How To Utilize AI Tools In Your Job Search

AI technology is no longer just a science fiction staple. With tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, anyone can experiment with artificial intelligence.

This technology is still being refined and can’t replace the creativity or contextual mind of a human, but it can be a great device to enhance all sorts of efforts—including aiding in your job search! From helping to build your resume and cover letter, to optimizing your LinkedIn profile, to interview prep, to simply being a wonderful research assistant, learn how to utilize AI technology to give your job search a boost.

Treat prompts like a conversation

ChatGPT works by typing in a prompt and it will answer as best as it can based on the set perimeters. But the bot isn’t all-powerful or all-knowing. To get the result you want, you’ll need to treat the chat box like a conversation and refine ideas or comes up with follow-up questions.

“As we often need to do when talking with a human, you may have to ask follow-up questions to get a more precise answer. Consider your prompt as the beginning of your conversation. (This is different logic than you use when searching Google.)” –Hannah Morgan

Career Sherpa’s Hannah Morgan writes to keep your prompts specific and descriptive. Set the perimeters you’d like covered, and don’t be afraid to start over as needed. The more information you provide, the better the bot can do its job!

Use it to spice up writing

Once you’ve gotten the hang of working with the AI, one of the best ways to use it is to spice up your writing. This wide-ranging feature can help you writes resume bullets, cover letters, LinkedIn bios, and more!

“If you are already a great writer, AI can make you an even better writer,” –Oliver Yarbrough

The tool can help fill out content for your resume, saving a great deal of time, or it can find the best way to phrase something, writes Klara Cervenanska. Specific resume-building AIs are becoming more common. Resumes and cover letters can take a lot of time, especially if you’re tailoring them for each position. Just remember that you’ll still need to proofread and make it your own. It’s often easy to tell if something was written by an AI, as it can’t compete with a human’s contextual ability and you want your unique voice to take the stage.

Use it as an assistant

AI can also be used as a reliable research assistant if you know how to ask the right questions.

Hannah Morgan says that you can use ChatGPT to find alternate job titles, find similar jobs in your industry, and create a list of target companies. The tool can also create thoughtful interview questions for you to ask or provide examples of questions you may be asked. Jaime Dubois highlights numerous programs that can help with interview preparation, which you can find here.

Resume writer Ruth Sternberg highlights AI’s abilities to translate your resume into another language, find industry-specific keywords, and flag suspicious claims for further research as a few highlights. While you still need to be cautious blindly trusting what the bot finds, it can be a great fact-checker if prompted correctly.

Create a job search plan

If you want to take AI’s role as a virtual assistant even further, you can use it to help you create a sustainable job search plan!

iHire suggests that ChatGPT can be used to create a job search schedule specific to your needs as well as provide insight into your industry’s trends.

“Type something like “create a personalized job search plan for a java developer tailored to their skills, experience, and goals” into ChatGPT, and it will give you an outline of lists that may be helpful during your search.” –iHire

Remember that it doesn’t replace your work

AI can be a wonderful tool to enhance your job search, but remember that the goal is to enhance the journey—not replace it!

These tools are still fairly new and always learning. The results you get may not always be exactly what you need, and there are plenty of programs that can tell if something was written by AI. The AI doesn’t possess the nuance or contextual information to replace human effort.

Teal’s Lia Zneimer writes that while ChatGPT tries to decline harmful results, occasionally they might provide harmful instructions or factually incorrect answers. Always fact-check when using these programs.

Wrap up

This just barely scratches the surface of how to use AI technology and what you can use it for. Learning the basics will help you pivot toward more specialized uses in the future. Whatever your needs are, remember that the AI can’t do everything for you. You need to learn to guide it yourself and enhance the results with your own human experience!

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Industries Still Hiring Remote Workers In 2023

Since the pandemic started in 2020, we’ve seen a rapid rise in the availability of remote jobs. But by early 2023, many companies would prefer to have their staff back in the office. Despite this, a FlexJobs survey found that 65% of respondents wish to remain full-time workers.

