How to Use AI to Discover Where You’re Actually Competitive in the Job Market

Everyone’s using GenAI to rewrite or tweak their resume. Here’s the smarter play.

You’ve probably used ChatGPT to amp up or even write your resume. I’m all for using whatever tools are available to you, and the glorious thing about genAI is that it’s accessible to anyone for free or at a low cost. When you use smart prompts and integrate output, it’s an excellent tool for boosting your resume.

When everyone’s using AI to elevate (or assimilate) their resume, you may be overlooking another functionality of GenAI. Research and objective feedback. GenAI’s real power isn’t making your resume look better. It provides competitive intelligence that most job seekers never get.

Instead of asking AI to rewrite your resume, what if you asked it where you’d actually be a top 5-10% candidate? Not only where you are qualified, but where hiring teams and recruiters will be excited to get you into the candidate mix.

I recently ran a simple AI exercise that does just that.

The Problem: You Don’t Know Your Competitive Position

When job searching, you could be operating on assumptions like “I think I’d be good at this role” or “I have most of the qualifications.”

But you’re missing the critical question and this is where I see job seekers trip up all the time.

Compared to everyone else applying, where do you rank?

The reality is the majority aren’t hitting qualifications, some are strong enough to get screened, and onlya few move forward to finals.

Without knowing where you’re competitive, you’re either aiming too high, too low, or too broad. All three waste time and erode confidence.

The Exercise: Let AI analyze your resume and assess your competive positioning

This takes about 15 minutes and requires only your resume and access to a GenAI tool. I used ChatGPT, and Perplexity.

The Process

Upload your resume.

Disclaimer: Before we head down the rabbit hole, I should add this: I am assuming your resume is well-written and accurately reflects your abilities and experience. If not, then the feedback will be a miss.

Back to business. Use this exact prompt:

Reading this resume, what can you tell about their strengths? Weaknesses and gaps? What businesses should they target within their proximity where they could be in the top 5% of applicants based on experience and industry exposure?

I ran this through ChatGPT and Perplexity. Here’s what happened:

Strengths: Both models aligned on my core competencies and industry exposure. Validating, but not surprising.

Weaknesses: This is where it got interesting.

Perplexity caught something tactical, as I hadn’t added my 2025 marquee wins. Simple fix, big impact.

ChatGPT identified potential objections a hiring manager might have: my resume was too broad for niche roles and my experience might not align with a rigid corporate environment. Accurate.

Targeting Insights: AKA, where I would be competitive.

ChatGPT broke down where I’d likely rank:

Top 5%: Agencies, consultancies, contractors (50-500 employees)
Top 10%: Mid-size tech and SaaS businesses
Least Viable: Big Tech and highly rigid enterprises

I knew this information; however, it validated it. Most often, employers want to hire others who are familiar with hierarchy and company structure. There are always exceptions, but a job search is often about leveraging your experience as a competitive advantage.

Why This Works

This exercise pressure-tests your positioning against how the market (hiring team) actually sees you.

AI should provide a fairly objective assessment, reading your resume like a recruiter would on first glance. It identifies blind spots you’ve internalized and surfaces objections that one may be thinking. And reverting back to the disclaimer about the resume, it clarifies whether your resume communicates what you think it does to the companies you’re targeting.

How to Use These Insights

1. Refine Your Target List

Create three tiers based on where you rank:

Tier 1 (Top 5%): Your high-probability targets. Apply first, customize heavily, network actively.

Tier 2 (Top 10%): Good fits where you’re competitive but not a slam dunk. Apply with tailored materials.

Tier 3 (Below 10%): Avoid unless there’s a specific reason like a strong referral.

2. Address Weaknesses Strategically

For gaps AI identified, you can update your resume to fill them, reframe the narrative so weaknesses become strengths in the right context, or acknowledge and if possible/relevant, look to gain future experience through stretch projects or certifications/classes.

If your background seems “too broad,” create multiple resume versions targeted to different niches or add a summary that creates a throughline across experiences.

3. Iterate and Validate

Update your resume based on feedback, then run the exercise again. Also, validate AI recommendations with your own research. Are these companies actually hiring? Do they align with your values? Do you have any warm/weak ties who work at these companies?

Alternative options

Use multiple AI tools. Different models offer different insights. I found ChatGPT better at identifying objections while Perplexity excelled at generating real company lists within proximity. All LLMS have difference strengths and weaknesses, which change rapidly as new models roll out.

Test company-specific fit. Upload your resume with a specific job description and ask: “How competitive would this candidate be for this role? What would make them more compelling?”

Create alternate versions. If you’re considering pivoting industries, create different resume versions emphasizing different experiences and test which positioning is strongest.

Common Pitfalls

As with any advice around using GenAI, absorb the information and decide if it’s fully accurate. Don’t ignore your actual career goals just because AI says you’d be top 5% somewhere you’d hate working. And remember to update your inputs regularly, results from six months ago are probably stale.

If I were job searching, this is what I would do with the output from AI

After running this exercise, these are actions and changes I would make:

Focus on consulting firms and agencies, my top 5%
Updated my resume with 2025 wins I’d overlooked
Repositione my LinkedIn profile for growth-stage environments
Built a focused list of 25 high-probability targets instead of spray-and-pray

Your Action Plan

Right Now (15 minutes): Open ChatGPT or Perplexity, upload your resume, and use the prompt from this article.

This Week: Run it through a second AI tool, compare results, make 3-5 changes to your resume, and create your three-tier target list.

This Month: Update your resume, rerun the exercise to see improvement, start applying to Tier 1 targets, and align your LinkedIn profile with your positioning.

The Bottom Line

In a world where everyone’s resume looks polished, competitive positioning is everything. Especially if you are competing in a market that is oversatured with talent, otherwise known as an employer-driven market. Sometimes the question isn’t whether you’re qualified, it’s whether you’re top 1-2%.