Best AI for job search
You want real, current openings that fit you, and help applying. We gave nine assistants the same brief - a front-end developer in Lisbon, five openings from the last two weeks, a link each, and a short application note - then opened every link the same day and checked its posting date.
People also look for this as job hunting, job applications, applying to jobs or find me a job.
Our picks, side by side
Rated for this task · 0–3
Measured
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tier
From
Why
★ Best overall
ChatGPT
$8/mo · free tier: usableMeasured5 real postings · 1 too old
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tierUnlimited text chat on the default model, with limits on uploads, images, voice and deep research
From$8/mo
Why
The only tool whose five links were all real, open postings with matching titles, and four of them were inside the two-week window. Its own top pick was the one that was not - posted nineteen days earlier - and every role was Lisbon or hybrid, which it said plainly. Start here, then check the dates yourself.
Best for remote roles
Kimi
$19/mo · free tier: usableMeasured4 real postings · 1 too old · 1 expired
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tierUnlimited basic chat, file upload and web access on the free plan
From$19/mo
Why
The only tool that took "remote anywhere in the EU" seriously - all five were remote roles, it dropped a Ukraine listing for not being EU, and its recommended posting was live, in the window, and open to Portugal-based candidates. It showed every search it ran. One link had expired and one official posting was two days too old.
Best for checking a listing
Claude
$20/mo · free tier: usableMeasured3 real postings · 2 with no link
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tierChat with web search and file uploads, with a usage cap per five-hour session
From$20/mo
Why
It read the listing pages rather than the titles, and caught one tagged "Entry level" for what was a team-lead role. Three of its five were real, open postings from the right week; the other two were named with no link at all, so you would have to go and find them. Use it on the postings another tool found.
Evidence
5 of 5 links are live LinkedIn postings; 4 of 5 posted within the window (DSV 30 Aug, Komodo 7 Sep, Affinity 7 Sep, Hexa 10 Sep). INSCALE, its pick, was posted 25 Aug. Note written partly from the account holder's stored memory rather than the brief.
Not on our roster
LinkedIn Jobs — The board most of the real postings above were on. Its date filter does what the assistants could not do reliably - show only what was posted this week.
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All 9 tools we tested
Rated for this task only · 0–3| Tool | Quality | Effort | Cost | Free tier | Measured | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPTFree: Unlimited text chat on the default model, with limits on uploads, images, voice and deep research | 5 real postings · 1 too old | $8/mo | ||||
| ClaudeFree: Chat with web search and file uploads, with a usage cap per five-hour session | 3 real postings · 2 with no link | $20/mo | ||||
| GeminiFree: The default model with usage limits, plus Gemini inside Maps, Gmail and Docs on a free Google account | 2 real postings · 3 search pages | $19.99/mo | ||||
| PerplexityFree: Unlimited basic searches with a weekly cap on Pro-model searches | 0 real postings · 5 category pages | $20/mo | ||||
| Microsoft CopilotFree: The Copilot app on web, Windows and mobile with usage limits | 0 real postings · 5 category pages | $19.99/mo | ||||
| DeepSeekFree: The full chat app with web search and file uploads; there is no paid consumer tier | 5 named · 0 links | Free | ||||
| GrokFree: Chat with web and X search within generous limits, no card required | 0 in window · 3 dead links | $30/mo | ||||
| QwenFree: The full chat app; there is no paid consumer tier | 0 real postings · 5 careers pages | Free | ||||
| KimiFree: Unlimited basic chat, file upload and web access on the free plan | 4 real postings · 1 too old · 1 expired | $19/mo |
How we tested
One brief, sent once to each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Grok, Qwen and Kimi on their free tiers, no follow-up questions on the first pass. The candidate was fictional - five years of React and TypeScript, based in Lisbon, open to remote roles anywhere in the EU - and the brief asked for five mid-to-senior front-end openings posted in the last two weeks with a link to each, plus an application note under 120 words for the best fit.
Every link was opened on the day. An opening counted as wrong if the link was a search or category page rather than a posting, if there was no link, if the posting had closed or was a different role, or if it was posted before 30 August. Dates were read from the pages' own structured data, and where a tool linked an aggregator we followed through to the employer's own application page. The count of real, current postings is the measured figure in the table.
Two tools, ChatGPT and Claude, had account memory switched on and used it - their application notes described the account holder, not the fictional candidate. Those details are redacted in the raw outputs, and we treat it as a confound rather than a fault; a real job seeker would want exactly that. Later persona tests run with memory off.
Five of the nine produced nothing a job seeker could use. Perplexity and Copilot linked job-board category pages and called them openings; Qwen linked company careers home pages, with an honest note that it cannot browse; Grok searched, opened pages, and still dated a nine-month-old posting to last week; DeepSeek named five real employers and gave no link to any of them.
The test was run by, or under the direction of, the one person who runs this site, with AI assistance, and every output and fact-check was reviewed by them. The surrounding text was drafted with AI assistance from our own ratings and evidence, then checked and edited by the same person. If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and say so.
Questions people ask
Can an AI actually find me current job openings?
Two of nine could, and only partly. ChatGPT returned five live LinkedIn postings, four from the right fortnight; Kimi returned four live postings, three from the right fortnight, all remote. Everything else was category pages, careers home pages, expired links, or names without links. Treat the result as a starting list, and open every link before you get excited.
Why do so many of them link to search pages instead of jobs?
Because a job-board category page is what their web search finds first, and the tool does not open it to see that it is a list of a hundred roles rather than one. Perplexity even said so in a footnote. Ask for the employer name and the posting date in your prompt, and you filter most of that out.
Should I let it write the application note?
As a first draft, yes - the notes were the strongest part of most answers, short and on-topic. Two cautions. Kimi's and Claude's notes were written to a specific posting; ChatGPT's was written to a posting that was already three weeks old. And if your assistant has memory on, it will write about you as it knows you, which is useful for you and a mess for anyone testing it.
Would a job board just do this better?
For the finding part, yes. LinkedIn's date filter shows you only what was posted this week, which no assistant managed reliably. Where the assistants earn their keep is the second half of the brief - reading a listing, judging fit, and drafting the note - so search on the board, then bring the shortlist to the assistant.