to match their abilities to possible jobs, and 30% indicated they intended to do so.
This week, WIRED tested out LinkedIn’s new AI job search function. Because the staff writer’s profile lacked any management experience, the assistance determined that while it was a good fit for tech and business reporting positions at other organizations, it was less suitable for management positions in the media.
In addition, WIRED asked the tool to assess the writer’s suitability for an available product management position at a social media business. The tool concluded that the writer’s profile was not well suited to product management but provided advice on how to improve it by adding appropriate skills to one’s LinkedIn profile, if applicable. The chatbot identified which abilities on the writer’s profile were appropriate for a technical writer position at a software development business that required writing proficiency in a different setting. It also pointed up a few that needed to be added or reinforced.
Making sense of a long, technical job posting can be accelerated with the aid of LinkedIn’s new feature. The chat window can answer follow-up inquiries, provide an overview of the company’s benefits and perks, deconstruct a job description into its opportunities and problems, and explain the interview process. It will even recommend LinkedIn profiles of corporate employees who may be able to discuss a job position if prompted.
