Why you shouldn't use ChatGPT in your job applications

Whenever there’s a job opening at Cliniko, we tend to get flooded with applications. For our last hiring round in July, a whopping 12,168 people threw their hats in the ring! It’s humbling that so many folks want to work here, and we know that applying for jobs is time-consuming, so our team always takes time to carefully review everything we receive (you can read more about our hiring process here). But amongst the many incredible applications—and there were plenty of them—we also noticed something else: the unmistakable voice of ChatGPT.

The use of AI in job applications has been on the rise for a couple of years now, but this year it was at a whole new level. Although we strongly recommended in our hiring adverts not to turn to ChatGPT, recently many people have taken to doing it anyway. And it almost always works against them. The reason we advise against relying on AI isn’t just us being crotchety; it markedly lowers the quality of your application.

We can’t speak for every workplace, of course—these are just our thoughts on what works for us. But if you’ve wondered how we think and what we look for when we have a job opening at Cliniko, this is what you need to know!

Why we don’t like AI in job applications

It's recognisable

We can usually tell straight away when you’ve used AI. It’s hard to outfox us on this one. And no, it isn’t because you used a random em dash somewhere (we’re actually quite fond of an em dash around here). ChatGPT has a distinctive writing style; it’s easily recognisable, as well as being the definition of charmless. Even if you’ve “just” used it for structure, it’s glaringly obvious. When we’ve specifically signalled that we don’t like AI-generated answers in our position description, is this really your strongest play?

It isn’t original

Given the volume of applications that we receive, even if you tweak what ChatGPT spits out, your end result is still going to look remarkably similar to the literally thousands of other people who did precisely the same thing. When so many people are using an identical block of text as their base or even their skeleton structure, you simply can’t get far away enough from it to be original. It’s like everyone using the same Instagram filter on their photographs—it all ends up looking very generic.

For example as part of the application process for our most recent hiring round, we asked folks to write up a mock support answer in response to this prompt:

A potential customer has sent us an email. They are a large business of 28 practitioners but will only sign up with us if we'll offer them a discount. We don't do discounts for anyone, as it's important to us that we are fair and transparent with our pricing. All our customers are on our standard pricing plans. Please write the response you'd send to this potential customer.

One of the giveaways of a ChatGPT response was to congratulate the customer on having grown their business to 28 practitioners. When you think about it, this is a strange thing to say; it’s irrelevant to the customer’s query, a touch obsequious, and not really a statement that most humans would make organically.

Yet here are just a few of the thousands of variations of this statement that we received:

• I see that you have 28 practitioners you’d like to sign with us? That’s amazing! It’s clear you have a sound business plan.
• We’re thrilled to connect with a top-notch practice like yours, with 28 amazing doctors and nurses.
• First of all, congratulations on building a team of 28 practitioners—that’s a major achievement! Growing to this size takes vision, commitment, and a strong operational foundation.
• 28 practitioners in your business! Wow! That’s incredible growth and what an impact you must make.
• We’re thrilled to hear you’re considering Cliniko for your team of 28 practitioners, what a powerhouse of a practice.
• We are delighted to know your interests in Cliniko’s services for your esteemed business of 28 practitioners.
• Wow, 28 practitioners! That is an incredible team!

As you can see, there’s a clear similarity between the tone of these answers. And none of them are good.

It doesn’t set you up well for our workplace

We don’t rely on AI in our workplace, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to us when people use it in their applications. For starters, if we used AI to do the work, then we wouldn’t be hiring humans for the role! But it’s also self-defeating to use it in your application because if you were successful and got the job, you wouldn’t be using it in your day-to-day life at Cliniko anyway.

What to do instead

Rather than resorting to AI, if you’re looking to get a job with Cliniko, here’s what we’d recommend doing instead. You’ll also find some words of wisdom from Bobbie and Lily, two of our most recent additions to the support team, who share how they successfully made it through the hiring process.

Read the advert clearly

We give clear pointers as to what we’re looking for in our job description. If we’ve said don’t use AI, we mean it! We also ask people not to submit resumes for a reason, so regurgitating your corporate successes isn’t a great idea either.

Bobbie did her homework and learned, not just about Cliniko the product but also Cliniko the company: “I was basically doing my research to understand the company as well as I could and be sure that a) I would enjoy working there and b) I could see what value I would be bringing to the table.” We think this is great advice! Whether you’re a match for us isn’t the only thing to consider; it’s also crucial to ask yourself whether we’re the right match for you.

Be engaging

When you’re up against 12,167 other people, your application needs to show some personality if you want to stand out from the crowd. You don’t need to put on a performance or use gimmicks to get our attention; just be as natural as you can and give us a reason to take you through to the next stage. The “about me” section (which is a staple across all our jobs) really needs to shine. Think of this as our first meeting with you. It’s a chance to build some rapport with us and show us who you are—make us want to keep reading. It’s a unique job, so show us a unique application!

Bobbie was determined to be herself throughout the process and it worked in her favour. “Oftentimes I ask a family member to read over my applications for things I care a lot about (my writing style has been called “flowery” by my dear family in the past!),” she says. “But this time, I thought, ‘I’m just going to be exactly me, let my light, my voice, my floweriness, all stay exactly as they naturally are. If they like it, great. If not, not.’ Being myself in that first round set the tone for the whole process. With every other round that came, it wasn't a question of ‘am I good enough?’, it was a question of ‘does what I bring to the table match what this crew wants to have on their table?’” Bobbie is spot on. Authenticity is very important to us at Cliniko, so we’re always looking to get a sense of who you genuinely are if you’re applying for a job.

Demonstrate some effort

The job market is tough, and we know it can be hard to put a mountain of effort into one application when you’re applying for a bunch of roles and up against stiff competition. But if you’re genuinely interested in a job with Cliniko, a low-effort application won’t get you anywhere. Keep in mind that our team reads every single application we get; you’re not going into a slush pile that an AI program will mine for key words—multiple humans will review and consider what you’ve put together. For us, effort means that you’ve taken the time to read our website, do some research, and tailor your application to what we’ve asked. Writing that’s riddled with typos and bad grammar isn’t a great look either.

Lily found a sweet spot in her application between talking about her work background while also bringing in her personal achievements and goals. But getting that balance right didn’t come without effort. “I went back and forth so many times writing that initial “about me” section, trying to find the right balance of authenticity and experience,” she recalls. “In hindsight, I wish I'd been a bit more personable (this is me being super critical as I got the job). But when I read that application back, knowing what I now know about Cliniko, it almost feels too formal. I did try and throw a little joke in there at the end to get my sense of humour across, however, that joke was never acknowledged at any point during the process going forward, so I can only assume it went down like a bloody dad joke. Still, I wanted to leave a lasting impression, good or bad dad joke I suppose!” The hard work paid off with what Lily wrote. And never be afraid to throw in a dad joke—we’re here for it!

Don’t rush

Take your time with your application and don’t just apply for the sake of applying. That will almost never get you the job, and it’s not a good use of our time or yours. Lily admits to being painstaking across all stages of her application. “I took my time,” she says, “I'm so glad I did, because there were moments when I thought I'd finished but after rereading it, I'd find sections that weren’t quite right, or where more accurate information could have been added.”

We hope this helps. Whether you’re applying for a job at Cliniko or somewhere else, we wish you the best of luck.