Remote work is still a priority for many job seekers thanks to the plethora of conveniences it can offer. The good news is that many thriving industries are still offering remote positions. In fact, CNBC’s Greg Iacurci believes that remote work can thrive even in a recession thanks to its ability to trim labor costs.

FlexJobs found seven industries still offering 100% remote positions. We review their findings and add some of our own insights to assist with your search.

Top industries to explore

  1. Nonprofit & Philanthropy
  2. Analyst
  3. Legal
  4. Medical & Health
  5. Communications
  6. Accounting & Finance
  7. Project Management

Some of the top remote job titles FlexJobs found include Accountant, Executive Assistant, Customer Service Representative, Senior Financial Analyst, Recruiter, Project Manager, Technical Writer, Product Marketing Manager, Customer Success Manager, and Graphic Designer.

Industry analysis

FlexJobs’ senior content manager Jessica Howington notes that many of these categories fall into the “knowledge economy” line, meaning they rely on information and ideas. Because of the ease of sharing information online, it makes sense that these types of industries would continue to do well remotely. Tools like Zoom make it easy to hold digital “face-to-face” meetings, and those in these types of roles can easily service a large area of clients remotely.

This means that tech-savvy industries will continue to excel in offering remote work.

“Many businesses have recognized the advantages of allowing their workers to work remotely, including greater productivity, cheaper overhead costs, and the potential to tap into a worldwide talent pool.” -Simera Talent

In addition to the above industries, Jessica also expects Computer &IT, Marketing, HR & Recruiting, and Customer service to do well for similar reasons.

Recession proofing

While these industries may offer the most remote options compared to their peers, how safe are these industries overall when it comes to the looming recession?

FlexJobs’ research found steady growth in many of these industries through 2022, and that should hold through 2023. Accounting & Finances saw a 31% growth, Nonprofit & Philanthropy 55%, Communications 39%, and Legal 33%, while Medical & Health also saw good growth. HR & Recruiting, Marketing, Computer & IT, and Product Management also saw steady growth.

This is consistent with what we’ve found in our previous look into the most recession-proof industries for 2023. While not all jobs on that list are totally remote, there is a massive overlap with Healthcare and Financial Services. Both industries see steady historical growth during recessions—healthcare is always a necessity, and uncertain financial times mean more people are seeking expert help and financial advice. These industries also heavily rely on quickly-advancing technology in order to thrive. This ultimately creates a nice overlap between being safe in a recession and being likely to be remote.

Career Sherpa’s Hannah Morgan made a special note regarding IT & Technology. Because technology is always moving forward, those jobs will remain in high demand for those with the right skills, and the nature of the work leads to many remote opportunities.

“IT experts have some of the best job security of any modern profession, especially with more and more of the world shifting to an online space. People had to rely on robust networks to communicate with family, shop for groceries, and work remote jobs.” -Hannah Morgan

Wrap up

While many organizations want to get workers back into the office, many recognize the benefits remote work can offer in the form of increased productivity, less wasted downtime, and a happier workforce. Hybrid systems are becoming the norm, blending the above benefits while still providing a physical space for collaboration, meetings, upskilling, and teamwork when needed. But fully remote jobs are still out there, especially if you’re willing to look into the aforementioned industries.

NexGoal works with many industry-leading clients in these sectors, who offer a host of available remote positions. Feel free to check out our job board or reach out to our team to see if there is something right for you!

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The Most Recession-Proof Jobs For 2023

Experts believe that the country is heading towards a recession, meaning jobs could become scarce despite the great number of openings in recent years. But if you’re looking for a new career, you’ll do your best to keep applying and networking regardless.

While some industries will be more difficult to break into, others are more “recession-proof.” We’ve looked at our own experience as recruiters and looked to experts nationwide to find the most recession-proof industries. If you’ve got the skills and experience to be choosy with your targeted industries, you’ll find these industries the safest to conduct your search.

