AI Guides › Step-by-step guides
By Nigel Guy · 8 min read
The usual mistake is handing an AI your CV, a list of job boards and the words "apply to everything that fits", then going off to make a cup of tea. What comes back is a pile of near-identical applications, some for roles you'd never take, sent under your name unchecked. That's application theatre.
The rule: let ChatGPT do the searching, sorting and first-draft tailoring, and keep the submit button for yourself. You decide which roles get an application, and you read every CV before it goes.
One correction before you start. Older posts tell you to switch on "Agent Mode" or type /agent. OpenAI's help centre now says ChatGPT agent is no longer available. Its job has moved to ChatGPT Work (the agent for longer, multi-step tasks), which uses a cloud browser when it needs to visit websites. The steps below use Work.
| You need | Notes |
|---|---|
| A paid ChatGPT plan: Plus or Pro | Cloud browser runs in Work on paid plans in supported regions, but not Free or Go. Plus is usually about £20 a month in the UK at time of writing. OpenAI's pricing page showed no £ figure when we checked, so confirm the amount at checkout. Work usage comes out of your plan's allowance, and big browsing jobs use more of it. |
| Your current CV as a file | Word or PDF. Take out your home address and date of birth first; they aren't needed for this. |
| Two or three job sites you actually use | Some sites block automated browsers. OpenAI says this is the website's decision, and the site may still work normally in your own browser. |
You're asking for two things here: role titles you might not have searched for, and the words employers use for each one. Paste this in, filling in your CV, the location and how far you'll travel, and the salary floor.
You are an experienced UK recruiter who screens CVs for a living.
Context: my CV is attached. I am looking for work in [LOCATION / REMOTE PREFERENCE] at or above [MINIMUM SALARY £]. Roles I would not take: [ROLES OR SECTORS TO EXCLUDE].
Goal: a shortlist of job titles my experience genuinely supports, and the vocabulary employers use for each one.
Steps:
1. Read the CV and summarise my core skills and level of seniority in three lines.
2. Propose up to 15 job titles, ordered from strongest to weakest fit. Include title variants UK employers commonly use for the same work.
3. For each title, list 8–12 skills or terms that typically appear in UK adverts for it, and mark which ones my CV already evidences and which it doesn't.
Output: a table with columns Title | Fit (strong/medium/stretch) | Why | Terms already evidenced | Terms missing.
Rules: do not pad the list to reach 15. If something you need is missing (location, salary, exclusions), ask me before starting. Base the terms on typical advert language. Do not claim to know how any specific employer's screening software scores CVs.
Before answering, check that each "strong" title is backed by something specific in my CV.
Delete any title you wouldn't accept. The table that's left is your search brief.
In the same Project, fill in the titles you kept and your target page count.
You are a UK CV editor. Using my attached CV and the role table from the previous step, produce a master CV I can tailor quickly for each application.
Goal: a two-page CV where every bullet shows a result, not a duty.
Steps:
1. Rewrite each experience bullet as: what changed, the evidence (a number, scale or outcome), and the action I took. Where I have not given a figure, insert [ADD FIGURE] instead of inventing one.
2. Add a short profile written for these titles: [TITLES YOU KEPT].
3. Flag anything a screener might count against me (unexplained gaps, unclear job titles, clichés, irrelevant detail) and suggest a fix for each. Do not apply fixes that change facts.
4. Use British spelling and a plain layout with standard headings, no tables or columns.
Output: the master CV first, then a list of [ADD FIGURE] placeholders, then the flagged issues.
Rules: never add skills, employers, qualifications or results I have not given you. If something is ambiguous, ask.
Before answering, check every bullet against the original CV for invented content.
Fill in every [ADD FIGURE] yourself. If you can't stand behind a number, drop the bullet.
This is the browsing step. Fill in your job sites, titles, location and the number of days to look back.
You are my job-search assistant working in a cloud browser.
Goal: a shortlist spreadsheet of genuinely suitable roles. Do not apply to anything, create accounts, or submit any form.
Inputs:
- Sites to search: [JOB SITES]
- Titles: [TITLES YOU KEPT]
- Location / remote: [LOCATION]
- Posted within: the last [NUMBER] days
- Exclude: [EXCLUSIONS, e.g. agencies, roles below £X]
Steps:
1. Search each site for each title. If a site blocks you or asks me to sign in, stop on that site and tell me rather than working around it.
2. For each advert, record: job title, employer, location, salary if stated, closing date, link, and the three requirements that matter most.
3. Score fit out of 5 against my master CV, with a one-line reason.
4. Put any role you are unsure about in a separate "Doubtful" tab and say why. Do not stretch a weak match to make the list longer.
5. Remove duplicates of the same job posted on several sites.
Output: a spreadsheet with tabs "Shortlist" and "Doubtful", followed by a short summary of how many adverts you checked on each site.
Before finishing, open three shortlisted links again and confirm they are still live.
Choose the roles worth applying for (fit 4 or 5, and ones you actually want). For each one:
Using my master CV and this advert: [PASTE ADVERT OR LINK], produce a tailored version. Reorder and reword existing bullets to match the advert's top requirements, and change nothing factual. After the CV, list which requirements I meet, which I partly meet and which I don't. If I fall short of an essential requirement, say so plainly and don't hide it.
Read it line by line, then submit through the employer's own form, in your own browser.
Once Step 4's output looks right, open Scheduled and set the search prompt to run once a week. Plus allows five active scheduled tasks at time of writing.
There's no official number. It depends on which sites block automated browsing, how much allowance each task uses, and, mostly, how long you spend reading. A weekly shortlist of a few dozen adverts and a handful of properly tailored applications is a sensible start; raise it only if quality holds.