Have you ever thought about where we, as humans, came up with the idea of shaking hands?

It’s weird when you think about why – but handshakes are a common way to symbolize trust, respect, and professionalism in the modern world. The earliest accounts of handshakes date back to a ninth century B.C. relief carving from ancient Mesopotamia depicting Assyrian King, Shalmeneser III, shaking hands with a Babylonian King.

History’s oldest known handshake.

Fast forward to today, and in a way you can think of cover letters being semi-analagous to that ancient handshake. It’s the first impression you make on a potential employer, and just like that of Shalmeneser III and the Babylonian King, you want to leave a lasting and powerful impression.

But what do you do if you don’t have “natural talent” at crafting a compelling cover letter? (Which is at least 95% of us) That’s where I believe you can use AI assistance, like that found in ChatGPT, to help you craft a well-written cover letter and leave a lasting impression on hiring teams at your favorite game studios.

Why should you use ChatGPT to help you write your cover letter?
Starting to write almost anything is hard. If you’re a sound designer or composer, it’s likely you’re either not writing essays very often, or it’s not like you’re expected to craft super high quality writing all the time.

Because most people get stuck and second-guess themselves right at the outset, it makes a lot of sense to utilize a tool to ease into crafting a document that’s typically extremely tough mentally to create.

While I don’t advocate that you utilize ChatGPT to “write your cover letter for you” in the sense that you just copy and paste what the tool gives you, ChatGPT is a great source for starter boilerplate language.

You’ll know very quickly when ChatGPT has given you something that you can work with, because you’ll be excited and inspired by the potential of the response, while also thinking to yourself something like “Well, most of this isn’t great… but I can definitely work with that one idea!”.

It’s also just as tough to know when you’re actually done with your cover letter and it’s ready to send out. Once you’ve crafted something you think it’s potentially ready to go, ChatGPT can also help you edit the text before you share it with a few trusted people to get their feedback.

How do you even start this process of getting ChatGPT to help you write?
First, I don’t suggest you ask ChatGPT to write your cover letter completely, or from scratch. While it can give you a decent outline if you choose, I’ve never really liked the responses I’ve receieved when I’ve asked for that.

Instead, I use the following outline for most every cover letter I write:

• Opening
• Resume Expansion Point 1
• Resume Expansion Point 2
• Resume Expansion Point 3 (if necessary)
• Closing

Explaining this structure and why I use it would take another entire article to do. In lieu of that, know that the opening typically a greeting into a transition to the first point. Next, I pick 2-3 bullet points from my resume to elaborate on in relation to how they apply to the job posting. Finally, I transition to a thank you and closing.

Based on that outline, you can prompt ChatGPT and ask for it to give you the result that you would like to write. Typically, ChatGPT can’t respond in enough detail (as it doesn’t have your lived experience) to write something truly engaging. But, the bolierplate language is usually great.

As an example, let’s look at how you can elaborate on a resume point…

First, we can give ChatGPT a prompt like this:
“Write a paragraph for a cover letter describing my experience in field recording in response to the bullet point on the job description “Understanding of field and studio recording techniques.”

I have been extensively recording in the field for 3 years. I have recorded and edited ambiences in multiple cities and rural areas, many different types of birds, as well as participating in a gun range field recording session. I know how to use shotgun microphones, omnidirectional microphones, and recording devices like Sound Devices.”

ChatGPT replies with the following response:
“With 3 years of experience in field recording, I am well-versed in capturing and editing various ambiences in both urban and rural environments. I have a strong understanding of different microphone techniques, including the use of shotgun and omnidirectional microphones, as well as the operation of recording devices such as Sound Devices. I have recorded a wide range of subjects, including birds and firearms, demonstrating my ability to adapt to different recording environments and capture high-quality audio. I am confident in my skills and eager to bring my experience to your team.”

While I don’t like the closing of that paragraph response, and I hope that those of you who are well-versed in field recording cringe at my prompt – the rest of that is easily re-written in our own language and would suit a cover letter very well. Best of all, that takes 10 seconds to write the prompt and get rolling!

How do we utilize AI to edit our work, then?
To be redundant – I don’t suggest you directly copy all of ChatGPT’s writing. Re-write the responses in your own words. This is probably the hardest part of the exercise, because the line between “your words” and the AI’s can be blurry. It can be incredibly difficult to use your own language and get the same point across. Be patient, even if you have to take a break, you’ll get a better result in the end.

As an example of re-writing the response we recieved above, you could elaborate on what microphone techniques have come in handy to you for field recording, in what situations, and why. You could make the same point by noting specific microphones you’ve used, in what situations, and why. Even better, describe a specific situation you’ve recorded in where you met hardship or learned, and detail that as succinctly as possible (or, be long-winded and ask ChatGPT to make your language concise!)

Once you’ve done your re-write, the process of getting ChatGPT to edit is as simple as a few prompts. If you think you’re too wordy or too long, prompt ChatGPT with something like: “Shorten the following to 4 sentences while keeping the main idea” and paste your text. For specific grammar, spelling, and punctuation, I literally prompt “Please edit the following for grammar, spelling, and punctuation:” so often that I’ve made a shortcut for myself with a text expansion tool.

Most of all, remember that ChatGPT (or any other AI-based utility) is just a tool to help. If you’re struggling, ask yourself why, and ask yourself what you may use as a prompt to help you break through the frustration. Don’t be lazy and just expect the machine to do the work for you – then you’re just showcasing why you’re likely not the best candidate in the first place.

“But Adam – isn’t this cheating the likes of which we haven’t seen since Barry Bonds 95 home runs in baseball?!? Heck I even hear students are using this to cheat on their tests, how is this any different??”
Back when I sucked horribly at writing cover letters, other humans gave me templates, instructions, and a few even took a stab at completely re-writing cover letters for me.

Since then, I’ve done the same for plenty of other people, too. I even gave you an outline I use for all of my cover letters in this very article. AI is a tool to help and to speed you up, in just the very same way I tried to help others as a human. If AI is therefore cheating to write a cover letter, to me it feels like it would be cheating for me to help you, too.

Personally, I’m glad I don’t think it is!

Okay, so what did we cover again?

1. Using AI to write your cover letters will make the process faster and easier
2. Don’t expect AI to write your whole cover letter for you
3. Re-write what AI gives you after you prompt it to write sections from a template
4. Use AI to help edit your final language
5. Get a trusted human to review your work!

What I’ve learned about handshakes shows me there’s literally nothing new under the sun…
There are only new tools and methodologies to help us succeed in age-old endeavours like building trust, rapport, and connection. Use the tools to build a cover letter wisely, but in effort to achieve the same trust, rapport, and connection as a good handshake.