Healthcare

While there are often many conflicting opinions on the most recession-proof industries, one that almost everyone seems to agree on is the healthcare and medical industry. These industries saw consistent growth during the pandemic and continue to grow.

Investopedia found healthcare one of the industries least affected by the Great Resignation and has traditionally done well in economic downturns. It makes sense—medical care is always important, and the industry is filled with openings at all levels. Our own experiences agree, and we’ve continued to find success working with healthcare companies. See if any of our current openings are right for you on our job board!

Financial services

When money is tight, people are more likely to be cautious with their savings and look to the experts for advice. This means that financial professionals at all levels will continue to do well even in a recession.

James Hornick of Hirewell discussed that traditional ‘money’ industries, including financial services, real estate, and banking, continue to do well and bring in talent, and that of Hirewell’s open jobs, 17.7% of their openings are in banking and financial services.

“Finances and taxes are a necessary part of life, so people in these professions usually have plenty of job security.” –Coursera

Private banking is doing particularly well as people look for advice. CBS News found that the annual median salary for private bankers went up 25%.

Trades

Just as healthcare and financial help will always be necessary no matter the state of the economy, infrastructure will need to be repaired and systems need to be kept running. These factors mean that skilled trades will always be in demand.

“People still need power, they still need gas for their homes, that type of thing.” –Morgan Llewellyn, Jobvite

Fast Company’s Gwen Morgan found that the reoccurring nature of utilities and the constant need to upgrade and repair important systems means that those with skilled trades have a good measure of job security—a boon in uncertain times.

Education

You’ll notice a theme in many of these industries—they must persist through any economy thanks to being ingrained in our society. As such, it should be no surprise that teachers are always in high demand.

Coursera believes both K-12 education and higher education will continue to ramp up hiring during a recession. Education was also one of the industries hit hardest by the Great Resignation, meaning there are plenty of openings.

Top Resume’s Natalia Autenrieth points out that this doesn’t mean just traditional teachers will be hired. The way education is delivered has changed, with remote and on-demand learning models becoming more ubiquitous. This means there are more flexible openings available.

Grocery stores

Our final recession-proof industry is one that we all need—groceries. In poor economic times, people will look to stock up on vital products, like we saw with toilet paper during the pandemic. Grocery stores will continue to fill consumer needs in any economy.

Elisabetta Ferri writes that in tough economic times, people are less likely to rely on takeout and will prefer the cheaper option of making meals at home, leading to increased business for the grocers. Meanwhile, Coursera points to more people relying on personal shoppers or grocery delivery thanks to rapidly expanding technology. This intersection of money-saving and spending for convenience means grocery stores will hire at all levels.

Wrap up

We’ve found that the most recession-proof jobs are those that are “essential” for day-to-day life. Luxuries may suffer, but some aspects of life like healthcare, financial assistance, trades, education, and groceries are always necessary. Thankfully, these industries offer opportunities at multiple education and experience levels, which should help you find a position that’s just right for you!

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Emerging Trends and Outlooks For Construction & Manufacturing

The commercial construction industry is an odd spot entering 2023. With the country staring down a potential recession, there may be fewer projects available thanks to high-interest costs and perceived reduced spending. But Forbes’ Bill Conerly notes that industry employment is on the rise for both actual building work and specialty trades. The manufacturing industry is in a similar spot—while momentum carried the industry through 2022, inflation and economic certainty paint a cloudy future for 2023, according to Deloitte.

“This year my motto is: Don’t just get ready, stay ready. If you haven’t started planning for next year, now’s the time — then you’ll be ready to tackle 12 months of come-what-may.” Dave Evans, Forbes

Even facing economic uncertainty, the simple truth is that things need to be built and skilled labor will always have a place. By researching market trends, assessing expert opinions and predictions, and looking into the statistics, we’ve created the ultimate guide to the commercial construction and manufacturing industries for 2023.

