NotebookLM’s AI-powered platform revolutionizes your job search by transforming how you customize cover letters and resumes, conduct targeted networking, and prepare for interviews. Discover how this innovative tool can streamline your career journey
Introduction:
In this guide, with an accompanying video demonstration, you will see how to use NotebookLM to organize and streamline your job search. It covers:
- Creating and Naming Notebooks
- Adding Various Source Types
- Analyzing Resumes and Job Descriptions
- Generating Customized Cover Letters
- Interview Preparation
- Analyzing LinkedIn profiles for Networking
What Is NotebookLM
Think of NotebookLM as an AI-powered research assistant that helps you understand complex information by letting you upload various documents (like articles, PDFs, or notes) and then asking questions about all or some of the content. It summarizes key points, explains concepts, and even generates new ideas based on the sources you provided. You should also know that NotebookLM is a Google project which is still in development, and it may not be as polished as other Google products.
NotebookLM creates a “Walled Garden,” where the information added is isolated from the internet.
It only uses the sources you provide to answer questions; it does not search the internet.
Unlike ChatGPT or other AI tools, NotebookLM will never train on any of your data. But having said that, the Google User Agreement does not promise privacy. This means you should always be cautious when uploading sensitive/private information used in NotebookLM.
First Step: Creating A Notebook
Here’s the link to sign up for free access to NotebookLM using your Google account.
The first step is to create a notebook and add sources, which will serve as the knowledge base.
Notebooks should be well-named for easy organization. For your job search, I recommend creating a new notebook for each target company or company that you are interested in. In this notebook you would keep all job applications, networking correspondence and interview information having to do with that company. You are limited to 100 notebooks with a free account.
Adding Sources to NotebookLM
Let’s say you find a job posting at a company you are interested in. You want to create the research sources (company research, mission statement, job posting, resume) into your notebook so you can thoroughly and thoughtfully draft your resume and cover letter.
The following steps allow you to set up all the resource materials you need to craft a draft of your cover letter and resume.
1) Copy and paste your company research (which you have done in one of these: Claude, CoPilot, Perplexity) as a source and name it “[Company] Research”.
2) Then add your master or super resume as a source
3) Either copy and paste the job posting or a link to the job posting as a source.
4) Finally, either copy and paste or use the URL to the company’s mission statement.
If the URL is highlighted in red, it means that it can’t be used as a source. Either copy and paste the text or check to make sure the URL is public.
Sources can be renamed for clarity
Using NotebookLM for Resume and Cover Letter Customization
Now that you have all the source material identified and selected for that company, use the chat area to ask questions, using prompts to guide NotebookLM. If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools to help you with your resume and cover letter, then you are already familiar with how this works.
This is where you will use multiple prompts to create your resume tailored for this job. (These prompts are not provided at this time.)
You do not want to ask NotebookLM to “modify my resume using the materials supplied.”
Next, using multiple prompts, you can create each section of your cover letter by using carefully crafted prompts.
The generated cover letter can be copied and pasted into Word for fine-tuning
Interview Preparation Techniques
You may decide it makes more sense to have a separate notebook for interviewing. You would include the company research, plus include source materials like sample interview questions you’ve discovered on the internet. There are published lists of questions that are specific to companies and occupations.
Use prompts that specify the type of interview you are generating questions for (initial screening, hiring manager, team, panel, leadership, final).
Networking Research
You can leverage NotebookLM to conduct LinkedIn profile analysis that will find common professional ground, then generate connection strategies and finally, help you craft an outreach message.
To start your networking research, upload the LinkedIn profile as a PDF to use as your source.
Craft your prompt to ask NotebookLM to identify commonalities between you and the contact.
You could also prompt NotebookLM to summarize a contact’s accomplishments and provide strategies for connecting with them on LinkedIn.
Next, using those findings create a prompt to ask NotebookLM to create variations of phrases for connection requests. For example, when you send a LinkedIn invitation to connect message you are limited to 300 characters. But if you send an email, your message can be longer. Plus asking for different variations allows you to find wording you find appropriate.
Additional Features of NotebookLM
Studio
One of the more well-known features of NotebookLM is the Studio which creates a podcast using the sources provided. This is particularly helpful for those who are auditory learners or those who are on the go and don’t have time to read.
The podcast includes an interactive mode where the user can ask questions as if they were calling into a real podcast or radio show. If you have questions or want more detail about what the podcasters have said, you can ask your question.
Notes
These can be saved from chat, or can be entered manually. Notes can be converted into sources or removed. Consider notes as post-it notes.
Study Guide
The study guide feature is intended for students and teachers. You can upload PDFs and create study guides, including test questions. You could use study guides from selecting your company research and job posting for interview preparation.
Briefing Document
A briefing document can synthesize or summarize any or all of the source information. For example, you could select a briefing document to summarize the job posting to see what nuggets NotebookLM identifies.
Timeline
When dates are mentioned in the source materials, NotebookLM will create a timeline. An interesting way to use this is to create a timeline from your resume.
Watch NotebookLM In Action
Thank you to Chris Blocher, Content Designer, Content Strategist, UX Writer, Technical Writer, for demonstrating how he uses NotebookLM for his job search- resume, cover letter, networking and interviewing.
Conclusion
NotebookLM is a destination to keep your job search research and drafts together. Using AI prompts you can finely tune your research and materials to find answers and generate ideas. There are many ways to utilize the functionality of NotebookLM for your job search. Get creative and test new uses.
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.
