Find Hiring Manager Names with ChatGPT and Bard OpenAI

Can you actually find hiring manager names at target companies for your job-seeking clients with OpenAI like ChatGPT and Bard?

After a grueling afternoon of entering prompts the answer is Yes and No with an ultimate YES!

Neither chat bot can give you actual names from a company or LinkedIn directory, but there IS a cool workaround.

Let me torture you with what doesn’t work first though so you can avoid the rabbit hole I went down.

Note that this has been abbreviated to remove different iterations I tried. You don’t need to suffer through those.

1st chat bot prompt: Search LinkedIn for a list of warehouse managers at L3 Harris in Florida

Bard – I was initially so excited because it seemed to be able to do what ChatGPT couldn’t when it found three names.

But they were bogus!

Names: John Smith, Jane Doe, Michael Jones.

Fail.

ChatGPT – “I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I don’t have access to live internet search capabilities or any particular organization’s internal database. However, I can suggest a general approach to finding a list of managers in the warehouse at L3 Harris…”

It then provided a 6-step approach that was on target with what I do when teaching how to identify targets on LinkedIn.

However, with the instructions I realized L3 Harris doesn’t use this job title so I was never going to get anywhere using it!

Fail, but also a Win for strategy pointers.

2nd chat bot prompt: What does L3 Harris call warehouse managers

Bard – Returned alternate titles and upon checking them on LinkedIn for L3 Harris, appeared valid. But I was not convinced after the results with the first prompt.

Could it really provide this information accurately?

Fail.

ChatGPT – Couldn’t say for certain but gave possible titles for warehouse managers and suggested how to check with HR or look at job postings.

Fail, but also a Win for strategy pointers.

3rd prompt: What are other titles for warehouse managers

Bard – Provided four real industry titles.

Pass.

ChatGPT – Provided 15 real industry titles.

Pass.

4th prompt: Find names of material management managers in L3 Harris

Bard – “Sorry, I can’t do that. LinkedIn is a private website and I don’t have access…”

Fail.

ChatGPT – “I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I do not have access to internal company directories or personnel information. It would be inappropriate for me to provide…” It then made good suggestions on where to find names.

Fail, but also a Win for strategy pointers.

5th prompt: Not to be dissuaded I went a searching externally… Eureka!

I found the article, How to use ChatGPT in Recruitment [12 sample use cases] by Orla Doyle at occupop.

One case she shares is creating a Boolean search string to find candidates on LinkedIn.

I flipped it to find alternate titles for managers at a company.

I entered the prompt: Create a Boolean search string for LinkedIn to identify a materials management manager. The manager should have experience in warehouse and be based in Florida. Also include alternative ways in which people may enter their experience as a warehouse manager in their LinkedIn profiles.

Bard & ChatGPT – Both produced almost identical results of: (warehouse OR supply chain OR inventory OR materials management) AND (Florida OR Miami OR Tampa OR Orlando).

I repeated my LinkedIn company people search that ChatGPT had provided originally to go to L3 Harris, click on people, and then I entered the string for advanced search.

Bingo!

It identified numerous managers and their titles at L3 Harris that were a fit.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Winning Prompt You Can Use:

Create a Boolean search string for LinkedIn to identify a <job title>. The <title> should have experience in <specialty> and be based in <location>. Also include alternative ways in which people may enter their experience as a <job title> in their LinkedIn profiles.

What all this tells us:

Chat bot hallucinations are real! Returned specifics aren’t guaranteed accurate so always double-check findings.
Get around privacy issues and limitations by creating Boolean search strings to find people on LinkedIn vs trying to find them on chat bots.
ChatGPT provides robust step-by-step instructions when it doesn’t have the answer.
My emphasis on Boolean search in the Certified Hidden Job Coach & Profile Writer course isn’t in vain.
Don’t be afraid to use old-fashioned Internet search to find a way to use this new OpenAI tech.
That took way too long but we have a winning prompt for finding hiring manager names!