*Courtesy of the experts at Big Top Manufacturing, Revolutionized, Building Design + Construction, Forbes, Exploding Topics, Deloitte, Armacell, and more!

Labor shortages

It’s no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic had a massive effect on available jobs and created a multitude of layoffs in the construction and manufacturing industries as it did many others. While the country started opening back up and alleviated some of the shortage, the pandemic is far from the only reason there is a labor shortage in these industries.

Nick Grandy, senior analyst at RSM US, believes there are 25% more unfilled construction positions than hires. Grandy compares the shortage to that of the early pandemic toilet paper shortage—a lack of inventory creating a market filled with desperate buyers.

Revolutionized’s Emily Newton writes that many long-standing construction professionals have either left the workforce, are near retirement, or have faced layoffs. In this industry, it can take a long time for information and skills to transfer from veterans to new hires, leading to a dearth of particularly qualified professionals. In addition, it’s more difficult to get those entering the workforce to consider construction in the first place.

Luckily, there are solutions on the horizon. CBS News’ Nancy Chen reports that there has been a 50% increase in the number of women in construction thanks to targeted marketing campaigns. Deloitte reports that despite the high number of voluntary exits in the manufacturing industry, organizations industry-wide are researching retainment strategies.

Reducing Costs

With inflation at work and a shortage of laborers, it’s crucial for companies to find a way to reduce costs around the board. Construction management firm Skanska found that construction spending will increase in many vital sectors, including manufacturing, transportation, highways, multifamily housing, lodging, and communications. In order to help meet the demand, industry leaders are looking for creative ways to reduce costs.

via Building Design + Construction

Material costs

Skanska’s Vice President of National Strategic Supply Chain, Tom Park, noted that a reduction in housing has eased demand for raw materials, making it both cheaper and less time-consuming to acquire many necessary building components, including commercial roofing materials, architectural interiors, lumber, and plumping.

Emily Newton found that while the labor shortage and sourcing difficulties led to a rise in the cost of construction materials in recent years, the burden should be eased in 2023, corroborating Skanska’s findings.

Outsourcing

In order to further reduce costs, companies will start outsourcing manufacturing more than ever before. The 2022 State of Manufacturing report found that 48% of companies increased their manufacturing outsourcing in 2022, and that number is expected to rise in 2023. Forbes’ Dave Evans says that while finding the right outsourcing partners are key, a good diversification of geographic partners will further slow any potential disruptions.

Construction sites

Big Top Manufacturing suggests that rethinking the literal foundations of construction and manufacturing sites is a key way to reduce costs without sacrificing quality. Switching to fabric buildings is not only more cost-effective but they take much less time to build, meaning these sites can start producing, and thus become profitable, much more quickly. These sites are surprisingly more resilient to the elements, don’t require as many expensive repairs, and are more environmentally friendly than traditionally-constructed buildings.

Emerging Technologies

A rise in emerging technologies means rapid changes are constantly occurring worldwide, and the construction and manufacturing industries are no strangers to technological growth. Advancing technology should lead to smoother training and more efficient processing industry-wide.

VR training

As mentioned above, many qualified professionals are leaving the industry, and the labor shortage makes it difficult to replace that productivity. An effective way to speed up training and reduce the skill gap is the use of virtual reality training programs.

Big Top Shelters notes this technology can allow new hires to get hands-on experience with concepts that are difficult or expensive to organically practice otherwise. VR also allows workers to see structures before they are built in real space, speeding up the process by allowing them to eliminate blueprint errors and test designs before work begins. This ultimately saves the company a great deal of money while also creating a safer environment.

Robotics and IoT

Both robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT) are becoming commonplace in many industries thanks to their ability to save time and money.

Nidhi Aggarwal mentions the importance of IoT in allowing companies to remain productive with remote work sites, which became a necessity during the pandemic but persistent thanks to how much time and money they save. The more work that can be done offsite, the more money the client and the company can save while also keeping workers safe.

Robotics meanwhile serve to assist workers by decreasing the time tasks take while keeping laborers safe. Robotics don’t exist to replace human workers but enhance what they can do. Emily Newton notes how robotics can help with manual tasks like bricklaying to allow humans to work faster and without as much strain on their bodies. A common trend is the rise of exoskeletons that can reduce the fatigue common in many physical labor tasks.

Supply chain innovations

Supply chain disruptions have been a frequent topic when discussing these industries, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Industry innovations to stay ahead of disruptions while further lower costs will be essential.

At the surface level, finding ways to automate processes and lowering the amount of physical labor will save time that could be better focused elsewhere. Exploding Topics’ Josh Howarth says that reshoring, or looking to other countries for material processing plants, is estimated to be around $443 billion in the US. With this in mind, those manufacturers best able to incorporate new technologies that can reduce delays will be highly-profitable and sought out.

Dave Evans reports that the companies that will best weather potential disruptions are those that are agile and strategic and that taking time now to reevaluate processes and create redundancies will save time when delays inevitably occur.

Smart factories

All of the above will coalesce into “smart factories,” a concept that has surged in recent years according to Josh Howarth. Gartner defines these as “a concept used to describe the application of different combinations of modern technologies to create a hyperflexible, self-adapting manufacturing capability.” The ability to automate tasks, minimize errors, and promote worker safety will allow productivity to surge. Howarth reports that automotive manufacturers expect to have one-quarter of their plants as smart factories and that those factories could create $160 billion in value. Other industries will certainly follow suit.

“Industry 4.0 continues the push towards automation, employing technologies such as IIoT (industrial internet of things), big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced analytics.” –Josh Howarth

Howarth also believes there will be a rise in microfactories, or small, highly modular setups that make use of leading-edge technology like artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data, to enable hyper-autonomous manufacturing, thanks to the ascension of smart factories and the need to restructure supply chains. Microfactories can be built closer to points of trade and cut down on travel time, errors, and costs.

Environmentalism

As more companies make concentrated efforts to have less of an impact on our environment, green technology and environmental efforts will be prioritized heavily in 2023.

Key components of green building include energy efficiency, renewable energy, water efficiency, using recycled materials, reducing waste, increasing air quality, and smart growth. Emily Newton lists incorporating solar panels, recycling materials during and after projects, and using sustainable materials like bamboo as tangible methods to achieve these goals.

Via Armacell, green buildings accounted for just 8% of construction spending in 2013. In 2022, green buildings made up 47% of new construction processes, and that number is expected to skyrocket to 60% by 2025. These 60% are believed to be net-zero ready, or able to be built with zero carbon emissions.

Not only are these green buildings much better for the environment but will be profitable as well—Armacell cites that the green building market will be over $81 billion. Tax incentives are being created to further entice companies to invest in energy-efficient buildings.

The aforementioned emerging technologies should factor into making environmentally-sustainable buildings as well. By increasing digital efforts, utilizing VR training, and using robotics for environmentally-friendly construction, an organization will be able to lower its carbon footprint.

Final thoughts

The construction and manufacturing industries are in a challenging but exciting state entering 2023. Forbes’ Bill Conerly cites the growing costs and upcoming recession conflicting with the rise of employment opportunities and activity increasing as factors that make projecting the 2023 landscape difficult.

What is clear is that the pandemic forever altered the face of these industries, and companies willing to evolve and embrace new technology and rethink supply chains will be the most successful moving forward.

Learning About NexGoal

Want NexGoal to help you access the often-closed community of passive candidates and start sourcing top-performing employees for your organization? Filling positions in Sales, Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Manufacturing, R&D Design, Factory Leadership, and more, we would love the chance to showcase how our industry expertise and candidate database can benefit you. Contact our CEO, Kevin Dahl, at kevindahl@nexgoal.com to start putting this plan into action.

*Reference this article, and we will also include free paid promotions for your company on online job boards such as LinkedIn and Indeed.

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Workplace Trend Predictions For 2023

Another new year represents new challenges and opportunities in all facets of life, and the workplace is no exception. January 1st doesn’t mean a legally binding change must occur, but experts are able to look toward the future and make predictions about what the new year can hold.

As we’ve done in previous years, we took a lot at the top trends experts expect for 2023. As always, there’s no guarantee how things will play out—we aren’t fortune tellers. But consider these workplace predictions as you contemplate 2023:

Quiet hiring

“Quiet quitting” was a popular buzz phrase in 2022, the idea being that employees would do the bare minimum to keep their job while being mentally checked out. This concept keeps a position filled but stops an organization from gaining the full benefits.

In order to counter this, Gartner contributors Emily Rose McRae and Peter Aykens believe that smart HR leaders will embrace “quiet hiring”, or a way to bring in new skills and capabilities without hiring new employees. They believe this can be accomplished in three key ways: a focus on internal talent mobility, upskilling and training opportunities for current employees, and alternative approaches to bringing in talent such as temporary workers.

A focus on retention

The Great Resignation of the past few years saw a great number of workers departing their current roles to find something that better aligns with their values and happiness. This has created many job openings, but many companies have struggled to fill their open vacancies, leading toward 2022 being a year that favored employees.

“The gap between the number of people seeking work and the number of open roles remains wide, meaning that effective hiring and employee retention tactics remain highly important.” –Emeritus

Finding and training new talent is an expensive process. Visier’s Amy Furr cites that the average cost to replace an employee is roughly double their salary. Amidst the struggle of acquiring new talent, companies are looking for ways to increase their retention, including investing in employee development initiatives, offering more opportunities for advancement, and training new skills.

Hybrid work models

Remote work saw a massive surge thanks to the pandemic, but with many Covid restrictions being phased out, many companies want workers back in the office. The availability of entirely remote jobs is quickly decreasing, much to the justified chagrin of potential employees.

The sweet spot continues to be in hybrid work models, having employees come into the office a few times a week while still working remotely on other days. This provides the opportunity for freedom and flexibility while still offering the chance for in-person communication and a space for collaboration.

Robert Boersma notes that many companies want to make sure those out-of-office hours are being used correctly and will take measures such as tracking hours or monitoring software, but this is a quick way to erode trust and lose employees.

Increased focus on DEI

Many companies are making efforts to implement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. A Good Hire survey found that 81% of participants would consider quitting if a company isn’t truly committed to DEI. These programs are excellent for educating employees and making sure everyone’s voice is heard. But not every organization does so effectively.

“In addition to potential turnover issues, failing to prioritize DEI can lead to major financial losses. Accenture has found that companies are losing over a trillion dollars a year due to their lack of DEI efforts.” –Emeritus

Emily Rose McRae and Peter Aykens note that many of these initiatives are pushed back against by a significant portion of employees, which can disrupt the efforts. Learning how to handle opposition and educate more efficiently will be crucial in making sure these efforts aren’t in vain.

A shorter workweek

Finally, we see a trend that many employees will be especially excited about—a reduced work week.

Tracy White Brown, Chief HR Officer at Clark Nuber, believes more companies will take a serious look at the 32-hour work week. Not only will this make employees happy while letting them keep earning, but it will have tangible benefits for employers as well. A shorter work week creates higher morale (leading to increased retention), will make workers more productive with the hours they have, will cut down on distractions, and will make the organization more attractive to new candidates. Finally, it helps with sustainability and lowers a company’s carbon footprint.

Wrap up

Employees want more than a good paycheck. They seek value in their work and strive for a good work-life balance and high quality of life. Many of 2023’s hottest trends seem to follow that line of thinking. By providing skill opportunities and diversity initiatives for employees and allowing for flexibility, companies will create a better environment for their employees, leading to a happier, more fulfilled, and more productive workforce. 2023 has the potential to be an exciting and innovative year!

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